Soil

All plants start off with soil. However, at Bob’s we don’t use soil like you would dig up outside. Instead we use a “soilless growing media” made from peat moss, processed pine bark, and other ingredients like fertilizer. That way we are able to create exact “recipes” for our soil to fit the needs of the types of plants we are growing. The entire process is automated and the finished soil get moved to where we need it by conveyor belts.

Seed

At Bob’s we specialize in growing flowering annuals like the flowers you plant in your yard each spring. We also grow vegetable plants for home gardeners too. We have about 2,500 different types of plants that we grow from seed. To keep the seed dormant (asleep) until we sow them, we store them in a big refrigerator at 40 degrees F. To keep them organized, we keep them in alphabetical order by plant species, just like books in a library!

Sunlight

After being sown, the seedling make their way out to the greenhouse. Greenhouses harness the power of the sun to grow plants. By having transparent walls and roofs, they allow photosynthesis to take place during the day. Most of the seedlings we grow have a 4 - 6 week “crop time” before they are ready to ship out to other greenhouses and garden centers that will grow them into a finished product.

 Growing is perhaps one of the most important jobs at Bob’s. Each grower is responsible for the care of an entire section of the greenhouse. They monitor watering, fertilizing, and treating the plants. It is a job that has to be done every day of the week because plants don’t take weekends off. To become a grower you can specialize in horticulture in college or become a “grower in training” through our apprenticeship program.

Along with growers, we have crews of people in the greenhouse responsible for moving plants from one place to another. … It’s kind of like a 25 acre game of Tetris as new crops move in and crops ship out. We also have crews of people who do a process called “patching”. We guarantee our wholesale customers 100% full trays of seedlings, but sometimes a seed might not sprout. This means we have to fix each tray before it leaves the greenhouse. We do this using extras trays that were sown beyond what was ordered.

Transplanting

Each year we transplant close to half a million units of “finished product”. Finished product is anything that gets transplanted and grown as a product to be sold to a end customer like you! We either sell these plants as retail at one of our market locations or as a wholesale product to another business or organization.

Growing

Like seedlings, once transplanted, the plants head back out to the greenhouse to finish growing. This time can range anywhere from a few weeks for bedding plants, to months for slower growing crops and bigger containers. The crop with the longest production time is fern baskets. It takes a whopping nine months to grow a finished fern!

Shipping

Seedling plugs along with finished product get shipped on our own fleet of trucks. We ship plants all over the east coast and as far west as Texas.

Greenhouse Technology

At Bob’s Market we have nearly 25 acres of greenhouses under roof along with 5 acres of outdoor growing space. While some of our smaller greenhouses have simple, manual controls, our larger greenhouses are fully computer controlled. Sensors measure everything from the indoor temperature and humidity to the outdoor weather conditions. All of this data is used to precisely control the growing environment. Our newer greenhouses are also designed to be energy efficient featuring heated floors and LED lighting.