Archive for the ‘Books’ Category

Pardon me while I open the Department of Shameless Promotion. Did you know that Grocery Gardening is on not one…not two…but THREE Amazon best seller lists? The reviews (not all of them from my friends) have also been positive. (My mother is so proud!)

If you don’t yet have a copy of this book I wrote with my gardening friends Jean Ann Van Krevelen, Amanda Thomsen and Teresa O’Connor, here’s your chance to get one for FREE.

Leave me a comment to this post on or before Friday, March 5, and you’ll be entered into the drawing. When you leave your comment, please answer one of these questions:

- How, if at all, do you read other comments on blog posts? Do you read them before responding? Never read them? Something else?

- After commenting, do you subscribe to the follow-up comments on that post?

- Do you return to a blog post after commenting to see what other people have had to say?

Your responses will be most helpful in helping me to deal with the comments all the very kind people leave here at Bumblebee. I always read every comment and love them. I go through phases when I respond. Then I think “No one is looking at my responses” so I stop. But then I feel guilty and start responding again. So, help me out, okay? It’ll give me more time for grocery gardening!

Got Grocery Gardening?

UPDATE

Dawn at Owl Hollow News is the winner of the Grocery Gardening drawing. Congratulations, Dawn!

Robin

Look what I did, Mom!

Seriously, my author copies of Grocery Gardening finally arrived. I also spied copies on the shelf at the Barnes & Noble in Annapolis. I hear they are on the shelves at other booksellers as well as the big box hardware stores.

I have already shipped off copies to my son in college, my parents and my brothers. I signed them just like a big-time author too.

book snapshot

You want a copy? Look up and right and click on the image to take you to the Cool Springs Press bookstore where you can get your own copy. Or you can wait a while and take your chances at a Grocery Gardening giveaway I’ll be holding in a few days.

But first, I just want to see this little stack of books on my desk for a little while longer.

Robin
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Filed in: Books

Dec 04
2009

You Need This Book

Okay, maybe you don’t need this book. But lots of other people need this book and maybe you know one of them who could use it for Christmas.

Here’s your chance to save $19.95 plus shipping and win a FREE (gasp), yes FREE copy of The NEW Low-Maintenance Garden, by Valerie Easton. (You can see my review here.)

The New Low Maintenance Garden by Valerie Easton

If you want to re-claim your weekends and still have a beautiful and productive garden, Easton offers ideas on how to accomplish just that, including choosing the right plants, incorporating edibles, using hardscape, working with nature and overall simplifying your garden.

To enter for a chance to win, just leave me a comment to this post and tell me why you need this copy of The NEW Low-Maintenance Garden OR leave a tip of your own on how to simplify your gardening tasks. A winner will be selected using a random number generator.

Comments close on Wednesday, December 9. The winner will be announced on Thursday, December 10. Yes, in 2009.

Go!

Robin
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Filed in: Books
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Right Now at Bumblebee

March 7th, 2010

It’s official. Dawn over at Owl Hollow News won the Grocery Gardening drawing.  Congratulations, Dawn. I hope you enjoy the book.

What’s on your plate today? The weather here is sunny and at least not frigid. I’ll continue my early spring garden cleanup and also clean and repair bird houses. The bluebirds have made their return and are already checking out the real estate. What a joy to watch over my Sunday morning coffee.

Robin

March 6th, 2010

I find this one of the most anxiety-producing times of the year in the garden.

As I head outside and begin the winter cleanup, the whole summer garden thing just seems incredibly overwhelming. There’s so much to do. And I’m just one person out there. Honestly, I felt like sitting down to have a good cry about mid-afternoon. But I managed to put one foot in front of the other and actually got a good amount of tidy-up work done. Tomorrow will be more of the same.

Thank you everyone who left a comment explaining how you approach reading and leaving comments on blog posts. The cumulative input has been extremely helpful. The overall consensus is that you’ll read comments if it’s an interesting discussion. You don’t usually subscribe to comments because it clogs up your email box. And you’ll only check back to see if the author has responded if you’ve left a question. That about sums it up.

On another note, I have selected by random number generator the winner of Grocery Gardening. She’s been notified. When she responds back, I’ll announce who she is.

Thank you everyone!

Robin Ripley

February 22nd, 2010

My lawn is a wreck.

I went outside to re-fill the bird feeders—AGAIN. The parts of my lawn that don’t look like the frozen tundra resemble a swamp. With every step I take my foot sinks down at least an inch. Walking to the feeders I can see my path in the mud.

I also see that we lost one small ornamental tree by the driveway as well as one of my rose trellises, which succumbed to the weight of the snow.

Spring better hurry up and get here. I have a lot of work to do.

Robin

February 17th, 2010

Are you sick of everyone talking about the weather? I am too, but here goes…

There is so much snow on the ground, I don’t know when it’ll all melt. On top of that, much of it has iced to the extent that moving it from one place to another requires a pick ax. Walking in the back yard to fill the bird feeders is like walking on a bumpy ice rink. There are trees and bushes that need a bit of first aid to remove partially broken branches, but I don’t dare risk skating across the ice with my pruners. Not yet anyway.

Still, there is hope. Although we’re expecting snow flurries today, the weather should warm up into the forties in the next few days, providing some melting relief.

But really, all this unrelieved WHITE is getting to me!

Robin

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