Friday 5 August 2011

Five Low Cost Landscaping Ideas



Summertime is fun time. Give some sparkle to your outdoor area by adding just a few little splashes of color or something else to make the outdoor area the best place to be. Cheap and easy and oh so noticeable, these outdoor ideas will make your garden or back yard somewhere that everyone wants to be, and add some things that everyone wants to see. Hang an armload of wind chimes on the deck for a beautiful tinkling each time the wind touches them. Small touches count. For a few more little ideas with a big effect, read on:

- Sold at department stores everywhere, the sprinklers that offer you a gorgeous twist on watering your lawn. Gazing balls sprinklers. They sparkle with bold brilliant colors. The round gazing balls are at times surrounded by brass or copper sprinklers that sit like a halo around them. They are absolutely gorgeous and ring up at the store for about 20 dollars. They sprinkle a fine mist, so if you really want to make a splash, sit one of them close enough to the seating area so that you or your guests get that fine water mist over you as you sit in the sunshine.
 - Plant a few romantic flowers in selected spots around your yard or garden. Lavender, Jasmine, Rosemary, and Lemon Grass.. All of these tend to offer a sultry or a citrus scent to a summer evening, while some have the added benefit of keeping the insect population away if you live in area prone to mosquitoes or no-see-ums.The price for most will be about 2.99 for the plants and another 4 dollars for the medium size clay pots, so you can afford to scatter a few around. Paint them to suit yourself for an even nicer touch to your garden or yard.

- A pint size water feature. The smaller your fish pond the less work it's going to take. One way to get that water feature that you want, without all the extra work, is to buy the plastic half barrels that look extraordinarily like wood. They sell for about 12 dollars at the home stores, and are designed for plants.(Be sure you get one without the bottom drainage holes). Add a small underwater pump for another ten and you can still afford to put in a few goldfish to enhance it. We made ours with just a simple fish tank pump, three small goldfish and a few water plants that we sunk, leaving them in the pot. Total cost, about 50 dollars for the floating lilies, the beautiful gold fish and the entire little setup. Set on a back deck it's an outstanding feature, on the ground it's equally attractive.


- Add some starlight even when there isn't any. A few of the tiny blue or white LED lights strung beneath a gazebo roof, on the underside of your favorite tree, or around the top of your deck will make an impression. Total cost, about 20 dollars for two strands of 150 lights.


- Add Your own Fire-pit. A beautiful addition to any back yard, a fire-pit dug into the earth makes a comfortable summer evening fire so much easier to accomplish. Line it with fire brick, and surround it with a small wall of the same about a foot tall.. The largest part of the investment in this case is going to be your labor. Total cost for the fire brick was about 20 dollars. We also purchased a grate to sit above it for about 19 dollars more.


Landscaping
with small items is more than possible. Making huge changes in the overall look and feel of your back yard is possible without sinking a huge amount of money into the project. Take the time to look around at your back yard and then get creative.

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