Simple ways to save money while you garden
If your fall gardening routine involves cutting everything back, raking up every leaf, and leaving your flower beds spotless, you might actually be doing more harm than good. While a tidy yard may look appealing, many of those seemingly messy plants and leaves serve an important purpose during the colder months. In fact, some of…
Your driveway might be perfectly clear of ice this winter, but the shrubs and flowers growing alongside it could be paying the price. Every time you spread rock salt or another deicing product, some of those chemicals can eventually reach nearby landscaping. By spring, you may notice brown evergreen needles, damaged leaves, or plants that…
Just because temperatures are dropping doesn’t mean your landscaping projects have to stop. In fact, fall can be one of the best times to plant shrubs, especially if you’re hoping to save money on end-of-season garden center sales. But there’s a catch: Planting shrubs before winter requires careful timing and proper preparation to give their…
If you’ve been waiting for garden centers to mark down their shrubs, fall could be your opportunity to improve your landscaping without paying full price. Those discounted plants aren’t necessarily leftovers you should avoid, either, because cooler temperatures can create favorable conditions for root development. In fact, fall planting shrubs can give certain varieties a…
Those piles of fallen leaves covering your yard could become valuable compost, but there’s one simple trick that can make them decompose much faster. Instead of tossing whole leaves into your compost bin and waiting months for them to break down, running them through your lawn mower first can make a noticeable difference. The reason…
Your kitchen scraps could be the secret to turning all those fallen leaves into rich garden compost, but there’s a catch. Tossing everything into a pile without paying attention to the proportions can leave you with a soggy, smelly mess instead of the nutrient-rich soil amendment you were hoping for. Fortunately, balancing leaves and kitchen…
Before you bag up all those fallen leaves and put them on the curb, consider this: You could be throwing away one of the most valuable ingredients for your garden’s soil. Fall provides an abundance of free composting materials, and many homeowners don’t realize how much money they could save by putting them to work….
That beautiful little tree at the garden center might seem like the perfect addition to your front yard, but planting it in the wrong spot could become an expensive mistake. What starts as a $40 landscaping purchase can eventually turn into cracked pavement, clogged gutters, damaged siding, or costly tree removal. The problem isn’t necessarily…
What if the fallen leaves covering your yard could replace some of the expensive soil amendments you buy every spring? Instead of bagging them up for collection, you can turn those leaves into a dark, crumbly material that helps garden soil hold moisture, improves its structure, and supports healthier plant growth. It’s called leaf mold,…