Landscaping, gardening, taking care of your lawn… all of these things are important to the appearance of your home, but the cost adds up! In fact, more money is spent on gardening in the United States than on any other hobby.

1. Do most of the work yourself. Yard care services are expensive. Hiring the kid down the street to mow your lawn might not cost too much, but try to avoid professional gardening services. Of course, you will have to decide for yourself which tasks you want to do yourself and which you want to pay for, but remember that you will almost always save money by doing the labor yourself.
2. Adjust your watering schedule. If your sprinklers are automatic, and water the same amount each day, you might be wasting money on water. Adjust watering and water less during rainy weather. It means paying a little more attention to your garden and the weather, but can save you on your water bill. In addition, water in the early morning so that the water isn’t lost through evaporation.
3. Replace lawns with drought-resistant and native plants. Lawns are common but require considerable upkeep. Putting in native plants - plants that are used to surviving on their own in your area - can save you time and money since you won’t be watering, weeding, mowing, fertilizing, and raking!
4. Collect your own seeds and cuttings. Instead of buying seeds or plants each year, collect seeds from plants which have gone to seed and store the seeds until the spring. Trade seeds and cuttings with friends and family; you’ll save money each year!
5. Use available fertilizer. Ask around at stables and chicken farms or use coffee grounds or pine needles as fertilizer or mulch. Composting can also work well!
6. Go natural with pesticides. Instead of commercial pesticides, try planting garlic or nasturtiums, which help keep many pests out of your garden! Spraying a mixture of liquid soap or garlic and water on plants can also work better than expensive pesticides.
7. Get creative with flower pots. You don’t need to buy fancy ceramic flowerpots - an old boot can work, or a hollowed out log!
8. Rent equipment and tools instead of buying them. How often are you actually going to use a posthole digger? A skid-steer loader? Equipment rental stores have many items available for rent at a much cheaper price than it would cost to buy them.

Don’t forget to check Deal Locker for gardening coupons to save even more money on your favorite hobby!

This entry was posted on Monday, March 17th, 2008 at 2:48 am and is filed under Home and Bath, Money saving ideas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.