I Don’t Have A Clue What I’m Doing

Question

We moved into our house in September, and the yard was completely taken over by trees, ivy, and monkey grass. We recently had the whole front yard wiped clean. . . no trees, no anything except a little grass. I am NO GARDENER, in fact, I have pretty much killed everything I’ve ever tried to grow. My yard is empty, and my husband and I really want to spruce it up. We don’t have a lot of money, and with 2 small daughters we don’t really have a lot of time, but we need some landscaping BAD! I would like to plant one tree in the middle of the yard, and put some shrubs along the house, but I have no idea what kinds to purchase. I would also like something that gives the yard a little PUNCH! But once again I have no clue. So I guess the thing I need to know is how can I revamp my yard on a tight budget with low maintenance plants?

Answer 1

Right now is a great time to buy trees and shrubs if you are on a budget. The nurseries and stores are in a hurry to get rid of leftover trees and shrubs and most will have drastically reduced the prices. If you plant now, you will need to water these plants more often than if you had planted in spring, but they can still be planted at this time.

Check places like Craigslist and Freecycle for cheap and even free plants.

Since you are not a gardener, if you are looking for a little flair for the yard that is low maintenance, I would recommend looking into bulbs for spring and daylilies for summer flowers. These are very easy care, basically dig, plant and forget they are there.