What to expect when you’re expecting a new plant
How will my plant arrive?
As soon as your new plant arrives, carefully cut open the box and remove the packaging.
Remove the plastic bag & wrapping around the pot that is keeping the soil moist during transit.
It is best practice to water it right away. Your plant may or may not experience leaf drop, show signs of stress or be in a dormant phase. Regardless, it just traveled a great journey to get to its new home, so give it some time to accumulate!
If planting in the ground, check your weather forecast to ensure frost or freezing temperatures have passed for the year. Potting up into a larger pot can be done at any time.
Keeping your plant in a container?
Container gardening is all the rage with urban dwellers, patio growers and all those unable to garden in the ground. The key in choosing a container is ensuring the pot is large enough for the particular plant’s root system. Larger fruit trees will need larger pots to properly bare fruit, while smaller edible plants like Turmeric only need a 3 gallon pot to harvest an abundant yield.
Any container used should have drainage holes to avoid rotting the root system.
Simply keep your plant in the pot until you ready to transition it into a larger container. Repotting your plant entails acquiring a large container and gradually stepping up from the 5” pot the plant came in to the largest size you can accommodate. Providing larger the containers offers more room for root growth and allows your plant to grow & fruit faster.
Transitioning your plant into the garden or landscape?
Questioning where to plant? Know your local hardiness zone (find it here) and ensure you are in the range of the zone recommended for your new plant.
For new trees in the landscape, it is a good practice to stake plants. This helps in establishing wind hardiness and marking your plants in the landscape where mowers or landscapers may be working.
Shipping
From Our Nursery to Your Home
We keep shipping rates accurate & affordable.
We utilize USPS & FedEx as our shipping carriers as we have found their services to be reliable, safe & economical options for delivering live plants.
We usually ship on Mondays and Tuesdays according to climatic conditions & delivery time to ensure plants arrive in appropriate timing for proper care & watering, without unnecessary time spent in their dark box.
We currently do not ship large plants (3 gallon pots and larger) to Hawaii and Alaska due to their distance from us and the sensitive nature of the products we ship.
"Upside-down-box test"
Our shipments remain safe & secure regardless of how the shipping services handle our packages. We shake, turn and dance with our packaged plants to ensure they can arrive safe & sound to your garden’s door! All plants are inspected, watered and pruned when necessary. Each order is hand packaged to secure the plant in its box with kraft paper and padding.
Life is delicate!
While we do our very best to ensure a safe & secure travel from our nursery to your home, we can accept that some of the following may occur in rare instances: drooping, minor leaf-loss, minimal yellowing/discoloration, minor limb damage, etc. Its important to realize that the living energy of the plant is moving into the roots and branches, where it will be used for new growth & regeneration. Planting and caring for your plant properly and regularly when introducing to your garden or potted plant collection, will allow for a 2-3 week recovery.
We are currently unable to ship Live Plants internationally.
Quality in Service
What sort of quality can I expect for my new plant?
We only allow for the highest quality plants to represent our nursery when providing for our customers. If you are unsatisfied with your purchase or experience any issues in the transaction, shipping or in our service, please allow us to provide the solution to correct the problem.
Plants purchased on our online stores are hand selected for their representation of our inventory. We care about our customers and their green thumbs! A Natural Farm works to provide edible plants that thrive in our urban & rural landscapes. Plants selected for shipment adhere to our standards of quality for serving you and your garden.
Do you have standards for your nursery stock?
All plants sold are grown with Natural Farming standards, free from pests & disease and grown without synthetic fertilizers, pesticides & fungicides that are harmful when consumed through edible plants. While we do not label ourselves as a listed “Organic” farm, all of our practices go beyond typical organic farming operations. All inputs used at our farm are considered organic and many of our practices are beyond organic, utilizing the principles & ethics of Permaculture & Natural Farming
Will my plant be flowering or fruiting?
Depending on the time of year & season, trees and plants may not be at the flowering or fruiting stage. In addition, deciduous plants may be dormant and without leaves. This is to be expected in the succession of the plant’s life. Once planted, these cycles will appear as your plant grows & thrives!
