Everyone wants a beautiful and functional landscape, but sometimes, our hopes and dreams for our outdoor living spaces can be crushed when we browse the prices of the items we adore most.
But worry not! We’ve compiled some of the best and cheap landscaping ideas that will instantly transform your yard, from plants, outdoor décor elements, and gardening practices to more generic DIY projects.
Whether you want to reduce maintenance, add a pop of color, or increase privacy, these budget-friendly solutions will help you achieve the landscape of your dreams.
Take a look!
1. Add Mulch
Mulching has many benefits for the garden, including soil temperature regulation, moisture retention, and weed prevention. It also adds depth to your space, making it one of the easiest and most cost-effective landscaping options for improving your yard’s aesthetics.
I prefer organic mulch, such as compost, shredded leaves, grass clippings, straw, pine needles, and wood, since it offers beneficial nutrients to your plants as it decomposes.
There are also inorganic types of mulch, like landscape glass, rubber, and stones. In addition to enhancing your plant’s health, mulch is low-maintenance, thus limiting the amount of time you’d normally spend in the garden.
You can mulch by yourself or transfer the responsibilities to a professional company. If you decide to go with professional installation, mulching will cost you about $90 per cubic yard. However, doing it yourself will knock you back to around $35 – $70 per cubic yard, depending on the mulch type you pick.
NB: Numerous cities and counties have free mulch programs worth looking out for. Also, you can acquire wood chip mulch for free from local tree service companies, who will happily share their loot from their tree removal projects!
2. Build a DIY Water Feature
Installing a water feature might sound complicated, but I assure you, it’s not! You only need a low-cost submersible pump, decorative rocks, and, of course, some water. The size and shape will depend on your preference, and you can add flowers and foliage to beautify your oasis.
Depending on the size, a pre-built water fountain costs between $100 and $2,500. If you take the DIY route, however, expect a setback of about $30 if you have most of the items around your home.
3. Consider Xeriscaping
If you travel to areas where water conservation is important such as the Southwest and other arid regions, you’ll notice most homes employing xeriscaping in their landscape designs.
This cheap landscaping idea uses thoughtfully designed irrigation systems, native and drought-tolerant plants, and hardscaping elements to offer a sustainable water-saving solution.
Xeriscape landscapes require minimal water and maintenance, which lowers the total landscaping costs. I always recommend grouping native plants when working on a xeriscape landscape to not only cater to their watering needs but also create a beautiful, diverse display.
If a turf area is giving you headaches, consider drought-resistant groundcover plants such as sedum and snow-in-summer, and add some boulders and rocks to increase the visual interest.
Professional installation for a xeriscape landscape ranges from $5 to $20 per square foot, which is a fairly generous amount.
Fun fact: You can easily source landscape rocks and boulders for free from local construction crews, landscaping companies, or even Craigslist.
4. Grow Perennials
I just love having perennials in my compound. These beautiful and practical plants provide a new shine year after year and come in a wide array of colors and textures. Some of my favorites include daylilies, chrysanthemums, heleniums, dahlias, and coneflowers, just to name a few.
Perennials not only beautify your landscape but are also budget-friendly. They can cost from $4 – $100 per plant, depending on the size and species you’re looking for. This makes them a practical and aesthetically pleasing choice for an alluring and low-maintenance landscape.
Some large shrubs can even cost more than $100, so it’s all about preference.
5. Opt for a Vegetable Garden
Grocery trips to Walmart, Costco, and Target are fun, no lie! But you can significantly reduce your grocery bills with a small, easy-to-maintain vegetable garden at your home. Most vegetables are pretty easy to grow, so you won’t have to worry about your busy schedule!
A vegetable seed packet costs between $3 and $4, but a fully grown plant will cost you around $12 – $15 per plant.
6. Utilize Focal Points
Landscaping your entire yard can become quite an expensive endeavor. One way to save money is to focus on one area and add an attention-grabbing element to elevate your curb appeal.
Creating focal points is actually one of the simplest and most eye-catching techniques DIYers can use without spending a lot of money.
Build an arbor or trellis to add height and dimension to your yard, and adorn it with climbing plants and flowers for a touch of pristine beauty. Upcycle items such as recycled metal, boulders, and driftwood to build sculptures and garden statues that won’t cost you a penny!
