My name is Bob Durrwachter. My day job until I retired in 2021 was a chemist; I worked in the area of human drug production for 40 years. I have a new gig teaching chemistry at Wartburg (adjunct). I have been gardening as long as I can remember. At home, my dad and I would start and maintain the vegetable garden. After leaving home, I always tried to have a garden of some sort even while going to school. As time went on, I started trying all sorts of different plants. While living in Texas, I joined the International Palm Society and eventually had 30 different species in my yard in Corpus Christi. I moved to Iowa in 1997 to work at Cambrex in Charles City; we moved to Waterloo in 2022 and that is when I took the Master Gardener course. I currently have a backyard garden that is mostly my backyard. I really enjoy salsa so my garden has lots of tomatoes, peppers and onions. Heirloom tomatoes are my favorite and I am a member of Seed Savers. I currently volunteer at the Cedar Valley Arboretum and the Food Bank garden; at our church, I am the liaison with our community garden, where I have a second garden plot.