Guarantee & Return Policy
Do you guarantee that my plant will grow?
We don't guarantee plant growth per say - as mother nature has her own plans and each gardener has their own lessons to learn. We do guarantee our plants arriving alive and unbroken. From there, we are here to assist you with helping your new plant friends to grow.
We strive to ensure the products purchased at our farm are healthy and strong for your planting success. At the same time, we are unable to guarantee the long term success of plants when considering the various gardening skills of our customers, hungry caterpillars & munching rabbits, weather damage, drought & watering schedules, insect & disease, soil conditions and growing outside recommend hardiness zones. These factors are outside of our control, so we are happy to offer insight & tips in person and through our website - just ask!
Do you Warranty that our plant will arrive safely?
If the plant appears to be in less than ideal health, please contact us within 3 days of your plant’s delivery . We will work with you to assess the problem and save the plant. We cannot assist over three days time, as we are unsure if the plant has been neglected or left unwatered.
For plants that arrive in poor condition due to transit, we offer store credit if we have received contact with you within 3 days of your order arriving. If we have spoken with you and determine that the plant is not salvageable, we will provide store credit to replace that plant.
If problems with your plant are reported to us within the 3 days of the plant’s delivery and our assistance has not resolved the health of the plant within 30 days, we will provide you a full refund in the form of store credit.
PLEASE NOTE: Initial cosmetic issues are results of the transit & shipping process. Damaged or discolored leaves are not covered by our warranty. Plants are not used to being shipped across long distances in a dark box! They have the natural ability to protect themselves during stressful situations. Proper watering & care upon arrival will ensure new foliage growth and reestablishing the health of your new plant. The beauty of the plant kingdom is that they grow back!
Due to the nature of shipping delicate plants, we do NOT accept returns. Please call to resolve any issues that may arise.
Quirky Plant Policy
A Natural Farm’s plants are grown with Natural Farming practices - we don’t force them to be something they’re not! Because of this, plants will exude qualities not typically found in commercial nurseries. We don’t treat for discoloration or holes in plants, these are natural minor occurrences that do not affect the health of the plant.
What some call “discoloration” is really an effect of the plant moving energy around its system to grow and continue to live. This does not necessarily mean the plant is unhealthy, it demonstrates that the plant has the ability to assess energy inputs and outputs to direct their growth.
So hey, don’t judge! Some plants have their own personality and do their own “thing”.
Example: Not all Olive Trees are forced to stand stiff & straight - maybe she leans one way over another - allow her to express her shape! A little wiggle room ensures a healthy tree ;)
Example: A little weed here and there does not deter from the health of potted plant! Plants want to grow in living soil that is not ridden of chemicals. This is the life giving principle of Nature: Provide an opportunity for growth, life miracles will happen. We _manage_ ‘weeds’ - we *don’t* eradicate them!
We hand select for quality in every order to guarantee a healthy plant for healthy customers! We ship the best of the best :)
Gardening Strategies
While man strives to ensure their efforts & intentions are untouched by Earth’s nature, we can be sure that Nature has its own plans. We might as well learn to live harmoniously with the cycle of which we are not outside of, but collectively embraced.
Here are some pro permaculture & natural farming tips to assist you in building an abundant garden:
“Plant one for the Animals, Plant one the Weather, Plant one for the Earth, Plant one for You.” Don't be so surprised if that Moringa leaf is eaten back a little bit by a caterpillar or rabbit, whats nutritious for you is also good for them! Planting a larger crop within a diversity of other plants will help to ensure there is enough for all of us.
Topdressing with Mulch is a great practice (but not necessary) for retaining moisture and adds nutrient into the soil. Nature abhors bare soil, keep her dressed & modest! Use material like hay, straw, coconut husk, wood chips. Tuck compost, vermicompost, organic fertilizer & food scarps under mulch to retain nutrient . Feel free to add cover crop seeds in larger containers as a living mulch!