Or take the easy way out and let nature do the heavy lifting; planting a statement-making tree or shrub with a unique growth pattern and beautiful flowers will surely catch the eye.
7. Choose Sustainable Hardscaping
Hardscaping is a cheap landscaping idea to modernize your yard and turn it into a functional and versatile outdoor space. Whether you’re building a deck, walkway, patio, firepit, or retaining wall, hardscaping elements create a low-maintenance design that will last years.
Dedicate a whole weekend to construct a DIY firepit and grace your yard with a chic entertaining spot for your friends, this I can guarantee you of! I didn’t construct mine, though, but I purchased a firepit kit for about $650. So, if you have such an amount or more lying around somewhere, just know it’s an option.
Lay pavers or stones throughout your landscape to create a low-maintenance walkway. Depending on the material, this can cost up to $2,500. However, a low-maintenance pea gravel walkway will set you back around $400.
8. Install Outdoor Lighting
There are cheap and functional landscape lights on the market to enhance your outdoor space. The most cost-effective ones have to be solar lights due to the apparent harnessing of the sun’s power to operate. Plus, you won’t have to deal with any wiring whatsoever!
You can use spotlights to create focal points in your landscape by highlighting trees or outdoor sculptures. Illuminate your walkways with path lights to minimize the risk of tripping hazards, and hang string lights or decorative lanterns for a sweet, romantic ambiance on your outdoor patio or pergola.
A solar landscape light will cost you about $50 – $150 per fixture. Still, with a little bit of research, particularly online, you can find solar lights for as little as $10 per fixture.
9. Utilize Recycled Materials
Why spend all the money on expensive garden containers when you can repurpose unused items around your home? Upcycling offers an eco-friendly and frugal way to repurpose everyday items into beautiful, functional pieces that withstand the test of time.
Look around for an old wheelbarrow or tires and turn them into colorful garden planters, or build outdoor furniture with old wooden pallets. Barrels, watering cans, tubs, toolboxes, and bird cages are also excellent options for unique container planters.
Since you’re repurposing what you already have at your home, the only costs you will incur are for the plants and probably the soil, which are between $5 – $50 per plant and $5 – $20 per bag of potting soil.
10. Ditch the Lawn
Groundcover is insanely cheap, not to mention very low maintenance. Groundcover plants are excellent alternatives for lawns, eliminating the expensive lawn maintenance requirements while offering a lush carpet for your landscape.
Creeping phlox, creeping thyme, lily of the valley, lamb’s ear, sedum, and pachysandra are some lovely groundcover plants I can think of from the top of my head. Whichever you go for, be ready for some alluring textural elements and a pop of color from seasonal blooms!
You can purchase a creeping thyme plant for as low as $2. Plant seeds cost about $0.50 per square foot or $5 per pound.
11. Add a Pop of Color with Container Gardening
Container gardening doesn’t only serve the purpose of growing plants in your landscape. Garden containers and pots come in various colors, sizes, shapes, and materials, making them perfect for adding impact to your outdoor space.
These versatile and budget-friendly options can be found at your local home improvement store, garden centers, or online retailers like Amazon. My porch has never been the same since I added flower pots to it. To impart some personality, I mixed the sizes and colors of the planter collection, and the results were magical!
Flower pots will cost you between $2 and $100 per pot, and the price varies depending on the material and size.
12. Plant Native Plants
There are a couple of reasons to consider native plants for your cheap landscaping ideas: they adapt extremely well to the soil and climate, are pest-and weed-resistant, and will last a lifetime.
Their adaptability means less fertilization, watering, and pesticides, minimizing the overall costs and maintenance procedures. Native plants also support local pollinators and wildlife like hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees while promoting biodiversity.
Like perennials, a native plant can cost between $4 and $100, depending on its size and species.
13. Define the Yard with Edging
Try edging if you want a functional landscaping project that will add structure and definition to your yard while improving visual appeal. Furthermore, it’s a neat method for preventing grass or groundcover plants from invading your flower beds.
Edging is also integral in preventing soil erosion in vegetable gardens and keeping mulch from spilling on walkways. Some landscape ideas, such as xeriscaping and rock gardens, require edging to maintain the design’s integrity.
