Welcome to Bobscaping

Photos and information on gardening, plants and home landscaping topics from landscape professional Bob Donnan.

“April is the kindest month. April gets you out of your head and out working in the garden”

Marty Rubin

BOBSCAPING BLOG

Ticked Off

As we go outside more often, onto the lawn and into the garden, health reminders about those tiny ticks who can spoil your fun. An April 18th newspaper story by JOE LoTEMPLIO sounded the Spring warning about ticks and Lyme disease. This can be especially important for those of us living in Pennsylvania, since our…

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Staying Sharp

Maintaining a sharp lawnmower blade is more important than you think. A clean cut will help your lawn look its best. Key points for proper lawn mowing: Sharpen you rotary mower blade at least once a year, more often if possible. Try not to dull the blade by ‘scalping’ any high soil areas. Use a…

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Time to Seed

A more appropriate title would be “Not much time left to seed” if you have a lawn in Pennsylvania, New England, the Midwestern U.S. or Canada. There are basically two times a year that are best for lawn seeding: Spring and Fall. For multiple reasons, I explain why Fall is the best choice on this…

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Cutting back large Yews or Taxus
Severe pruning of overgrown Yew hedges should be done early in Spring.
Read more here.
Spring reminder: SOIL TESTS BRING SUCCESS!
The first step in any serious lawn or landscaping endeavor is a soil test.
Read more here.

Video: Spring Shrub Reduction – Reducing Overgrown Shrubbery

Bobscaping “roots”
Growing colorful gourds on a string trellis as a child was Bob’s first inspirational success, but Bob began his 35-year landscape contracting career following graduation from the Ornamental Nursery Industry program in Penn State’s College of Agriculture, where course studies included tree culture, turfgrass maintenance, plant pathology, agronomy, entomology, and other specialized horticulture classes.
“Tree hugger”
Prior to university studies, Bob spent 7 years growing tree seedlings in his own nursery, as well as learning the proper methods of hand digging evergreen shrubs and large shade trees, while working at a commercial nursery. Landscaping, gardening and environmental issues continue to be lifetime passions in retirement.
Over 20 years on the world wide web!
Through work on four web sites over the past two decades, Bob has shared his textbook knowledge and hands-on experience with trees, shrubs, lawns and garden plants in varied landscape settings. This shared information has helped homeowners improve their own home’s curb appeal, while giving them the personal satisfaction of performing do-it-yourself gardening tasks, while using proper landscaping techniques and timing.

Bobscaping provides easy to understand information on tree and shrub trimming, lawn seeding, lawn care, soil improvement, fertilizer and basic everyday landscape maintenance topics.

See for yourself
Bobscaping “How To” videos help do-it-yourself home gardeners with step-by-step instructions, while also sharing tours of premier gardens, arboretums and conservatories. Many of the videos now have closed captioning (CC). Thousands of shrub photos and tree photos will further enhance your visit here.
And as we say in the business: “Green side up!”
Bob