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Whether you’re simply installing a new patio or looking to completely overhaul your garden, a failure to plan your project effectively can result in your budget rapidly spiraling out of control. Remodeling a home garden offers many different ways to leave your mark when your private outdoor space and pour some of your personality into the surroundings, and at every turn, you will be presented with opportunities to spend high or spend low. In most cases you’re going to want to lean on the side of budgeting, so we’ve put together some tried and tested tips to help you cut back your costs on landscape design without having to sacrifice your vision for a new and beautiful garden.
Renovate Instead of Replacing
Initially, you may be tempted to rip up all your existing features and plan on creating a whole new garden design from scratch. However, you can find many benefits to adding a twist to pre-existing features or repurposing current elements in a whole new context. You could, for example, take the bricks from your old planter to help create a new pathway; construct a gate out of old fence posts; or replant your hardy perennials in a fresh bed. This approach can help make your designs more creative while saving money and retaining a sense of the garden’s previous identity.
Take to the Slopes
Transferring large quantities of soil around and trying to re-sculpt the contours of your garden can be expensive and time-consuming. Try to go with the flow of the contours you already have when coming up with a new design. If you have slopes so steep as to suffer from erosion, you can pick up some relatively inexpensive landscaping cloth that can allow you to directly plant vine, groundcover and succulent plugs.
Organise Some Plant Swapping
Many hands make light work, so don’t be afraid to call on other horticultural enthusiasts in your social circles. You can make savings on outlays for new plants by, for example, swapping some of your bearded iris in exchange for a quantity of salvia. You could even organize a wider or more formal get-together in your neighborhood where local people can swap plants in larger amounts.
Use Compromises to Cut Down on Maintenance
Depending on the sort of look you want to go for, your maintenance costs can depend in large part on the local climate. If the climate is dry but your angling for English garden design, your upkeep and water costs will be a lot more expensive. However, you don’t necessarily have to force yourself into choosing one of the other. For example, you can cut back on the maintenance cost of roses by planting them adjacent to a hedge of evergreen.
Plan in Stages
More expensive permanent features, such as paving, don’t need to be installed immediately. You can simply use a placeholder like a pea gravel to layout the path, and complete it with more heavy duty paving when your budget allows.
Plant Ahead
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With some patience and an eye on the long game, you can make big savings by opting to plant flora in its infancy, rather than opting for adult versions. Grow plants from cuttings, sow seeds and opt for small pots, and in a matter of years, your garden will be on a commensurate level with where you would be if you began with more expensive, bigger plants.
Go Scavenging
You will find no shortage of garden features in perfectly usable condition available second hand from junkyards and salvage shops. Vintage gates, old fencing, weathered bricks and stone troughs can all add style and atmosphere to your garden, whilst not being too hard on your wallet. It’s also a great way to make your home garden look unique and stand out from the competition.
Read more: DIY Garden Screen From Wood Blinds
Mix Things Up
You don’t need to spend large chunks of your budget on matching furniture sets to add style and comfort to your outdoor areas. Blending textures and materials like metal and wood can work in tandem for a picturesque furniture set up that will look a lot less out of place than you think. Wholesale furniture outlets like IKEA can also provide attractive furniture at a reasonable budget.
Trawl the Sales
You can really find some bargains on gardening components if you look around at the right times of the year. Come the autumn you will find a lot of nurseries having considerable sales on the plant stocks with savings available of up to 50%. Happily, this is also a fantastic time of year to begin planting, as root systems can easily develop in warm soil and temperatures are cool enough so that you don’t need to be constantly watering your new acquisitions.
Use Details to Maximum Effect
Cheap accessories can help offset the look of your home garden in ingenious ways for minimum outlay. Items like a well-judged bird feeder or classic mailbox can stand out and help bring together the tone of the whole environment. You also get a lot of bang for your buck with glass accessories that can sparkle and reflect light in the sun.
Read more: Top 7 backyard landscaping upgrades for summer 2018
Written by Floyd Burton. May 30, 2018
Floyd is a full-time vegetarian blogger who is always passionate to explore new areas of writing about the health food and DIY gardening. He believes that being unique is one of the best mantras of a successful writer. Nothing can stop him from uncovering the eccentric facts about everything!
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Thanks for these ideas, I will try with one of them