With the return of warm weather comes the need for landscape upkeep. Bushes that lay dormant all winter seem to pop up in spring and block the view from your living room. Weeds suddenly appear and turn your lawn into an unsightly mess. Maintenance becomes a top priority. For tips and tricks on weeding, you can check trimthatweed.com

That said, your budget may be tighter than usual this year, either due to coronavirus layoffs or economic uncertainty. You can still make your yard look spectacular before summer arrives. Here’s a step-by-step approach to follow for low-cost landscape maintenance.

1. Map the Changes You Want to Make 

One of the most substantial money-wasters of any home improvement or maintenance project stems from a failure to plan. Take a walking tour of your property and write a list of things you want to accomplish this season.

Then, prioritize what is most important to you or the safety of your home. For example, building a retaining wall might entail spending more than you want right now. However, it can save you tens of thousands of dollars on foundation repair if your basement frequently floods when it rains.

2. Clear Away Any Debris

Like an artist preparing to paint a masterpiece, you need a blank canvas. If you want to put in a pond or a swimming pool, you need to clear some land. Winter snows also bury decaying plants, leaving an unsightly mess.

Hand-clearing is the most inexpensive way to perform this landscape-maintenance task. However, it’s time-consuming and laborious. If legal in your jurisdiction, you can speed things up with a controlled burn. However, be aware that this method also eliminates all ground cover and increases the potential for erosion. Burning everything on a hill running down toward your home could increase your risk of flooding.

3. Keep Trees and Bushes Trimmed

When you obscure the view of your home from the street, burglars see a welcome mat. You enjoy more privacy — but so do thieves when the neighbors can’t report their suspicious behavior.

Fortunately, this chore is one of the most low-cost landscape maintenance tasks. Trim your hedges to no higher than three feet and clear tree branches lower than eight feet from the ground. Planting thorny bushes like roses act as an additional deterrent.

4. Make Use of Existing Features 

Depending on what you inherited from previous owners or built-in prior years, you can find creative new ways to use existing features. For example, maybe your backyard slope already has a retaining wall to protect runoff from flooding your home. If heavy downpours still cause the occasional leak, why not add a rain garden along this structure to add beauty and stop the drips?

Maybe you originally planned to build a new deck or install a she shed, but budget cutbacks make you loathe to spend money. If you have an existing porch, could you improve it with a railing or a roof cover? You can enhance an existing patio with the right furniture, or reupholster pieces worn from the weather. If you can’t dig the victory garden of your dreams, can you line a balcony with herbs in hanging pots?

5. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

Finally, the most inexpensive method for maintaining your landscaping involves getting eco-friendlt=y. The three techniques below can save you a bundle this season and always. 

6. Build a Compost Bin

You don’t need much space for a homemade compost bin, although you can certainly make a large structure if you have acreage to cover.

Once you construct it, place organic food waste and lawn debris within and stir it regularly. In a few months, you’ll never need to spend a dime on fertilizer, as you have a container full of organic stuff at home. 

7. Save Your Seeds 

If you plant tomatoes or green beans every year, chances are, you eat them, too. Why spend a fortune on baby plants when you already have what you need?

Learn how to save the seeds from your organic produce and start them indoors. When the plants mature sufficiently, continue the circle of life by adding them to your garden. 

8. Learn to Make Cuttings

You can also ensure a continual supply of new plants by learning which ones you can grow from cuttings. Many varieties of herbs will proliferate with this method.

Safely eliminate your feelings of isolation during the shutdown by using an app like Nextdoor to reach out to neighbors who also garden. If you have a thriving patch of oregano and they have sage, you can arrange a contactless swap. Voila! You both have new varieties to add to your stash.

Maintain Your Landscaping Using These Low-Cost Methods

When it comes to inexpensive ways to maintain your landscaping, you have many options to explore. Don’t let economic woes keep you indoors. Use these methods for sprucing up your property this year.

– This is a guest post not written by the websites’ owner.