Budget Minded Landscaping - Landscape Design - By: Steve Boulden

The cost of landscaping depends a lot on the elements you want and the types of materials you plan to use to create them. Looking at some of your neighbor’s beautifully meandering pathways, flowering groundcovers, and perfect lawns can make you feel that a classy landscape is out of reach. For most of us that may be true if we had to do the entire project all at once. However, it is possible to have an enviable yard and landscape even if you are on a budget.

Let’s begin by looking at what it takes to really pull your yard together. Truly beautiful landscaping includes a balance hardscape which might include pavers, fountains, gates and softscape; vines, shrubs, trees, groundcover and anything else that grows. It’s usually the hardscape that most people on a budget think they can’t afford.

There are a lot of resources available where you can get inexpensive or free building material if you have a little patience and perseverance. If you search on Craigslist.com under the heading “free” you’ll discover all kinds of treasures people need moved off their property. You can find everything from stone and brick to hoses and lawnmowers. Of course some of these freebees might come with a small price. You may have to dig up the stones or remove the bricks from their backyard. You can also search Craigslist under the heading “materials” where you will most likely have to pay something for the brick or stone, but you might have some help from the seller loading it into your vehicle.

Habitat for Humanity can be found in most major cities and they have outlet stores dedicated to selling donated building materials to raise money for the organization. Much of what they’ve been donated is used, but they also receive a number of donations that are overruns from larger commercial jobs. Prices in these outlet stores are really great and the merchandise turns over so often that you’re bound to find just what you’re looking for if you look often enough.

There are also fantastic deals to be found right in your own neighborhood. Check out garage sales for things like pots, toy wagons and decorative items like weathered wooden benches. These can either be spruced up with a coat or two of paint, or left as is depending on the look you want to achieve. You’ll also be able to find gardening tools and if you ask, your neighbor just might have some left over bricks or supplies from their own landscaping project.

Great prices can be found for the softscape as well, but you have to have your timing right. Look for sales at your local large hardware stores. The best sales, as well as the largest selection of merchandise, are usually at the beginning of the growing season. Also, look on the internet for nurseries. You can find sale items at all times of the year. Request catalogs and very often you will find pages and pages of sale items that can be delivered right to your door. Plant bulbs! They’re cheap! And many come back year after year.

Budget minded landscaping is a labor of love. It requires patience, persistence and ingenuity. But over time and with a little tenacity, one day your neighbors will tell you how much they envy your yard!

About the Author

Article by Steve Boulden and Landscaping Videos.com who offers several galleries of landscape design ideas, pictures, plans, and videos. For more free landscaping and garden design ideas, visit http://www.landscapingvideos.com.

Article Directory Source: http://www.articlerich.com/profile/Steve-Boulden/1799

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