How to lower costs of landscaping

Hosea Omole

Great backyards cost money but costly backyards are not always great. That is the irony of landscape design.

Many people spend a lot of money maintaining their backyards compared to the returns due to unsustainable garden practices.

When you design, construct and maintain your landscape sustainably, you spend far less money over time and you draw immense satisfaction in return. The landscaping may be costly to put up, but it should be cheap to maintain.

The maintenance cost of a conventional landscape can run three times that of a sustainable one, and there is a huge difference in the environmental impact, too.

here are some few tips to manage your lawn wisely.

Water

Being in short supply in most places, it is not right to use water for human consumption to irrigate lawns when other people lack the essential commodity.

Fortunately, you can greatly reduce the amount of water used in your garden without compromising its appearance and function by ensuring it is covered by not so water hungry plants.

Always go for native plants that will do well with the available rainwater. Whenever it is necessary to water the plants, use only non-wasteful irrigation methods like the drip irrigation system. You can also explore ways of recycling water for domestic use.

Fertiliser

If a plant is well-adapted to local conditions because it is native to your area or comes from a similar environment, it will most likely do well with naturally available nutrients in the soil.

Resist raking up all those leaves that fall underneath the plants to allow valuable nutrients to remain in place. That means you don’t have to replace them with expensive imported fertiliser.

If you can’t stand to see the leaves lying on the ground, make compost manure and use it to enrich the soil. When you have to apply fertiliser, however, be sure to use organic fertilisers, which come from natural, renewable, non-petroleum sources. They are less likely to destroy the soil.

Pesticides

Plants in the farm get pests and diseases just the same as the ones in your garden. In nature, however, there is a better balance of pests and predators, and because the system is in a state of equilibrium, it is unlikely to have rapid attack.

By borrowing some of nature’s prowess, you can control most pests easily without resorting to chemicals. First, choose plants that are naturally pest-resistant and give them proper growing conditions.

Healthy plants are much less susceptible to pests and diseases. However, if it is absolutely necessary to use chemicals, use the least toxic control method that you can get, such as a non-toxic insecticidal soap.

Herbicides

Weeds occur most densely in bare ground, which is a favourable habitat for them. And though you will never entirely get rid of weeds, there are some simple strategies that work as well as using the harmful chemicals.

For instance, you can plant densely. If you don’t leave a lot of free space in your backyard, the weeds won’t have any room to grow and the plants will keep weeds from cropping up.