Landscaping on a budget....

Ok, so I am working in my garden this morning- first time all week I have been able to!- and it hits me! I MUST tell you all about what I have been doing! It rained last night, so it was a perfect time for me to pull weeds, by the way! ANYWAY! LOL

Landscaping is an expensive proposition, no matter what, extra dirt, rocks, plants,etc! On a budget? NO WAY you say! LOL Well, it does involve a bit of patience on your end. I started this last year, and am seeing great progress in my yard this spring! I am so excited! Here's what I did:

1. take a walk around YOUR YARD! yep, if you are like me...sometimes mowing is slow...... so this works best for people like me. If you are NOT like me, I know you know someone like me.....ask if you can walk in their yard... you will know them... their grass is the longest on the block! (no fault of our own this time..... the belt that turns the blade broke and we are trying to scrape together money to get a new one, and possibly have someone install it!)

In the spring you will find tons of "volunteers". NO, I do NOT mean your kids! ;) They are those pesky plants tht pop up all over the yard in the most in opportune places. some bushes, some flowers, some baby trees! DON'T throw them away! Start planning in your head how you want your yard to look! Where can you best use those plants? have a nasty fencerow you don't like to look at? put those bushes to use there! Need tall pretty flowering bushes? Put some some rose of sharon babies there. Don't like where someone else planted some iris bulbs? before they start growing, replant them!

The best time to replant things is early early spring before they start growing (bulbs) or right after they do ( the bushes, baby trees). I will tell you, Rose of Sharon bushes are very expensive, and I have probably replanted over a dozen or more last year, and will plant that many more this year. How much money have I saved? Ok, so not all make it (mowers, weather, etc) but who cares? they were free, and I will have more volunteers next year!

Granted most of the things you will replant will be green - but you will be able to shape them how you want to, and they can end up very ornamental. I have had the surprise this year of one bush I let grow (it was where I wanted it anyway!) looks like it just might FLOWER this year! how exciting! And I just thought it was a general run of the mill bush!

The best part about all this? Nope, not that it's free! It's that they were growing in your yard anyway, they are used to your soil, so when you replant them, it's not as much of a shock to their system, and they are more likely to thrive! last years "baby plants' that were mere inches grew into 2'-3' tall bushes! I will let them grow a bit more before I trim them this year, but how exciting , huh?

2. The other thing I did last year is take advantage of all the website deals on the internet for plants. I did NOT buy live plants if possible. I only bought bulbs, or perennials. Granted some can be boring, but hey.... THEY COME BACK EVERY YEAR!!!!

I will get some links on the side later today (after my field trip!) for my favorite sites.... but you can search some like burpee.com, gurneys.com, etc and usually they will have a buy $50, get $25 free, or some such deal going on. so, you are actually getting $75 worth of plants for $50.... don't forget to factor in tax and shipping! I have seen better deals than that, and you can sometimes find coupon codes but if you sign up for their emails, they will send you great codes as well!

don't forget to ask around on Freecycle for free dirt, plants, or anything else you are looking for (within reason please) to help your garden grow! right now we have no edging, but a good spade and time can take care of that, if we want to deal with it. start a compost pile to help you get good dirt going for your garden.

this you can do. if I can do it (and my family says I have a "black thumb") then YOU can do it!