In Central Oregon, outdoor living is a big part of our lives especially in the summer – so finding ways we can better enjoy our yards without completely blowing our budgets is really important.
We can’t always have the garden of our dreams, but that doesn’t mean we can’t come up with creative ways to spruce up our yards. Beautiful landscapes may look expensive, but an eye-popping yard can be budget-friendly, too.
1. Start with the Least favorite- Pull weeds, spruce up garden beds. Put down weed barrier to keep them from coming back up. Mulch also helps lock in moisture and sets apart plants and flowers in your beds.
2. Add a Garden Path – whether from your front yard to your back or to a corner of the backyard. A meandering pathway adds interest, especially when you plant shrubs, flowers or trees along it.
3. Create a place of interest – as in a gathering place from a gazebo to a fire pit. Or a patio space with outdoor furniture. Sometimes the best decor is the organic stuff we find right in our natural environment—like a repurposed tree stump coffee table.
4. Privacy screen or fence.
5. Add Entrance appeal – work with you home to create an attractive front porch. Add a rug if you have covered space, or seating or a seasonal display, or maybe a garden trolly with potted plants.
6. Plant Perennials this saves you money and gardening time because you won’t be buying and planting new annuals every year.
Examples are bulbs like tulips, or asters, hostas, daylilies, hydrangeas, lavender and coneflowers.
7. Plant a Tree - even if it is a small one – trees can increase home value – provide shade that reduces energy costs
8. Raised Garden Beds – aesthetically pleasing, keeps weeds at bay, protects your plants, provides excellent drainage, and you can add good soil to them for healthier plants.
9. Landscape with lighting – String lights and ground lights can transform your yard into an enchanted space after the sun goes down.
10.Window Boxes Install window boxes to add instant charm and color to your front- and enjoy the flowers color from indoors as well.
11.Add edging -Keeps mulch in place, sets apart your beds from your lawn, prevents erosion
12.Add texture with rocks or garden stone
13.Add a Bench- Sit a spell in your new favorite spot
14.Kids want a pool, you don’t have to break your budget consider an above ground pool
15.Invite feathered friends with a Birdbath – This can be a beautiful focal point and you can add some feeders to attract certain kinds of birds year round