Save Money on Landscapingby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 30 Jun 2009 09:05 AM The nice weather may have you looking at your yard with a critical eye. Do you need to make some improvements to your landscape? How can you do this inexpensively? Here are some ideas. Free materials All sorts of free materials can be had if you look around an ask. You can find plants, trees and bulbs through freecycle or through your neighbors. You can even ask your town if you can harvest some volunteer plants and flowers from town woods or fields. Also, check with garden centers at the end of the season. If you have a green thumb, you may be able to rescue plants that were going to be tossed out and then use them in your garden. For hardscaping materials, look to construction sites. They often have rocks, stone and even chunks of concrete that can be made into walks, paths and walls. You may even get lucky and find some reclaimed brick. Check with landscapers. They may have plants that they have pulled from someone's yard, free for the pick up. Do you neighbors or friends have mature gardens? Ask if you could have extra plants or cuttings to start your own garden. Make your own pavers by filling molds or buckets with cement mix. Free service If you live on a busy street consider bargaining advertising for free or reduced service. A company that is just starting out may be willing to do your yard in exchange for a large sign on your property or word of mouth referrals. We were able to get some lawn cutting done for free when I agreed to pass along the company's card to a dozen friends. Find ways to barter for lawn service. Do you have a talent that you can exchange? Learn how to do much of the design and the work yourself. Many local garden centers and home improvement stores offer free classes in landscape design. You can read more blog posts by Mary Ann Romans here! Related Articles: The Frugal Benefits of a Small House Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments StBridgit (322) 01 Jul 2009 04:11 PMIt's not uncommon for towns to offer free mulch from disposed trees. In our previous municipality we could take as much as we liked, we just had to shovel it ourselves into our truck bed. You will also find it is often legal to collect seeds from deadheads in your local parks. Jean_Yardworkerz (5) 22 Jul 2009 07:38 AMHow to Save Money on Lawn Maintenance in Summer People seem to start avoiding extra expenses like vacations, hobbies and sadly, even lawn care, due to economic crisis. It is common to hold back household and outdoor projects due to budgeting. Also, the right care for landscape is now being forgotten by people just to save money. But these aren't the right solutions to the problem, in fact, it would increase it. The landscape will start to look ugly and unhealthy in which the needed money to make repairs would only increase and so is the work needed. But there is a chance for you to have the best lawn in the neighborhood while still saving so much money. This is if you have the right knowledge and you use your resources right. Jean_Yardworkerz http://www.yardworkerz.com Community Tags home, landscaping, yard sale Discuss this article
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