Landscaping ideas for less

Are you planning on fixing up your yard and home instead of moving? If so then I have some ideas for the yard.

If you have an area that needs to have a lawn then what about calling your nearest sod farm and getting the scrap sod for rock bottom prices? That is what we did and we were able to sod an area approximately about 1200 square feet for only $100.00. I put my name on their list and whenever they had enough to make a pallet they would call. You have to be flexible enough to respond rather quickly and then have a pickup truck to go get it. You also need to prepare the area to be sodded and then be able to lay the sod right away. But with some TLC we have two areas that can be used when company comes or when the grandchildren visit. Scrap sod is really not scrap at all. It is the end pieces of the rows at the sod farm that are uneven or too narrow to sell as sod. It is often just as green and beautiful as the pricey stuff. You just have to work harder to piece it together.

Flowers are another thing that you can find just about anywhere. Why pay top prices for bulbs, roots, and seeds? My husband drove by a pile of iris' on the side of the road that had apparently fallen out of someones truck. We went back and got them and planted them. We now have a flower bed full of the most beautiful dark burgundy iris' you have ever seen. They have yellow centers and we have planted yellow daffodils in between them for accent. Iris' spread rather quickly and have to be thinned fairly often. So if you see any in your neighborhood why not ask your neighbors to do a flower swap? This can be done with any of the root or bulb flowers, preferably in the fall or early spring. As far as edible flowers are concerned, going along with the plant a garden idea, chives are great to have in the flower bed. They are pretty when they bloom and taste great on baked potatoes. You can also ask anyone who has flowers that you love if you may take a couple when they are in full bloom. You let them dry and carefully extract the seeds out of the center. Now you can start you very own seed collection. I have a gallon full of assorted flower seeds I have saved from various flowers that are ready to be planted. Seeds last a long time and can be useful year after year if you harvest seeds this way.

The other thing my husband does and I find myself doing this too is finding seedlings of trees. He once found a bunch growing under an ash tree. He dug them up and planted them and for several years was very faithful to caring for his babies. We gave many of them away but planted twenty two of them on our property. He has also found some black walnut trees, blue spruce, and pine. We love trees and enjoy watching them grow. You can get baby lilac bushes this way and plant them in your yard too! Lilac bushes grow fairly fast and in no time you can have a beautiful yard that you planted almost for free.