Manicuring your lawn and your backyard can be something fun to plan out, however sometimes it can end up costing more than you expect it to. Of course, there are professional landscapers out there who would be more than willing to do the work for a price, but what if you wanted to do it yourself? After all, not everyone can upkeep your yard and garden just the way you want it. Here are a few simple tips on saving money with do-it-yourself landscaping.
1. Use plants native to your home’s area. The more common your plants are to the environment you are in, the easier they will be to take care of. For example, planting a willow tree in the desert region might not be impossible, but it will take a lot of extra care and cash.
2. Use compost to enrich the soil outside your home. Why? Because it’s free! And it has been proven that plants respond well to this kind of natural material. Not only is it cost effective, but also it is actually much better for the soil than store bought fertilizer.
3. Instead of landscaping fabric, use old newspapers. All you have to do is layer it the way you want to in your garden bed, soak it with water and then add a thin layer of dirt right on top of that.
4. Use garden leaves as mulch. As the seasons start to change, trees start shedding their beautiful leaves to the ground. Instead of raking them up and loading them into plastic bags for the garbage, use them as mulch for your plants. This helps promote the notion of sustainability, and nature does respond better to all natural products.
5. Take a day to visit a construction site. When a construction company is finished with a project or has some unneeded materials they often go directly to the landfill. With that being said, it might be a good idea to stop by a site to see if they have anything to donate to you and your landscaping projects. This can add to your landscaping plans in a cheap, efficient way.
6. Leave some of your grass clippings on the lawn. Kind of like composting, the bits of grass that you get when you trim your yard down are actually loaded with organic nutrients. If you leave some here and there for your lawn to absorb, it will not need nearly as much fertilizing. You will be surprised how much healthier your grass will look after giving this method a try.
7. Do not cut your grass too short. The longer your grass is, the deeper the roots are into the soil. This is a positive thing because it means that your lawn will not require as much watering as a short cut lawn would.
8. Buy used materials when you can. A lot of people in various parts of the country have green thumbs, and this means that there is a lot of equipment floating around. If you are looking for tools or gardening materials, stop by a few garage sales before heading to the retail shelves. In the long run, this will actually cut down the cost of your expenses quite a bit.
Written by Clark Jones, owner of Tree Frog Complete Grounds Maintenance. Tree Frog is the best company for landscaping and lawn care Columbia MO has to offer.