Landscaping Idea on a Limited Budget
A nicely landscaped home is always admired and appreciated. Although there are homeowners who spend a fortune on landscaping their yard, you can create a beautiful display for a fraction of the cost. Does this Spark an idea?
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Pre-Planning
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The first step is to look at the area you wish to landscape and draw up a plan of how you would like it to look. Do this by looking at landscaping books and magazines and completed landscapes in your area to determine possibilities and what you like.Consider how what you find appealing will fit in your yard, or if it will fit and where.Then, make a budget for your landscaping needs. You may discover that you exceed this budget, or have funds left over, but starting with a budget will assist you in keeping the project less expensive.
Lawns
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Consider the expenses involved in maintaining a lawn when drawing up your plan.The preparation of the ground for sod or seeding is about the same, but starting your lawn with seed will be much less expensive. It is after you have your lawn established that the real costs are incurred. Fertilizer, water costs, mowing and sprinkler systems are ongoing costs. And, it is much more expensive to maintain a large lawn than smaller areas of grass. A large lawn should have an underground sprinkling system, where smaller areas of grass can easily be watered by hand or you can budget in a do-it-yourself small sprinkling system that you install when you seed.
In place of a lawn you can fill areas of your yard with native rocks and small boulders, mulch or chipped wood that is either inexpensive or free from tree removal companies or your county road department. Use free or inexpensive bricks, rocks or stones from demolished sites or owners who want to get rid of it for free. It may take some time to acquire what you need, but keeping your eyes open for opportunities will help you create your landscaping cheaply. -
Plants and Trees
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You can purchase plants for your landscaping but buy the smaller, immature and less expensive size rather than the more expensive one in the larger container. With proper care, the smaller one will reach the same size as the larger one by mid-season and cost a lot less.You can also start many plants from seeds, either directly into your landscape or inside then transplant them after they are a few inches tall.
Keep an eye on the classified ads in the newspaper and on the internet. Gardeners and homeowners with well established landscapes often advertise free plants, bulbs, shrubs and even trees when they are redoing their yard or it is time to thin out their landscaping from plants that multiplied and are now overcrowded. You may have to dig the plants yourself, but they are the right price, free.
Trees may be your biggest expense for your landscape needs.It will be tempting to buy a cheaper, smaller tree, but most trees are slow growers, taking years to become large enough to provide shade, screening or whatever you envision for your final landscape look. Faster growing trees are usually weaker and do not last as long, so it may be a better investment to purchase a larger tree in the species you originally wanted even if it is more expensive.
Ground Covers
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Many times you can create a striking look in your landscaping by using pebbles, gravel, crushed rock or mulch as ground cover around shrubs, trees and plants. It will less expensive than buying sacks and sacks of the material at your local garden center to go to the source. Somewhere around your area there may be a gravel pit or a rock-crushing plant. You can usually either go to the business and buy a pickup load (though it is heavy) or schedule to have a load dumped at your home for you to distribute where you wish. If you don't need an entire load, see if there is someone you can share the load with or check with the company to see if they are delivering a partial load in your area. It may be worth the wait if the company does deliver partial loads.
For inexpensive mulch, the same theory applies. Try to find the source. There may be a nut shelling company nearby that has discarded shells or a lumber processing plant for bark or chipped wood.
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