How to Design a Garden on a Budget
In an ideal world, we’d all have a bottomless budget to create the gardens of our dreams. But the reality is that most of us don’t. We want to spend as much as we can afford, even if it means downgrading our plans or making sacrifices.
The good news is that you can design a beautiful garden without spending a great deal of money. We’ve provided some helpful tips below.
Create the Garden Plans Yourself
It can be hard to envision what your garden will look like once transformed when it’s already in a well-established state. Not knowing where to begin, you might think you need to enlist the services of a professional designer to do it for you.
While their skills are invaluable, this task can quickly blow out a gardening budget. If your garden is undergoing a complete transformation and requires plans, create them yourself. Our technology-rich age has made this easy. There are a number of apps you can download for free or for a small cost, like Garden Plan Pro, iScape, Home Outside, and Home Design 3D Outdoor & Garden.
When you can draw up plans to work from, you might find it much easier to transform your new garden on a budget.
Keep An Eye On Social Media
Social media is more than just a platform to keep in touch with your loved ones. It can be bargain central! On Facebook, in particular, you can visit Marketplace and see thousands of items listed for sale by people eager to see the back of them.
Sometimes, you can save hundreds of dollars by not having to buy new items. Keep an eye out for plants people are ripping out and landscaping materials leftover from their own garden projects. You might be surprised by how much money you can save.
Look for Clearance Plants
Plants can be expensive, especially when you’re buying dozens of them to redesign your entire garden. While you might be happy to pay full price when you fall in love with specific varieties, you might not have to.
Many nurseries and garden centres discount plants that don’t seem to be thriving as much as others. Some garden centres simply hold regular sales to help their loyal customers secure the best deals. Follow your local garden businesses on social media to learn more about promotional offers as they arise.
Rope Loved Ones In to Help
Transforming a garden can be a time-intensive and labour-intensive job. But as they say, many hands make light work. Save money and time by asking your friends and family to help.
Working bees are as old as time and are an excellent opportunity to catch up with people you haven’t seen in a while. Just don’t forget to treat them to a refreshing beverage or a meal when the job is done.
Borrow Equipment
Most gardeners have everyday gardening equipment like forks, hoes, and gloves. These will serve you well when the time comes to plant and maintain your gardens.
However, transforming a garden can often require the big guns – post hole diggers, rotary hoes, turf cutters, and chippers, just to name a few. You might even need excavation equipment if you’re getting into complex territory like retaining walls and drainage.
Such equipment can be costly to buy and, often, expensive to hire. Save money by borrowing the equipment you need from friends and family. While you might need to part ways with a small amount of money or a gesture of thanks, it can be far less than what you’d spend on buying or hiring.
Take Your Time
Not everyone has hundreds or thousands to spend on transforming their garden all at once – at least not without putting themselves out. Make your garden transformation a more budget-friendly project by spreading out the costs.
Break your project down into multiple steps so you can spread out the costs. For example, you might focus on buying garden beds one week, soil the next, and plants the following week. Remember, good things take time.
Think of the Future
The immediate costs of a garden transformation aren’t the only ones you must consider. Ongoing costs and time can also be necessary to factor into your garden design and budget. That’s why it can be so important to plan your garden design. The more easy-care it is, the cheaper it can be to maintain in the future.
For example, you might decide to grow a privacy hedge rather than a fence since you only need to worry about trimming rather than painting. You might also opt for a larger lawn area and fewer garden beds since lawn mowing takes less time.
Design Your Garden On a Budget
With many excellent ideas for designing a garden on a budget now up on your sleeve, it’s time to get started! With initiative, planning, and hard work, it might only be a matter of time until you end up with a beautiful garden you can be proud of.