Looking for a few cheap landscaping ideas that look good and reduce your water bill? Then you might be out of luck. After all, good-looking landscapes are costly, both in terms of water and money, right?
Wrong. Below you’ll find the least expensive methods experts use to build gorgeous landscapes in dry climates. Read on when you’re ready to wow your neighbors and cut your monthly bills.
1. Go Native
For your next DIY landscaping project, consider plants indigenous to your region. Sure, beautiful nursery catalogs full of irises, lily of the valleys, and other water-loving plants. Replace them with local varieties that do well with little water, such as:
- Cactus
- Succulents
- Ferns
Other flowering plants, including wallflowers, oleander, and poppies are also good bets. You could even choose an herb, such as a local variety of sage, dill, or rosemary to round out your garden.
Why pick a local variety? The simple answer is these plants already have an evolutionary advantage over their foreign cousins. They grow quite easily in similar terrain without any help from man.
That translates to affordable landscaping and water-saving garden design.
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2. Mulch It Up
What is mulch and why would you use it on a budget landscaping job? Mulch is a composted organic material good for gardening. If you’re struggling to save money, you can even make your own mulch from materials such as leaves, straw, kitchen scraps, bark, sawdust, and even cardboard.
When you cover your topsoil with mulch, it supplies your plants with nutrients necessary for their growth. It also reduces water evaporation. That means your plants grow more with less water.
3. Shrink Your Lawn
If your kids already moved out and you no longer take after-dinner drinks on the patio, your days of mowing might be numbered. Unfortunately, grass needs a greater amount of water than many plants. To make matters worse, grass might cover every square inch of your lawn.
Most gardens leave space between plants. Space that doesn’t require water. The water that’s absorbed into the soil is distributed to nearby plants that need it rather than consumed by turf.
4. Level the Terrain
Did you know that as much as 50% of irrigation water evaporates? That means you might be paying more on your watering bill than you need. Twice as much if you want to be exact.
You can substantially reduce that cost if you level the ground to take advantage of runoff and proper drainage. When you use this method in conjunction with mulching, you double down on your water-saving landscaping techniques and trim the fat off your gluttonous water bill.
5. Plant a Tree
Sure, trees absorb huge quantities of water. Fortunately, they absorb much of it far below the surface, so they don’t hog your sprinkler. Be sure to choose a variety that does well in dry climates.
Trees also provide shade that can reduce your summer cooling bills. They also lend a bit of seasonal beauty which is especially useful if your garden is small.
If you can’t pick one, or you need help designing your new space, consider hiring a landscape architect, such as Allen Outdoor Solutions. Such architects will not only redesign and install your new landscape but also maintain the upkeep year-round.
What’s After Cheap Landscaping Ideas?
Now that you have a few cheap landscaping ideas, it’s time to get to work. Take a drive in your neighborhood and look for yards displaying native plants that you like. Then take some photos and head down to your local greenhouse and show them what you found.
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