Depending on your landscape and preferences, you can choose natural stone, plastic, or metal edging. Professional concrete edging installation will set you back around $5 to $18 per linear foot.
For my garden edging, I simply stacked small stones along the garden bed for a rustic look. This DIY project will cost you nothing!
14. Plant Seeds Rather than Buying Plants
We all know plants are a must in our cheap landscaping ideas, but buying fully grown plants can rack up the cost. As such, going for seeds becomes a more cost-effective approach.
One seed packet costs between $2 and $4 and can easily fill a flower bed. At such a low price, you can buy multiple options for a diverse display.
15. Surround the Mailbox with Foliage
Surrounding your mailbox with beautiful flowers is an excellent way to improve your home’s curb appeal, and since the mailbox isn’t going anywhere, you might as well try out this simple DIY project.
Start with a layer of mulch for definition, then plant low-maintenance perennials with different colors, textures, and foliage. A bag of organic mulch costs around $2 to $6, and you can get perennial plants for $4 to $100 per plant.
16. Go for Annuals Instead
My love for perennials is unwavering, but I can’t deny the fact that they can be too costly. Planting low-cost annuals is an alternative cheap landscaping idea for improving your yard on a budget.
I’ve actually planted a couple in my garden, with some of my favorites being sweet alyssum, cosmos, marigolds, petunias, and zinnias. Annual plants cost between $2 and $11 per plant, depending on the species and size.
17. Keep it Natural with a Rock Garden
Rock gardens are an excellent way to conserve water while adding visual interest to landscapes. They provide year-round appeal and require minimal maintenance, and depending on the materials, they can be a cost-effective landscaping option.
Here are a couple of ideas that can help you get the most out of your rock garden:
- Plant drought-tolerant plants like succulents.
- Use river rocks and landscape fabric to improve the visual appeal.
- Create pathways in your rock garden with stepping stones.
Before you go on a “rock shopping” spree, keep in mind you can source rocks locally for free through various avenues. If you don’t mind spending a little bit of money, though, landscape rocks would cost you around $15 – $160 per cubic yard, professional installation not inclusive.
18. Take it Up
Don’t let that backyard wall or privacy fence stay bland when you can spruce it up with a vertical garden. Vertical gardens are inexpensive, fun DIY projects that help maximize the space we have.
I switched up the game with my vertical garden by planting vegetables, with the aim of cutting down on grocery costs; save whenever you can, right?! You can combine herbs and leafy vegetables with more decorative options such as air plants, climbing vines, and succulents.
19. Consider Raised Beds
Garden maintenance is a hectic undertaking, especially for beginner gardeners. Good thing is, solutions such as raised garden beds have helped reduce the costly maintenance associated with gardening.
Raised garden beds are versatile, making them suitable for vegetable and flower beds. They also prevent soil compaction, pests, and weeds while ensuring proper drainage. Plus, you can build raised beds with ordinary materials, such as wood, brick, or cinder blocks.
A DIY raised bed will cost you between $22 and $35, especially if you already have most of the materials at home.
20. Add Texture with Ornamental Grasses
Ornamental grasses offer color, texture, and height, giving your landscape a touch of whimsy and elegance. Popular ornamental grasses include Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra), blue fescue (Festuca glauca), pampas grass (Cortaderia selloana), switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), and fountain grass (Pennisetum).
Most are drought-tolerant and require minimal care. Depending on the species, ornamental grasses cost between $2 and $40.
Commonly Asked Questions
What are the best affordable landscaping materials to use?
Locally sourced rocks, recycled wood and metal, organic mulch, and gravel will create a gorgeous, low-budget landscape that you’ll be proud of.
Are there inexpensive ways to improve my outdoors?
Numerous cheap landscaping ideas can enhance your outdoor living space, including repurposing old furniture, budget-friendly decorative items like cushions, lanterns, and outdoor rugs, and upcycling materials like pallets for DIY projects such as building outdoor furniture.
What are budget-friendly ways to add privacy to my yard?
A living fence is by far the simplest way to add privacy to your landscape. You can plant fast-growing, low-cost bamboo or install lattice screens adorned with climbing vines. Other ideas include hanging outdoor curtains, repurposing old doors and shutters, or a DIY privacy fence.
