Bob’s Blog
When to Plant Wildflowers
Fall is the perfect time for planting wildflowers. Think about it! In nature wildflowers produce their seed in the fall. The seed then falls on the ground, goes dormant during the winter, and then sprouts in the early spring and summer. You can easily replicate this same process.
Planting Late Season Crops
After harvesting early-maturing vegetables such as salad greens, radishes, peas and spinach, gardeners can plant other crops in midsummer for fall harvest. Some root crops, greens and other vegetables can be successfully grown from late June, July or even August plantings.
Growing Sunflowers in Containers
Container grown sunflowers are a great way to bring color from the garden and landscape onto your patio, porch, or even into your home. Whether you grow them from seed yourself or buy them at a garden center, there are a few things you should consider when growing them. Follow these tips to get the most out of your sunflower.
Testing Garden Soil
Testing your garden's soil is important. If you live in West Virginia, you can get your soil tested for free through WVU's soil testing lab. John Morgan recently got his soil tested and documented the process in the video inside.
How an Appalachian Apple Became The Gold Standard
It’s fall. Here at Bob’s this means three things – pansies, mums, and apples. Apples are pretty amazing. We owe modern apples to central Asian farmers thousands of years ago who first domesticated apples. However, we can look a little closer to home when it comes to the most popular varieties of apples today. Two popular varieties have their origin right here in West Virginia. Grimes Golden and Golden Delicious, West Virginia’s official state fruit. In 2013, the Golden Delicious was one of four apple varieties featured on 33-cent stamps issued by the U.S. Postal Service.
Overwintering Mums
Overwintering mums is possible. Because many people think that mums (formally called chrysanthemums) are at best a finicky perennial, many gardeners treat them as annuals. But, this does not have to be the case. With just a little winter care for mums, these fall beauties can come back year after year. Keep reading to learn more about how to winterize mums.