Join me, John Morgan, every two weeks during the summer as I explore the basics of gardening.  Gardening is fun and rewarding, but it can be a challenge for beginners.  Whether you just want to grow flowers in a pot on you front porch or acres of vegetables to sell at the local farmer’s market, this is the podcast for you!

Here at Bob's I manage our IT infrastructure, website, and I also help with various educational outreach activities.  My degree is actually in high school science and technology education.  At Marshall University I specialized in Biology Education and then picked up technology education later at Fairmont State to supplement the courses I was teaching.  While I love education, I quickly realized teaching wasn't for me.  (Maybe it had something to do with teaching teenagers.)  That's how I ended up at Bob's for what I thought would be a temporary position.  That was nearly a decade ago!  It turns out my background in biology and technology education was a perfect fit.  Also, being able to apply scientific deductive reasoning is a pretty good skill for troubleshooting IT problems.  (Step 1 is always to turn it off and on again.)

I firmly believe growing plants makes us better people.  That’s part of why our company motto is "growing flowers, friends, and family".  To quote the great American botanist Luther Burbank, “Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food, and medicine for the soul.”  Gardening is a lifestyle choice.  You won’t hear about “plant-it-and-forget-it” plants on this podcast.  Gardening takes time, commitment, and a willingness to learn from failure.  I know I’ve killed my share of plants over the years.

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.

I learned that gardening takes discipline, responsibility, and patience.  If you work hard, remove weeds, nourish with fertilizer, train young vines, and give your plants plenty of water, you will succeed.  Gardening will give you a harvest equal to the amount of effort you are willing to put into your garden.

Music by Silent Partner via the YouTube Audio Library

Sound Effect by JZ Grok