Bob’s Blog
Bob's Behind-The-Scenes
During my 40 minute drive to Bob’s HQ each morning, I like to listen to podcasts. Among my favorite podcasts is Freakonomics Radio. Last week host Stephen Dubner explored the complexity of making something as simple as a pencil. The episode featured a famous economics essay, “I, Pencil: My Family Tree” by Leonard E. Read. When you visit one of our markets, you are only seeing a small part of a huge supply chain. Let’s take a look at how a plant grown from seed gets to one of our markets. Since spring is just around the corner, let’s take a look at growing pansies.
Tips for Bringing Plants Indoors for Winter
If you haven’t brought your houseplants, and other plants you wish to overwinter, inside yet, it’s probably too late. Here in the Mid-Ohio Valley we’ve already had a couple killing frosts. However, if you’ve brought plants inside or plan to in coming years, here are some tips to help you nurse them along through the winter.
Growing Stonecrop
Today I got a Facebook message from Tena Roush wanting some help identifying a plant. The plant pictured is a favorite in the fall garden when it reveals cluster of beautiful blooms. Stonecrop is a perennial that provides beautiful foliage throughout the growing season and provides an impressive flash of color in the fall.
Brace Yourself
I hate to say it, but to quote Eddard Stark, “Winter is coming.” This week’s cooler weather has got me thinking about changing leaves, the smell of wood smoke, and frosty mornings. With the changing of the seasons, there are a number of things you can do now to prepare your landscape for winter and give you landscape a boost in the spring.
Late Summer Gardening
As summer begins to wind down toward fall, the spring-planted garden changes character. Once bright green and limber, the foliage darkens, dries, and makes a rasping, rattling sound as you wander through. In the late-summer vegetable garden, your plants are entering the seed making phase and require a little special attention to prolong their productivity.
Lessons from The Garden
One of my earliest memories as a child is following grandpa through the garden as he tilled between the rows with a push cultivator. My grandpa and my dad taught me everything I know about gardening. Growing up on a small farm in a small West Virginia community had an enormous impact on my life. Gardening is a great way to teach children lessons that will continue to grow throughout their lives.