Make your home look beautiful this spring! My friends at Rubberecycle provided this great graphic and the gardening tips, below, which I’m gladly sharing because I loved them. Enjoy!
No Green Thumb Needed: Gardening Tips for Every Budget
Free Garden Updates:
- Clean up existing plant beds by removing weeds and overgrown plants. This will make everything look neat and organized, and will allow your beautiful and colorful plants and petals to bask in the sunlight, in all of their glory.
- Prune shrubs. Keep to a natural shape, avoiding turning them into a ball or square shape. Overgrown shrubs can invade walkways and patios, giving an untidy look. When pruned and tamed they look classic and sophisticated, making a simple dressing for your yard and garden.
- Trim tree branches that hang too low and create hazards. A low tree branch not only gets in the way of walkways and head room, it also poses the risk of falling, hitting or scratching someone.
Updates for $100:
- Create a welcoming entrance with one or two big pots filled with colorful plants. Bright colors are fun and inviting, and having them placed at the entrance makes guests feel welcome. They create the statement that your home is well kept and cared for.
- Make a significant impact on your landscape with a few 5-gallon trees for about $35 each, if you plan to stay in your home for at least five years. Trees not only bring more life to your yard, but they also are great for providing much needed shade. Shade can help keep your home cool and your guests from overheating from the beating sun. Some plants also require shade.
- Buy seeds, such as a mix of wildflowers, and cover much more ground than $100 worth of plants. Simple flowers breathe life and excitement into your landscape.
Updates for $500:
- Install Rubber Mulch to prevent weeds, retain moisture and keep your landscaping looking fresh for 20 years! This will help minimize routine maintenance that you have to do, which gives you more free time to enjoy your garden.
- Invest in a couple of great architectural pots that make a statement at your entrance. Add rounded boxwoods or a seasonal planting of ornamental grasses and colorful annuals. Dressing your landscape with these accessories will give it a designer’s touch.
- Add a bench or garden ornament, such as a trellis or birdbath, to a key spot. A nicely designed mailbox with some plantings at the base is also lovely. Statement pieces such as these will make your yard feel friendly and inviting.
- Spruce up your foundation plantings with a border of long-blooming perennials. Additions like these really accentuate your house and make it pop.
- Pay someone to professionally prune or selectively remove (and replace) overgrown shrubs. It’s okay: not everyone has the pruning touch! Well-manicured shrubs have a significant impact on your yard’s overall look and feel.
Updates for $800:
- Make your garden party-ready with a teak three piece outdoor bar. Small outdoor gatherings are great for meeting your neighbors or for spending time with close friends.
- Buy an inflatable hot tub spa for the outdoors. Who doesn’t love a hot tub? What a great way to kick-back and relax either alone or with friends.
- Invest in a pergola tent for garden parties. Warmer weather means entertaining season is ahead, but unfortunately you can’t predict if it’s going to be too hot or rain. This will provide shelter for both.
- Secure your garden with an ornamental iron gate. Not only do fences and gates add to the value of your home, they create privacy and keep unwanted guests (whether human or animal variety) out.
- Purchase an efficient large hose with a hitching post. A hose is a necessity if you have a yard with any type of landscaping or garden. Keep the hose handy by storing it on a hitching post. A hitching post can be both functional and decorative.
Updates for $1500:
- If you have enough space, update your garden with an outdoor wooden dining set or a set of granite table and stools. BBQ season will be here before you know it. Impress your guests with a well-designed area to dine and enjoy the garden.
- Light up the space with aluminum wall lanterns/motion detectors. A well-lit garden is a welcoming garden. Wall lanterns hung around your property create the perfect ambience for entertaining and illuminating your hard work. Motion detectors provide light when you need it and also deter unwanted visitors from entering your property.
- For expansive gardens, buy a mechanical grass catcher for efficient maintenance. You can chose to have your lawn mower mulch your grass and leaves or use a grass catcher so the newly mowed grass isn’t left on your lawn. If you have a large yard, this is particularly helpful.
- Give your garden a high end classic feel with decorative/sculpted/Greek-inspired statues. They will immediately elevate your outdoor space from yard to garden. Your guests or neighbors are sure to be impressed!
- Invest in a water fountain pool. A water fountain gives your back garden a touch of peaceful serenity
Rubber Mulch available at Rubberecyle is the original and environmentally responsible mulch made from 100% recycled rubber used in gardens, playgrounds and sustainable landscaping. Rubber Mulch is weather resistant, durable, and the most cost effective mulch around. It is specifically designed to protect children from falls on the playground. Rubber Mulch helps homeowners increase the curb appeal of their house and create the home and garden they have always dreamed of.
Jeanne Grunert is a certified Virginia Master Gardener and the author of several gardening books. Her garden articles, photographs, and interviews have been featured in The Herb Companion, Virginia Gardener, and Cultivate, the magazine of the National Farm Bureau. She is the founder of The Christian Herbalists group and a popular local lecturer on culinary herbs and herbs for health, raised bed gardening, and horticulture therapy.
