9 Tips For Landscaping On A Budget

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Even with a limited backyard space, you can make your little plot of land feel like a backyard oasis as long as your imagination is not limited. Once you get your creative juices flowing, you will find awesome budget landscaping ideas to incorporate into your small backyard. Whether you want to make a private relaxation spot or an entertainment area for your friends and family, a small backyard can be transformed to suit your need for very little money.

If you are working with little backyard space, there are many budget landscaping approaches and options. It will be easier to stick to your budget with little room to fill when undertaking a landscaping project. It will be even cheaper if you do it yourself since you will not have to incur any labor costs.

You don’t need a college degree in landscape architecture to transform your small backyard into a magical oasis. As long as you are ready and willing to get your hands dirty, you are good to go.

To get you going, here are some simple budget landscaping ideas for tiny homes:

Use An Outdoor Mirror To Create The Illusion Of A More Extensive Garden

You can use optical illusion to make your small modern garden space look bigger. Just like the effect of mirrors in our homes, you can use large mirrors to reflect light and space in your outdoor garden to create a large area effect instantly. For maximum impact, position your large landscape mirror to stretch across the expanse of the wall. To add visual aesthetic appeal, place your mirror to reflect something beautiful such as flowers or greenery.

Repurpose Old Tires

Many waste haulers don’t accept tires because they are bulky and difficult to dispose of. So, why not use them to a good advantage in your garden or backyard?
Recycled tires are cheap and easy to source. Visit your local recycling plant to get recycled tires for a few dollars. Alternatively, get old tires from people who are looking to get rid of them. You can be sure that most people are willing to give away their used tires. There are many creative ways to repurpose used tires. Here are some inexpensive landscaping ideas for your backyard or garden using tires:

• Create a rustic patio ottoman by covering the tire with rope or an outdoor pillow casing.
• Make decorative planters by stacking and staggering old tires.
  Attach a tire to a fence or wall and fill one half with soil to create a hanging planter.
• Use the tire as a base for a beautiful artificial garden pond.
• Make a tire climber so that your kids can have a fun place to play.

Use Cheap Mulch Alternatives

If you want to save time and money on your garden, try mulching. Mulching will reduce the need for weeding and watering your garden. But, mulch itself can be costly; that is why you should use affordable mulch alternatives.

Here are some low-cost mulch options:

• Grass Clippings: When you mow your lawn, make sure to save some grass clippings and spread them on your garden or flowerbeds.
• Leaves: Make a cheap mulching option that will provide your plants with nutrients by using shredded leaves.
• Pine Needles: Pine needles are lightweight and easy to spread, making them an excellent mulching alternative.
• Compost: If you make compost, you can incorporate it into your landscaping. But, be careful not to ruin your plants. If you layer your compost too thickly, the heat can damage your plants.
• Newspaper: Another cheap mulch alternative to turn to for budget landscaping is used newspapers. So, after you are done with your daily newspapers, you can keep them and use them later as mulch.

Try Vertical Gardening

Do you love gardening, but you have limited space or money? You should consider a vertical garden.

Simply put, vertical gardening is growing plants using a vertical column. A vertical garden is an excellent option if you want to spruce up your small backyard or garden on a tiny budget. Not only do vertical gardens take full advantage of your limited space, but they can be cheap too. You can use cheap recycled materials such as old plastic bottles.

Vertical Garden Ideas

• Using terracotta pots, some wire, and a wooden ladder, you can create a front porch vertical garden with a rustic vibe.
• Hang up old paint cans filled with soil to make a vertical garden.
• Repurpose an unused shoe rack by waterproofing it for an easy-to-move vertical garden.
• Use some pot hangers and wood screws to transform your wooden fence into a vertical garden.

Build An Outdoor Fire Pit

A fire pit is an excellent outdoor home improvement idea. You can enjoy smores over a fire pit with your family or guests. Don’t be too quick to hire a contractor to install a fire pit for you. Instead, you can build your campfire station in a few minutes by getting building supplies from the home improvement store. It will be cheaper than contracting a professional. Instead of getting rid of rocks from another project, put them to good use by building a backyard fire pit.

Here are the options you can choose from:

-> Concrete retaining wall blocks which go for $1.25 per block
-> Cinder block caps which go for about $1.50 per block
-> Concrete fire bowl. You will need a couple of concrete bags.
-> Dirt floor fire ring. This will not cost you anything since you will only need to use natural stones.

Add A Splash Of Color

Sometimes you don’t have to do much to make your backyard pop. You only need to add some color. A simple way to give your backyard a more contemporary look is by painting your planters. Alternatively, you can give your metal, wood, or plastic outdoor furniture a fresh coat of paint. You can reuse any leftover paint from old projects instead of getting new paint to save even more on your budget landscaping project.

You can also use foliage or flowers to add a splash of color to your backyard. Try placing them at an entryway, a patio, or a deck.

Use Affordable Lighting

One crucial element of budget backyard landscaping that you should consider is cheap outdoor string lights. They offer soft, ambient lighting that turns your patio into a chill hangout spot. You can go with white twinkle lights for about $6 per string. If you want a modern look, go for clear globe lights for around $9. Though globe light strands are slightly costlier than twinkle lights, they are more durable, and the bulbs are easier to replace. Once you have selected affordable string lights, you can try out the following pocket-friendly backyard lighting ideas:

Budget-friendly landscaping Lighting Ideas:

• Create light columns by wrapping light strands around outdoor pillars.
• Use an insulated cable and an eye bolt to run light strands from the house to a tree branch.
• Using whiskey barrel planters, wood posts, and some concrete, you can create Texas lamp posts.
• Run rope lights across the edges of your flowerbeds to see your beautiful blooms even in the dark.
• Give your backyard a charming, glowing grove by draping your trees in light strands.

Picturesque stepping stones

With a bit of research, you can make a picturesque stepping-stone walkway. For cheap stepping material, you can get stones from around $1-$20 and go to town on your backyard stepping stone pathway project. You will need some tools and little skill.

Buy (or Build) Low-Cost Seating

You have done numerous budget landscaping projects, but you don’t have anywhere to sit and enjoy the work of your hands. Instead of running to a furniture store, search the internet for used pieces to make cheap outdoor seating at the comfort of your home.
Here are some cheap outdoor seating ideas you can incorporate in your backyard:

• Look for used patio seating online. An excellent place to begin is Craiglist or Letgo.
• Don’t only search for outdoor furniture. You can turn indoor barstools and chairs into worthy patio furniture by waterproofing them.
• You can make your lumber bench and cinder block if you don’t find anything online.
• Transform a tree trump into a cool reading spot by adding a waterproof cushion.
• Use old or recycled tires to make durable seats.
• Attach waterproof cushions to milk crates to create easy-to-store portable seats.
• When everything else doesn’t work, drag some old logs around your new fire pit for cheap campfire seating.

Recycling and reusing items is perhaps the best budget landscaping tip for tiny homes. You can get cheap reusable items in your local thrift stores and garage sales from online classifieds. You can save hundreds of dollars and keep some lovely items out of the bin when sprucing your lawn by buying used furniture, planters, and gardening tools.

Ultimately, if you want to stick to a strict budget, you have to avoid contracting someone else for these projects because you will have to pay them. You only need time and some creativity.