4 Pro Landscaping ideas that will save you thousands

As a general rule in landscaping, hard stuff is expensive and soft stuff is cheap!! If you are looking to incorporate a lot of paving and concrete in your garden it is going to come with a price tag. The good news is that you can create an amazing garden at a fraction of the cost without using these materials. Below are 5 landscaping ideas that will save you thousands and still look like a professionally designed space.

  1. More often than not you will find that your garden is not completely flat and this will often create the need for stairs. Generally stairs are constructed from bricks, blocks or concrete/timber sleepers and in all of these cases you will require concrete footings (concrete pads that ensure the stability of the structure) and a significant amount of labor to construct them. A great alternative is to create steps made from steel and grass. The steel is visually appealing and easy to install while the grass treads not only look amazing but will soften the feel of the garden. This striking method of constructing steps will become a real feature of your garden while saving you thousands.
  2. An often hidden cost of landscape construction is the site preparation which happens at the very beginning of the job. This is the process where your landscape contractor removes all or any existing and unwanted plants/turf/structures to allow for construction of your new garden and can cost anywhere between $1,000 and $15,000 for an average block depending on the extent of site preparation required. This is what we call ‘unskilled’ work and is the perfect opportunity for you to get your hands dirty! By hiring a skip bin and some basic machinery you will be able to remove all unwanted vegetation and existing hard structures such as pergolas, concrete and paving. It can be hard work but will save you a significant amount of money that you can then put into the build phase!
  3. Retaining walls are a functional aspect of most gardens that are on a slope to ‘hold back’ any soil that is sitting at a higher level. They are often used to allow the resident to have a flat garden even if their block is far from flat. Sounds great right? Unfortunately they are expensive and if the wrong materials are used they can leave your garden looking like a McDonald’s car park! A cheaper and more attractive alternative is to gradually grade the level of the soil so you are left with an embankment which can then be planted out with foliage that will make this aspect of your garden look stunning without the expensive wall.
  4. In the modern garden we far too often assume that any walk way or access point needs to be concrete or paved. There is no doubt that these materials should be used in gardens as they are the most suitable material for high foot traffic areas however within the garden (particularly larger gardens) we can use garden beds and turf to invite people to ‘hidden spaces’. To do this you can have two garden beds converge, leaving a gap of anywhere between 1 and 4 meters depending on the space you have to play with. In between these garden beds is a continuation of your grass area which acts a path to another zone of your garden. Again, this will significantly soften the look of your garden and save you thousands by not using concrete or paving. 

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