A beautiful yard is the welcome mat to your home. It creates a beautiful look that completes your home and gives it great curb appeal. However, creating that beautiful yard and beautiful landscaping takes a long time and a lot of money — whether you do it yourself or hire someone to do it for you.
Fortunately, there are many ways to save money without sacrificing the quality of your yard and the curb appeal of your home. Here are a few tips:
Hire a Neighborhood Kid
Simply mowing your lawn regularly will make a huge impact on the look and health of your yard, but hiring someone to do it can be expensive. You can hire a neighborhood kid who will be more than happy to mow your lawn to make some extra cash, and you’ll end up spending far less than you would for a professional. Your yard will look just as good!
Use Landscaping Cloth
One of the most time-consuming tasks of maintaining your lawn is weeding your flower beds, pathways and other areas that you want to have a manicured look. Letting these areas become overgrown with weeds really detracts from the curb appeal of your home. You can lay down landscaping cloth on any areas where you don’t want weeds to grow, and then cover it with mulch or dirt. After installing it, you won’t have to weed again — or spend money having someone else do it.
Compost
Buying fill dirt, top soil and fertilizer can start to add up fast — especially if you have a large area to cover. By making your own compost, you can get as much soil and fertilizer as you need without having to pay anything. You just put kitchen waste like food scraps (except for meat and cheese) in your compost bin with grass clippings, dead leaves and other yard waste. After a couple of months of adding to the pile and turning it, you will have a rich, dark soil that also acts as a great fertilizer for all your plants and grass.
Check Freecycle and Craigslist
Many people decide to give their yard a new look, and when they do, they give away their old plants. These can be expensive plants that would look perfect in your yard. As long as you’re willing to dig them up and replant them, you can usually have them for free. Other items you may be able to get for free include seeds, mulch, and rocks that are left over from another’s landscaping project. You can also find most of these items at a discount.
Use Cuttings and Share Seeds
You don’t have to buy the whole plant in order to grow one of your own. If you have a friend who has a plant you would like to have in your yard, ask for a cutting. This is a small branch or stem that is cut from the plant that you can then put in water, soil or a root compound to encourage to grow roots and start a new plant. Using this method, you could get a wide variety of plants for your yard for free.
If you are trying to grow vegetables or flowers, you could ask a friend to do a seed share. Most of the time, the packets have more seeds than you need, so you can buy them with a friend and split them. You’ll spend half as much money and only get the seeds you actually need.
Barter Services
When nothing but the help of a professional will do, you can still save money by offering to barter services. Of course, you have to have something of value to the person you are trying to work with, but if you can make it work, it’s a great way to save money. Consider using Craigslist to post an ad with your proposed trade, or contact the landscaper directly and offer to trade services.
You can have the yard of your dreams without having to spend thousands of dollars. Try some of these strategies to get a yard that looks like a million bucks for a budget — and, if you’re really lucky and really diligent, maybe even for free.
What strategies do you use to save on yard care and landscaping? Share your tips in the comments!
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