The trees growing in your yard provide unique qualities, such as attractive summer shade, a windbreak in the winter, a habitat for wildlife, fresh produce and nuts, and improved air quality. But to keep your yard trees in their best form, you must follow some good care practices for your trees to remain actively growing and attractive. Here are some recommendations that you can use to help keep your yard trees healthy and attractive.

Use the Right Equipment

As a homeowner, you don't want to collect any assortment of tree trimming equipment and gear to complete the job yourself, because you will put yourself and your tree at risk of injury and problems. First off, if your tree trimming project is so high up into the tree that you need a ladder to reach it, you should not complete the trimming. If you are going up on a ladder with a chainsaw in your hands, the chances of injury greatly increase along with fall risk. Always hire a tree trimming service to complete the projects that are at a higher elevation or with large tree branches. 

When you can easily reach branches from the ground, use steel tree trimming pruners or loppers to remove the branches within reach. Look at an extendible tree pruning stick to reach higher branches from the safety of the ground. Wear gloves and eye protection to keep yourself safe from sharp branches and rough stumps that you may come into contact with

Follow Healthy Pruning

The manner with which you prune and the time of year will make a big difference in your pruning job. The best time of year to prune your tree is in the late winter or early spring when the tree is dormant and not actively growing. Trimming in the winter actually promotes more healthy growth in the spring. Fall is usually the worst time to prune because the tree does not heal as quickly from trimming during this time of its growth cycle. 

Take care that you don't remove too much of a tree's new growth during one pruning. It is better to spread a tree's pruning over a span of several years if the tree is overgrown and has been neglected for some time. And when you trim off branches, be sure you trim it off even with the main trunk and don't leave a long stump that protrudes from the tree.