Real Estate Community Forum

Installing and maintaining landscaping around any persons home can be extremely costly. I currently have a nice small home with a few flowers around the front and back. Its nothing fancy, but it adds some nice color and decoration around the home. I would like to spruce it up a bit, but I am working with a limited budget. Are there any suggestions to help homeowners make their landscaping more attractive at a small fee? I would like to add more decorations outside, but I'm afraid it might create a cluttered look. Any suggestions?

One of the heroes of low-maintenance landscaping is Mulch. It's highly portable, malleable and, its even possible to make your own Mulch! Mulch also comes in handy when you have a problem area for which there seems to be no other solution. An application of mulch can reduce your watering needs significantly, which can save you money and time. Mulch also suppresses many weeds, which makes yard care much easier and less maintenance. Mulch has definitely become a life saver for many home owners.

The best low-cost tip I have for landscaping is to do it yourself. Everything from digging up the dirt to putting in a watering system to building up planting beds is able to be done with home delivery of materials and hands-on work. Nothing about “farming” your property is easy, but nothing about it is not rewarding.

Start with a plan. Measure out your yard and draw a scale picture of it. Exactness is not required. We will use this for general information about the property. If you have the time, take a full year to do what comes next. Copy your drawing about five times. Never mark the original. You might want more copies. At 10:00 a.m., date the first copy and mark out the areas of sunshine on the drawing. Again, we are looking for a general idea of which parts of the yard get sun. Repeat every month during the growth cycle. If you live in an area of heavy snow, make a couple of copies to show where any drifts might happen, and which areas are blown almost clear of snow by the wind (if any). These maps will help your garden center tell you what you can grow in your yard. You will not believe how much knowledge is there if you give them a really good idea of the growing conditions in your new garden.

Take pictures of the yard and existing plants. Start in one corner and just turn around slowly and click picture after picture. Put them in order in an album or use plastic sheet protectors. Take them with you shopping for plants and landscape features. You are going to really appreciate these pictures once you are done. “Before” pictures make the work you have done so much more rewarding. At the garden center, ask about watering, fertilizing (a sealed bag of dirt from your yard will tell them a lot about soil amendment), and wintering of plants. Discuss the walking, playing and pet areas of the yard. Take magazine pictures of the fantasy garden you have in mind. Always be prepared to say “no” or to think about the ideas offered. Every step you take before you actually put in plants is going to pay you back many times.

Start at the lowest part of your yard, if there is one. This will guarantee that the watering system and any terracing you do ends up needing less material and much less work. I learned this the hard way years ago. I have friends who ignored that advice and plopped in a flower bed. They are still trying to figure out how to stop the erosion at the front of their house. Pay no more than you have to. Buy in bulk from building supply yards if you need soil, sand, gravel, rock or mulch. You will pay a fraction of the price of materials that are bagged for your convenience. Rent power tools and invest in hand tools. Don’t cheap out on a hand tool. They will break, rot, or demand too much work from your body. Tools are designed to save you labor. Well designed tools save you a lot of labor, and they simply cost more. Keeping your tools clean and dry will make them last for decades. Never leave a single tool in the yard. Have a place for them, and store them there once they are as clean as new.

Planning your landscape project in phases lets you buy what you need as you go, and as the money becomes available.

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