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Budget Gardening

Stretch Your Landscape Dollar

Budget Gardening:

Stretch Your Landscape Dollar

Money-Saving Landscaping Tips

Garden Plants

Garden Plan

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A landscape can look like a million bucks without costing that much. Follow these tips on how to plan, shop, swap, forage, and recycle.

Money Tips
1. Tap the experts. County extension agents, state horticulturists, and reputable nurseries all offer free advice and can save you from costly mistakes.
2. Get help. Use magazines and books as resources, or enlist a green-thumbed friend's assistance.
3. Make your own decisions. Keep in mind that profit motives make some landscapers overzealous. Stick with what you want and can afford -- you can always add more later.
4. Shop cooperatively. Share bulk purchases with a friend (or combine mail-order purchases to cut down on shipping costs), and rent garden equipment with other gardeners.
5. Avoid impulse buying. When you visit the nursery, ask yourself: Do I really have room for these plants?
6. Comparison shop. Nurseries may differ drastically in price and quality.
7. Consider hardiness. Self-reliant species are better buys than high-maintenance exotic beauties.
8. Don't overplant. Landscape with mature sizes in mind, or you may end up paying to move too-large plants.

Flower Power
9. Save surplus flower seeds. In a cool, dry place, they'll remain viable for four to five years.
10. Sow seeds directly in the ground. You won't have to outlay hard-earned cash for potting mixtures, trays, and peat pots.
11. Mix annuals into your planting scheme. Perennials are an expensive investment, so ease up on your pocketbook by purchasing some of the three-for-$1 petunias and impatiens.

12. Naturalize. Of the perennials you do buy, plant those that are vigorous multipliers, such as daffodils or lily-of-the-valley, and in two to three years you will have three to five times as many plants.
13. Propagate. Divide large clumps of perennials such as chrysanthemums, hostas, and daylilies into several plants. Take root cuttings from easy-to-grow shrubs such as pussy willows, azaleas, and forsythia.
14. Go native. Select species that grow naturally in your region to avoid such costs as extra watering, pampering through winter, and soil correction.

Tree Shopping

15. Wait for season-end sales. Tree planting is generally as effective in early fall as in early spring, and you can prevent paying too much.
16. Purchase small-size plants. You could get five times as much for your money: Five 1-gallon plants at $3 apiece cost the same as one 3-gallon plant at $15.
17. Plant wind-resistant trees. Storms can blow a $250 tree-removal bill your way if you plant a brittle species such as silver maple.
18. Protect your foundations. Roots can damage concrete blocks, so plant large trees at least 30 feet from the house.
19. Don't be too quick to toss. A good pruning can perform miracles on neglected shrubbery and save you the expense of replacements

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