Having a well-maintained landscape and common areas makes being outside pleasurable for your residents and adds value to your property.

Here are a few tasks to ensure your landscape and common areas look beautiful throughout spring — and the many months ahead.

Irrigation

With Gov. Brown having declared a drought in California, make sure your landscape continues to receive the right amount of water to thrive without wasting one of our state’s most precious resources.

It’s especially important for you and your landscape professional to check your irrigation system regularly and verify that water coverage is appropriate. Look for broken heads and pipe leaks. If you decide your current system does not meet your needs, make sure your landscape company is an expert in system repairs, restoration and installation. It is important to select a company that stays up-to-date on all the state-of-the-art, water-saving technologies available.

Also, many local water municipalities are offering rebates for various water-saving products. Now is a great time to check out what’s available and see if you qualify.

Turf

Your residents love a well-manicured lawn. To ensure a vigorous turf, here are three important tasks:

Apply pre-emergent herbicides: This suppresses the weeds and helps maintain a relatively weed-free lawn for the months ahead. This application also helps control crabgrass. Crabgrass infestations can detract from your turf areas’ appeal and health.

Fertilize: Now is a good time to fertilize your lawn. Make sure your landscape maintenance company has the knowledge and experience to know which fertilizer works best for your type of turf.

Aerate: It’s recommended that you have your lawn aerated at least once a year.  In heavy-use turf, it may be advisable to aerate several times throughout the year.  Aeration is an important step in maintaining a beautiful, healthy lawn. It helps the turf absorb water, gets oxygen in the soil and gives the roots a chance to breathe.

Talk to your landscape maintenance professional about your properties’ fertilizing, aeration and weed control schedule.

Pruning

Depending on the type of plant material you have on your property, now may be a good time to prune. Proper pruning minimizes disease, controls growth, rejuvenates plants and helps develop thicker foliage and more flowers.

Many plants do not need pruning or can go through the “natural” pruning cycle. With natural pruning, you let the bloom cycles go and enjoy the plants’ natural beauty. Talk to your landscape professional about the type of plants you have, when they should be pruned and if the plants can go through the natural pruning cycle.

By accomplishing these few task, your landscape will look its best in the spring and beyond.

Zoen Baldwin is vice president of Pacific Green Landscape, Inc. For more information, visit www.pacificgreenlandscape.com or call 800.439.9962.