Budget-Friendly Landscaping Ideas for Summer

Budget-Friendly Landscaping Ideas for Summer

Getting into the garden after a long winter is a much-anticipated event for many homeowners. We at Shop-O-Rama know that revamping your landscape can be daunting, especially if you're on a budget. The good news is that you can breathe new life into your outdoor spaces and not break the bank with these budget-friendly landscaping ideas for summer.

Planting Groundcover

Groundcover plants offer an easy and cost-effective solution for enhancing the curb appeal of your outdoor space. Their ability to spread quickly with minimal maintenance requirements makes them a perfect addition to any garden or landscape.

Why we love it:

• Groundcover plants look fantastic and aid in soil erosion prevention and weed suppression.
• Many varieties are drought-tolerant and cold-hardy.
• Groundcover plants require minimal upkeep and quickly spread to fill empty spaces, providing lush greenery throughout the summer.
• Many groundcover plants are evergreen, offering year-round interest.

When shopping for the perfect groundcover plants for your summer landscape, we recommend low-maintenance options like creeping thyme, sedum, or vinca minor.

Perennials and Native Plants

When creating a sustainable, low-maintenance, and budget-friendly garden, consider perennials and native plants your new best friends! These resilient beauties will return each year, saving you time and money while adding rich biodiversity for local wildlife and pollinators.

Why we love it:

• Native plants are well-adapted to local climate and soil conditions, reducing maintenance and water requirements, and supporting biodiversity.
• Many perennials can be divided, yielding more plants for free and further enhancing your garden's beauty.
• They’re perfect for pollinator gardens, attracting a wide variety of pollinators like hummingbirds, butterflies, bees, and songbirds that eat seeds year-round.

When planning your budget-friendly garden this summer, choose perennials like black-eyed Susans, coneflowers, salvia, Russian sage, and lavender.

Affordable Hardscaping

Adding hardscaping elements to your outdoor space can instantly elevate its aesthetic appeal and create defined areas for relaxation and entertainment. While hardscaping projects can be expensive, plenty of affordable DIY options allow you to achieve the desired look without overspending.

Why we love it:

• DIY stone walkways and rock gardens can be cost-effective and instantly elevate your outdoor space.
• Sourcing materials from local suppliers or quarries can add up to significant cost savings.
• Online tutorials provide step-by-step guidance for creating custom hardscape features without professional assistance.

When laying out your next budget-friendly DIY design, remember to choose affordable options for hardscaping materials, including rocks, sand, mulch, and pea gravel, and remember to buy in bulk whenever you can.

Container Gardening

Container gardening is an excellent, versatile, and space-saving solution for adding greenery to every outdoor space, regardless of size. Repurpose old pots and other household items into unique planters to create a charming, eco-friendly garden that reflects your own style.

Why we love it:

• Changing container planting to fit the season is an inexpensive way to add beauty to patios, balconies, and walkways.
• Repurposing household items like buckets, wooden crates, old bathtubs and sinks, wheelbarrows, or tin cans into attractive planters is a great way to personalize your outdoor spaces without buying more things.
• Mixing a variety of flowers, herbs, and vegetables into containers and raised planter boxes can be an inexpensive alternative to maintaining larger garden bed areas.
• Container gardening allows you to move plant displays depending on the weather, sun exposure, and design changes in the landscape.

Mixed Planting Garden Beds

Why limit yourself to only flowers or vegetables when you can have the best of both worlds? Mixed planting is a creative and practical approach to gardening that allows you to enjoy the beauty of flowers while reaping the rewards of homegrown produce.

Why we love it:

• Combining flowering perennials with edible plants like tomatoes, peppers, and herbs creates a diverse and productive garden bed.
• Practicing companion planting will maximize space and lead to healthier crops.
• You can create a classic cottage garden design on a budget by planting herbs, flowers, and veggie crops together.
• Mixed planting beds are excellent pollinators and often attract a variety of local wildlife.

Budget-Friendly Water Features

It’s no secret that adding water features to a landscape can be a costly pursuit, but these DIY options offer cost-effective solutions when you’re on a budget.

Why we love it:

• Creating a simple water feature using recycled containers, rocks, and a small pump is less expensive than building a pond or waterfall yet still attracts local wildlife and pollinators.
• Water features can be made with stacked stones or repurposed wine barrels, meaning you’ll spend less on materials and labor.

By incorporating these budget-friendly landscaping ideas into your outdoor space, you can create a stunning and sustainable garden retreat without breaking the bank. Whether planting groundcover, perennials, and native plants, embarking on a DIY hardscaping project, or experimenting with container gardening and mixed planting, you can find plenty of affordable options to suit every style and budget.

Ready to make your gardening dreams more affordable this summer? Your local experts at Shop-O-Rama are here to help navigate your landscaping projects every step of the way!