Valley Gardening: Grow naturally

I, and many other supporters, am VERY thankful this week! After a long, brutal YEAR of various treatments, setbacks, and more treatments Casey Kanen Martinez is cancer FREE!! It’s been almost exactly a year since Casey was diagnosed. So many of you reading, donated to the fund to help pay her rent so that she could focus on her battle and on her boys. I know I can say thank you from the bottom of her heart and beyond for the financial help, the prayers, the good thoughts and energy—from Casey and all of her family.

Jaiden Rogers, age 10, continues to battle everything! The ASU Soccer Team is going to be helping with some fundraising in the next few weeks. I know that the Green Spot and Rubi Slipper will have bracelets for sale—be on the lookout for more locations! One of these weekends soon, Natalie (Jaden’s mom), me and others (don’t be shy about volunteering) will be located at every begging corner in town and doing our best to help this young man. Life just isn’t fair sometimes!

Peyton Sanchez and his mom, Sheila, head to Houston this weekend—for the umpteenth time. This is the short trip—next month is the long one with all the testing—scans, etc. Peyton has been on a drug trial program that is most likely ending in the next couple of months. Lots of decisions in the future for Charlie and Sheila and Peyton, and little brother Landon! Keep them always in your prayers!

Meanwhile…back to gardening…I am so excited about some new products that came in this week. All from Down to Earth Distributors, located in Oregon. I have wanted their product line for almost three years, so finally, the timing was right. 

As my granddaughter and I went for coffee this morning, the smell from the mushroom farm was strong…to say the least. Peyton plugged her nose and kept saying run, Gramma, run—guess she hasn’t heard about my running. When we got to the Green Spot the smell, not an odor, was delightful—it just smelled like gardening—like the earth—all the new products blended together into a rich earthy smell.

Along with the product line came this great little booklet that is free—to the first 50 who ask for it. It outlines some of their products but also explains some of the following, and I quote…

“Synthetic fertilizers do not improve soil structure, and they allow nutrients to leach through the soil into waterways before plants can absorb them. (Leaching into waterways from your backyard garden may be a stretch). The leaching effect caused from overuse of synthetic fertilizers destroys the natural soil structure and eventually causes the soil to become compacted and LIFELESS”. I capitalized lifeless, because that is what happens and it is important to understand that!

All of that and more, leads me to recommend more and more and more all the great natural products that have just come in. They include Kelp Meal, Alfalfa Meal, Langbeinite, Biochar, Oyster Shell, Fish Meal, Fishbone Meal, Feather Meal, Neem Seed, Bio-Live, Greensand, Humic Acids, Cottonseed Meal, Soybean Meal, Azomite, a Vegan Mix, Diatomite Rock, and all the Bat Guanos that I mentioned a month or two ago. 

The booklet that I mentioned explains in pretty simple (or I wouldn’t understand) ways what each of the above products will do to help your garden. It actually is amazing to see what you can do with natural products. Much better than that large MG company that airs all their commercials this time of year. I’ll let you guess what MG stands for—and if you want more information, come talk to me. 

It’s supposed to storm this afternoon/evening and again next week. So PLEASE don’t be watering your lawn every other day! If you are bored and just have to be doing garden work, please come see me and I’ll get you started on a project. Getting ready to attack Mom’s Garden sometime in the next week. I will have transplants if someone wants to help out and also I will have free knowledge—at least 25 cents worth!