Well I just talked about the true cost of owning a home and well if I want to stay happily married I’m going to have to spend some money on landscaping this summer. So obviously I want to figure out the most cost effective way to do my landscaping and still end up with a product that my wife would be happy with. I already start the process of frugal lawn care last summer after the Chemlawn guy stopped by an challenged my green thumb manhood and to be honest my lawn ended up looking great. So while I know next to nothing as I write this article about landscaping I do know that if you aren’t careful landscaping can cost a fortune (we just had some professionals stop by last night with some plans and a quote – thus somewhat like the Chemlawn incident I feel personally challenged to show them I can do a much better job for a fraction of the cost)

Landscaping isn’t all that bad as according to Free Money Finance it can increase a homes value 7-14% (which for my home would be $11,000 – $22,000) – although I personally have some reservations about those estimates so I’m not going to go ahead and blow $15,000 on landscaping with the thought that I’ll easily get this money back when I sell my house. Personally I’m just hoping it will make my lawn easier to mow as I won’t have to go around downspouts or try to mow right up to the edge of my house. Also I think I would enjoy growing some of the plants also.

My landscaping idea
I personally would like to incorporate as much edible landscape in our plan as possible. I always like it when things can serve more than one purpose and honestly many of the fruit bearing and edible plants can be just as pretty as the standard landcsaping plants. Nothing wrong with being able to save on some grocery costs in the process and from what I know people generally get a lot of enjoyment on growing their own food, so to me adding a bunch of edible landscaping to the mix would be a great idea. My wife has some concerns though and obviously for her landscaping is all about beauty so I have to go ahead and convince her that blueberry bushes are beautiful too.

Blueberry bush in fall

Blueberry blossoms in spring

Ways to keep costs down
Obviously doing it yourself can save you money if you know what you are doing. To be honest landscaping doesn’t appear to be so difficult as that the average Joe can’t do a pretty descent job if they do their homework, which I plan to do. According to the article referenced by Free Money Finance purchasing big ticket items in the fall will get you the best prices. Also explained was breaking up your project into a multi-year project, which wsa something I had already planned on doing. This gives you a chance to learn from your mistakes rather than making a mistake on your entire landscaping project. Obviously shopping around on the internet can allow you to save money on plants, but be very careful with this method as your plants have a lot less likelier chance of surviving if they were grown in a climate that differs greatly from yours. For example I live in Wisconsin I probably don’t want to be buying too many plants from a nursery in Georgia. Find your hardiness zone to determine what plants/trees will survive in your climate

 

Another thing to consider when determining the cost of landscaping is maintenance. If you plant a lot annuals you will be paying replacement costs every single year to keep up your landscaping looking good. If however you plant perenials and treat them right you should be able to get many years of enjoyment out of them without having to head off to the garden center each spring. Another thing to consider is to buy as many drought resistant plants as possible. This means you will have to spend a lot less time making sure your plants are watered and a lot less money on your water bill. Planting plants and trees that are appropriate for your region and don’t require a substantial amount of water to keep looking good means less maintenance, lower costs, and more enjoyment for you out of your landscaping. Also making appropriate use of mulch can help keep the moisture in by your plants and reduce the amount of weeding you have to do.

Well honestly at this point I don’t have enough personal knowledge about landscaping to add more than just the basic things I’ve talked about so far (thus the dreaded – Part I tag). I will be researching this topic pretty hardcore the next couple weeks so look for more articles from me as I try to find a low-cost, low-maintenance, home-value improving, multi-functional landscaping plan for my house.

See part II here