How to Give Your Yard a Landscaping Make Over on a Budget

Make your yard an enjoyable environment without going high-budget.

Although you likely enjoy a crisp, professional-looking yard, you also probably realize that such a yard is likely to cost a pretty penny. Instead of hiring a landscaping company or buying all supplies regardless of cost, you can save some cash by planning and maintaining your yard on your own. Improve the curb appeal of your home, making it a more pleasant place to approach and raising your property value at the same time.

Instructions

1. Check with friends and family to find landscaping rocks or other supplies they no longer want or need for free or cheap.

2. Make your own cedar chips or mulch by grinding branches up with a tree chipper. A little hard work will land you a lot of cedar chips or mulch ready for your yard.

3. Plant perennial plants so that each year they will regrow and you will not have to continue to keep buying plants constantly, which will save you a lot of money.

4. Buy seed packets and grow them inside ahead of time, rather than buying full-grown seasonal flowers. This will be a learning experience, and a pack of seeds is very inexpensive compared to buying flowers already grown in flats.

5. Ask landscaping companies if they have any shrubs or plants they have recently removed from customers' lawns. They may be willing to sell the plants inexpensively or even give them away.

Tips & Warnings

• Be Creative

References

• MSN Real Estate; 17 Ways to Landscape On the Cheap; Ann Archer