How to Save Money on Professional Landscaping

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By deepthinkin
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Professional landscaping for less

Professional landscaping can be a costly expenditure, but a good landscape can save you money and add curb appeal as well as perceived value to your home. If done right, you can also cut down on yard maintenance. So, if you’ve been thinking about giving your yard a face lift, consider these points before you hire a landscaper to do your professional landscaping.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Research
Local well stocked nursery
Home and Garden magazines
Reputable professional landscaper

Step 1

Landscaping ideas

Get ideas – Before you hire a landscaper, scour magazines and your neighborhood for the type of professional landscape you want. The better idea you have the more control you will have over the professional landscaping bid because the landscaper will spend less time coming up with ideas she thinks you might like.
Step 2

Plants for your climate

Plant for your climate. – If you live in a dry area, you don’t want to have a tropical rain forest type of landscape. The cost in water resources will be high and it’s likely that you’ll lose plants. Visit your local nursery and talk to the horticulturist there.
Step 3

Interesting landscape path

Skip the grass, especially if you’re professional landscaping the front yard. Grass is high maintenance and costly to keep green. Instead, think about adding paths, rocks or other visually interesting elements to your professional landscape
Step 4

How large do plants get

Know how large the plants you select will get. A common mistake in professional landscaping is that a plant that looks so beautiful in its diminutive size grows into an uncontrollable monster bush when mature. Think ahead how your professional landscape will look a year after planting.
Step 5

Mulching is good for landscape soil

Insist on composting and mulching the soil instead of adding chemical fertilizers. More dollars should be spent on amending poor soil than adding quick fix fertilizers which will need more and more as the original doses wear off. Compost, compost, compost! It’s healthier for the soil, less costly to you and your plants will love it.
Step 6

Think sparse. Many times landscapers will over plant so that the finished product will look fuller. But refer back to step 4. Your plants will grow! Have a little patience and be aware of plant spacing. This will save you money on your professional landscaping.
Step 7

Think small. Insist on one gallon plants instead of the five gallon or larger plants. Your plants will grow, and grow well especially if your soil has been properly amended, and you’re planting for your climate. The difference in price between a 1 gallon and a 5 gallon plant can be significant when multiplied by 50.
Step 8

Ask for low flow drip irrigation systems which will water just the plant or small areas. You save water, money and are easy to install. You could even install them yourself thereby saving more money on your professional landscape.
Step 9

Knowing what you want, and what to expect before your sit down with your landscaper will save you money on your professional landscaping.