Landscaping on a Budget: 10 Cheap Landscaping Ideas

Landscaping on a budget doesn't mean settling for a shabby-looking yard. The right plants, softscape and hardscape features, and decorative outdoor ideas can upgrade your outdoor space without breaking the bank. Before purchasing pricey plants or hiring a professional landscaping company, consider these affordable landscaping ideas to save money while designing an attractive yard.

Add Mixed Planting Beds

Creating DIY planting beds around your yard is a simple way to landscape, but it takes planning, physical work, and an understanding of materials that fit your space. Landscaping fabric can carve out planting beds in the ground while controlling weeds. Or, you can make DIY container gardens as raised planting beds. Use affordable and reused materials, such as free pallets and landscape timbers (which are different than railroad ties that are not pressure-treated), to build your own planting beds and borders.

Plant Groundcover

Groundcover plants are cost-effective because you only need to plant a few. They spread on their own, so fewer plants need to be purchased. The best groundcover options don’t require much watering or fertilization as does grass, so reducing the size of the lawn with some groundcover landscaping around trees and shrubs will help save money on landscaping maintenance, as well.

Consider deer-resistant perennial groundcover plants that naturally spread and come back each year, such as Pachysandra and creeping myrtle, also known as periwinkle vinca vines.

Choose Easy-Growing Perennials

Perennial flowers and filler plants are easy-to-grow plants that come back every year, helping you save money on your spring planting purchases. Consider colorful deer-resistant options, such as Russian sage, bleeding hearts, and yellow alyssum, to name just a few. Many perennials, such as hostas, also grow well in the shade.

Opt for Affordable Hardscaping

Some of the most budget-friendly hardscaping materials include mulch, shredded leaves, pea gravel, bark, rocks, brick chips, and sand. 

Purchase hardscaping materials in bulk, which is much more reasonably priced than buying bagged rocks or mulch at a home improvement store. You can find bulk deals from a local landscape supply store or look for free sources.

Build a DIY stone walkway or lay a brick or paver patio in sand rather than in concrete. By planning properly, it's possible to avoid the need to cut any of the bricks.

Install DIY Water Features

It can cost several thousand dollars to have a professional install a water feature, such as a waterfall, in your backyard. But modern pumps and pond liners are inexpensive and make it easy for determined do-it-yourselfers to install. Build a small stone fountain, a small and easy meandering waterfall, or a pond in your yard as a focal point.

Plant Native Species

Opt for plant species native to your area so you can cut back on watering and fertilization needs. Native plants are plants that evolved over centuries in your area, so they are well adapted to the soil and climate, typically disease- and pest-resistant, and thrive in a garden without much fuss.

Native plants benefit the ecosystem by preventing erosion in addition to helping local wildlife and pollinators find a safe and abundant spot for their needs. Every area has its specific native plants. For example, plants native to New England include bluets and marsh marigolds. Contact your local cooperative extension office to find out what the native plants are for your region.

Purchase Inexpensive Plants

Stay on budget by seeking out sources for inexpensive plants but always look for sales like the ones nurseries hold for annuals in July and August. The lower-cost plants at a grocery store may be inferior to the quality of the ones sold at a local nursery but with care, you can bring them back to life. Another source for affordable trees and seedlings is the National Arbor Day Foundation which often runs specials.

In addition to buying plants, you can divide established perennials to spread them around the yard or trade them with other gardening friends to add new plants to your landscape. Take cuttings and grow more plants for your garden to fill in beds and borders.

Conserve Water With Xeriscaping

Xeriscaping, traditionally a gardening practice in hot and arid regions, is becoming more commonplace in other areas in the country where water conservation is a concern. Xeriscaping is a method of landscaping that incorporates drought-resistant plants as part of an overall water-conservation strategy using one or more of these principles:

• Grouping plants with similar watering requirements for more efficient watering.
• Replacing or reducing turf grass with a combination of hardscape and drought-resistant ground covering.
• Amending soil with compost and organic matter to make it well-draining to better absorb smaller amounts of moisture.

Use Inexpensive Containers

There are countless options for affordable container gardens, including containers and pots you can get secondhand. Just remember to thoroughly clean a thrifted pot to get rid of any lingering diseases.

Other creative ideas for inexpensive containers include hollowed-out logs, bird cages, tubs, and old wheelbarrows. Even 5-gallon buckets can be repurposed as garden containers and planters. Just be sure to drill drainage holes in any container that has a solid bottom.

Save on Fertilizer With Compost

Fertilize your plants for free by using compost instead of purchasing commercial fertilizers from nurseries. If you're serious about landscaping on a budget, then one of your first projects should be to build a compost bin. Then just place kitchen vegetable scraps, raked leaves, eggshells, and more into the compost bin, watering and mixing occasionally, and you'll have a ready source of soil amendments for free.