There are many reasons why people love living in Albany, Oregon. The city has a lot of great features and benefits that make it a wonderful place to live. Not only does the city maintain its small town charm, but there is plenty of natural beauty in the city to enjoy. One thing we often forget about is the natural beauty offered by our landscaping. There are always new ways to spruce up your lawn or backyard, but here are some basics for maintaining your landscape with ease!

Maintain a Regular Mowing Schedule

The first step to maintaining your yard is understanding that you should never let the grass grow too high! It can be tempting in the summer months when it stays warm all day, but this quickly causes a mess. If not maintained regularly, tall and overgrown lawns will become filled with bugs and rodents who are often attracted to these conditions! Not only this but it will become more difficult and messy to mow the taller it gets. Keeping to a bi-weekly mowing schedule usually is enough to maintain a beautiful lawn.

Give Your Landscaping Enough Water

The next step to a good lawn is watering it! Yes, you should water your yard often. When the ground becomes too dry for our grass to survive, this will lead to an unhealthy and unsightly appearance of the lawn. It also causes problems with insect infestation which means more work for you in pest control! To avoid these types of problems, install a drip irrigation or sprinkler system to make watering everything easy. Consult a professional landscaper to ensure your entire yard gets adequate coverage.

Pruning Trees and Shrubs

Another landscaping tip is to make sure you are pruning trees and shrubs regularly. This is especially important if you have mature or older plants in your yard that are starting to overgrow each other. Pruning will help them grow more evenly, look better and it can also be used as a way of controlling insects such as aphids which feed on the leaves! Pruning is also a great way to maintain the health of your plants and trees over the long run. It minimizes the stress on the trees and allows for new growth to get the nutrients it needs to be healthy.

Mulch To Prevent Weed Growth

As the weather starts to heat up in Spring and Summer, it's important to make sure you lay down mulch for your garden beds. Mulch is important because it helps to maintain moisture levels in your soil. It also will help prevent weeds from growing, which can be a big problem if you're not careful with them as they grow back. Mulch is a huge help in inhibiting the growth of weeds in your garden and in your grass. It essentially blocks light from feeding the weed seeds trapped underneath. Proper mulching will save you a lot of time and energy throughout the warm months.

Monitor and Remove Common Pests

If you are a fan of the movie "Caddy Shack" you may be familiar with the next landscaping tip. Spring and Summer are the perfect time to look out for gophers, moles and other pests. Unless you want your yard to be filled with mounds and holes, trap gophers and moles early in the season before they are able to dominate your lawn. These traps can be purchased as most home improvement stores or even online.

The upkeep of your backyard landscaping and garden can take a lot of work, but if you stay consistent with the basics, you will avoid making small issues into big ones. These landscaping tips will help you enjoy your back yard for the entire warm season in Albany.