A great yard is what every family dreams of having. It creates a picturesque area that boosts your mood just by looking at it.
Just imagine your children playing catch, puppies fetching Frisbees, leaves dancing with the wind, and blooming rose bushes.
A yard not only serves as space where plants are grown but also where memories are made. And luckily, we can guarantee this vision as long as the proper care is implemented.
An important part of your yard that needs great care is your trees. Weakened and unmanaged ones can lead to damage and injury to both you and your home if not resolved immediately.
Read on below to learn some tips and tricks you might find helpful to keep your trees healthy and robust.
Contents
1. Plant the Right Tree
One of the first things to consider when planning your yard is planting the right tree. Otherwise, you might find yourself wondering why your trees might not be growing leaves in the spring.
Therefore, you should always consider your location’s climate, soil, and light. Knowing a tree’s requirements to grow will allow it to sprout correctly.
If you are looking for inspiration for the next tree to plant in your yard, take a look at the wide variety of trees available from Countryside Garden Centre
2. Water Effectively
The two things your plants and trees need are water and sunlight.
While you may not have total control of the sun (aside from placing your tree where the sun hits the most), you can control the amount of water they are going to receive during the day.
One of the easiest ways to know when it is time to water your trees is by poking the soil with a screwdriver. If it reaches up to 8 inches without any struggle, the soil is still moist and does not require watering.
One the other hand, if you find it challenging to poke it for at least 6 inches deep, it’s a signal for you to water your tree.
Make sure to thoroughly quench them, and avoid watering during the hottest time of the day—10AM to 6PM—as it will evaporate quicker than normal.
3. Prune Them Properly
Pruning is the process of removing the diseased and damaged branches of your tree. As a result, cutting these off will certify you one that is stronger and more robust.
If you don’t know how to do this, you can always hire yourself a professional to do the job. However, if you want to save up on costs and acquire new skills, you can also choose to prune it yourself.
4. Protect the Roots
The life of a tree relies on the health of its roots. If a majority dies, the entire tree dies along with it.
Hence, to keep this from happening, you should add a mulch layer since this helps retain the soil’s moisture and adds additional nutrients to the trees. Additionally, it also helps protect the root from potential damage.
If you’re adding mulch to your trees’ root, you should only add 3 to 4 inches of mulch as this is the maximum needed for a mature tree. But if you’re in colder regions, you can add more to help them have the additional moisture they need.
5. Maintain Healthy Soil
As mentioned above, your tree’s life relies on its roots. Its origins live beneath the soil, where the gathering of nutrients happens. Therefore, you must ensure that your soil is healthy. If not, your roots may be compromised.
You can maintain healthy soil by adding mulch or fertilizers as needed. You can also put ground covers and grasses around the earth to allow dead plant material to decay naturally in the soil.
6. Use Stakes
Trees are prone to moving along with the wind, especially when they are still young. And while it’s normal for them to do so, strong winds might create the risk of trees falling over and being detached from their roots.
To avert such a problem, you should implement a two-stake system. To create this, put a stake on either side of the root ball and tie it loosely, thereby supporting its trunk.
Having stakes as support should allow your tree to stand still and keep it from toppling over even amidst the strongest winds.
It usually takes over a year before a tree can stand on its own. Once they have reached this phase in their growth, you should remove the stakes immediately.
7. Remove Pests
Remove and keep a keen eye out for pests in your household. In the case you’re unable to completely terminate them, you can find ways to control pest activity.
The two main types of pests to look out for are defoliators and wood borers. The first kind are pests that feed on leaves and needles of your trees, while the second destroy the bark and wood.
Here, we provide some common species to be wary of:
Defoliators
- Gypsy moth
- Western and Eastern Tent Caterpillar
- Douglas Fir Tussock Moth
- Spruce Budworm
Wood Borers
- Emerald Ash Borer
- Asian Longhorn Beet/Borer
- Bark Bettles
It’s ideal that you rid of these pests as soon as possible as having them around will just hurt your growing tree.
8. Maintain a Healthy Environment
Maintaining a healthy environment helps prevent pests from coming for your trees. You should remember to water, fertilize, mulch, and prune your trees throughout the year to keep them healthy.
To be sure that you are using the correct fertilizers and taking proper care of your trees, it would be the best to contact Elk Grove arborists for tree care advise
Now with growing trees and blooming plants, you can also opt to add in a fantastic urban deck to level up your yard’s aesthetic factor. This will definitely improve the view of your environment.
Conclusion
Owning a yard requires regulation, neatness, and nourishment because on the off-chance these are neglected, tree branches may fall off and hurt the people nearby.
That is why you need to be disciplined and responsible to keep your yard safe, beautiful, and healthy.
Planting the right trees, watering and pruning them properly, protecting their roots and keeping the soil healthy, removing pests, using stakes to keep them upright while they’re young, and maintaining a healthy environment are just some of the ways you can keep the trees in your yard healthy.
