There’s nothing quite like coming home to a beautiful house and impeccably designed front lawn. While freshly groomed grass is always a tried and true way to keep your lawn looking good, you can do so much more than that. If you don’t have the budget to spend on expensive flowers and fountains, check out these 10 ways to obtain your dream lawn on a budget.
1. Get Creative
Think about landscaping concepts that you have always dreamed of and find a way to come up with a cheaper alternative. Consider anything that may improve your home’s curb appeal and create a list of changes you would like to make.
2. Use Ground Covers to Make Patterns
Geometric ground covers are great for creating patterns throughout your lawn. Broken or whole, ground covers can be used to create a sort of mosaic pattern. Use plants like creeping sedum and moss in between the planters to create contrast. Creeping sedum thrives in the sunshine and won’t require a lot of maintenance or water. Similarly, moss doesn’t need a lot of attention to thrive. Consider planting lemon thyme into your pattern. This herb is edible, has a great aroma, and won’t need much attention either.
3. Ask Your Friends for Flower and Plant Cuttings
Have a favorite plant but don’t want to spend money to put them in your garden? Don’t put off planting certain things because they’re too expensive. Ask friends and family for cuttings or foliage that you can use to grow your own plants and flowers.
This method of gardening works well with plants like butterfly bush and succulents. Consider going to a local nursery and asking if they have any cuttings that they may otherwise discard.
4. Add Dimension to Your Lawn with Planters
While planters aren’t incredibly expensive, setting them up around your whole house can make the cost add up. Instead of purchasing any new planters, go the DIY route and make your own. Consider barrels, crates, tires, or wood pallets. Using various materials and heights will add dimension and depth to your garden. Similarly, reusing older planters by giving them a fresh paint job can give your lawn a new lease on life.
5. Use Perennials for Color Throughout the Seasons
Perennials are easy plants for landscaping due to the fact that they live on through each season. Choose from perennials like allium, astilbe, baptisia, coneflower, sage, and more. Though it may cost a bit to purchase the perennials, this one-time expense will be worth it. Consider playing around with the design choices as your plant your perennials. Combine different colors in certain patterns for an incredibly beautiful visual as they bloom.
6. Put Variety into You Grass
Ornamental grasses allow homeowners to add variety to their lawn. Play around with the color and texture in your garden by introducing different types of inexpensive grass to your landscaping plans. Consider the likes of fountain grass, blue oat grass, flax, little bluestem, and zoysia.
7. Use Gravel as an Accent in Your Garden
When looking for low-maintenance and inexpensive options for your garden, gravel is one of the best design decisions you can make. Use gravel in areas with a lot of foot traffic and no plant life. With gravel, you’ll be able to pull or a contemporary and architecturally cool style.
8. Use Unconventional Materials as You Landscape
A garden can look great with any kind of material. From scraps of wood to industrial items like old copper and corrugated steel, designing your perfect garden is all about creating a look that works well with the nature around it. These unexpected materials are a great contrast to flowers, plants, and the typical trappings of a garden. You can even source some of these found objects from a junkyard or garage sales. You’ll find with a little ingenuity, your garden can go a long way.
9. Hide Anything Unsightly
You’ll be surprised at how much better you can make your lawn look, simply by removing any eyesores. Anything unsightly like your air conditioner can be obscured with simple wooden fencing that will look as if it’s part of your landscaping design. Follow this trend with anything else around your home that needs to be covered– a pump for the pool, garden hoses, the area where the trash cans are, and anything else of that sort. Remove any lingering trash or unwanted items from outside of your home.
10. Never Underestimate Lighting
Landscape path lights or solar LED pathway lights to place around your lawn. This lighting will add ambiance when night falls and are particularly helpful if you have guests over for dinner.
Get creative with other forms of lighting throughout your garden. String lights, as cliché as they may be, are always a great way to shed some light on your beautiful home. Whether you place them around the front of your house or drape them throughout your backyard, they’ll look great once the sun goes down.
Make the most of your greenery by sprucing it up with these landscaping ideas. With a little bit of creative thinking, you’ll be able to transform your home and garden while staying well within your budget.
