It is not impossible to have a unique and gorgeous garden without shelling out thousands on landscaping work. The secret of establishing and maintaining a beautiful lawn is to learn how to do the things that landscapers do yourself. There are some basic conservation and maintenance principles you can follow if you’d rather spend your money on your basic necessities but still want a well-maintained yard.

One great technique you can try is xeriscaping. This is a term reserved for gardening practices that focus on conserving resources such as water. As water becomes even more expensive, a lot of homeowners are turning to conservation practices that will help them maintain their gardens without the hidden costs such as water bills. You can start by choosing plants that do not need much water to thrive. You can also choose the season-hardy varieties of your favorite plant species.

It is recommended to choose plants that are available in many different varieties. Talk to a horticulturist or a plant breeder to find out which plants are attractive enough to deserve a spot in your garden, but economical enough to use only the minimal amount of water to live. Some plants that use a lot of water include cedar hedges. Maintaining this type of plant will mean you have to spend a fortune on water costs. Find out what you like most about these plants and let that criteria be the basis for searching more economical varieties.

Good water retention qualities are a must if you’re choosing the fertilizers to use for your garden. For instance, peat moss is very cheap and can be mixed with dirt and bone meal. When you plant your new flowers or hedges with peat moss as a fertilizer, the water that you use on the plants will be retained longer. Your soil will not always soak up all the water on its own so it’s better to use some materials that have better water retention than soil.

Landscaping means being committed to doing everything from picking your plants to weeding and pruning. Speaking of weeding, weeds may be your nastiest enemy. There are some weeds that are so resilient, they won’t go away even after a session of tilling and hand weeding. You might be tempted to leave these weeds alone, but you will soon realize that you’re wasting money on fertilizers for your plants when all these weeds steal the nutrients you’re paying for to grow even faster than your regular plants.

However, there are some unexpected weeds that can turn out to be beneficial for your garden. One example of this is clover. When clovers crop up alongside your grass, you can mow them together with the grass and let the clippings stay as mulches. Some “weeds” are also able to synthesize nitrogen from the soil with the help of nitrogen fixing bacteria.

Finally, keep your garden small if you want to save money. Flowers and other plants need a lot of fertilizers and watering. Just pick out a few species and be contented with having these in your garden.

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