How to increase the value of your property with low cost landscaping
When it comes to selling your house you’re always balancing your budget! Chances are you want to make some improvements to get the best sale price for your home, without losing sight of the return on your investment.
The biggest challenge for home owners when doing a pre sale garden makeover is knowing where to spend those precious dollars:
- Do you focus on the front yard?
- What about those ugly corners?
- What plants give you the best bang for your buck?
- And how can you uplevel your garden from ordinary to extraordinary?
Often landscaping is the last thing you think about, but it can be the greatest return on investment. You can make a big impact with a relatively small budget, and create a wow factor that really improves first impressions with these 4 simple tips.
You’re busy juggling work, kids and family life and the last thing you need is to be sweeping leaves, weeding the garden or watering the garden. If you’re lucky enough to have irrigation, then maybe you spend more time fixing the sprinklers where dogs dug than actually benefiting from seeing them work.
This is what life looks like in a high maintenance garden.
When you moved into your beautiful property you didn’t see all the hidden hours of maintenance keeping your landscaped garden beautiful.
But it doesn’t have to be like this…
Landscape gardeners know there are 5 simple things you can do to save hours in the garden.
- Plant types – natives/succulents
- Irrigation – water consumption/sustainability
- Mulching – weed prevention
- Design – layout, elements
- Lawn – types
Even if you’re on a budget you can make simple and quick changes, (or get our help with this) to create the best low maintenance garden that you can enjoy.
Plant types
Choosing the best plants for your landscape design that are low maintenance can save you time and stress later. Incorrect plant choices can mean that the plants are working hard just to survive and you’re working hard just to keep them alive. Your plant choices are your top time and cost savers, so if you want to take a deep dive, check out The Best Low Maintenance Plants for your Landscape Design.
Here’s a quick look at my top three tips to choosing low maintenance plants for your garden are;
Succulents
Succulents survive well in harsh conditions and can adapt to low watering requirements. This is because their leaves tend to store large amounts of water, providing an internal reservoir of slow release irrigation.
Natives
Natives are easier to care for than ornamentals like roses, azaleas, and gardenia’s. After thousands of years acclimatizing and adapting to local conditions, your native plants are much hardier and require less watering, less fertilisation and less weeding. They actually have developed a natural defence to local weed species, which means they do the weeding for you!
Ground Covering Plants
A great low maintenance choice, once fully developed with a full coverage these hardy plants will naturally prevent weeds from growing. They cover the soil with such density that they block the sunlight from weeds attempting to grow beneath them. To really juice it up choose a native ground covering plant such as Creeping Boobialla (Myoporum Parvifolium).
Irrigation
An irrigation system is a vital component to any low maintenance garden. Choosing the right kind of irrigation that’s both low maintenance and effective is where you need some expert tips (coming right up!). But before we jump into these, take a look at Landscaping Tips for Irrigating a Low Maintenance Garden Design. Irrigation systems are most commonly seen in dripline or sprinkler heads.
Sprinkler systems
Sprinkler systems replicate natural rainfall which plants prefer but this type of system tends to require more maintenance as the heads get blocked and need routine repairing.
Dripline irrigation
Dripline is extremely low maintenance as there are fewer parts required. If you’re looking to save time and money in the garden then this is the choice for you. Dripline is easy to install and a good DIY job. However if you don’t have the time, we’d love to help you out with this.
Mulching
Are you sick of weeding and watering your garden all the time? Do you see weeds constantly popping up in your garden even after you’ve been spending hours in the garden.
Mulch is a material spread around a plant over the soil surface as a protective layer. This magical thing called mulch has a huge amount of benefits for you and your garden, if you don’t already mulch every year, then you need to read Landscaper’s Guide to Mulching; The Best Way to Create a Low Maintenance Garden.
Here are some quick tips on mulching
Do it! – this is the number 1 area to spend your $ and your time. Little effort creates big rewards, so you can see a thriving garden without having green fingers.
Bark chip mulch
Bark chips are a great choice if you are selling your property and need a quick aesthetic fix. Bark comes in different colours so that it can be used as a complement to the design of your property and landscape.
Poo mulch
Our recommendation for most other gardens is a mulch high in organic materials and manures. This is the best of both worlds providing the multitude of benefits from a solid mulch coverage plus all the magical composting goodness which enriches the soil with healthy nutrients.
Lawn
Low maintenance lawn care begins with choice of turf at the time of landscape design and construction. There are several main lawn types to choose from so it’s important to pick the one that’s right for you that will give you back your precious time.
Buffalo
The very popular Buffalo lawn is a great choice for a low maintenance garden. Most of the time we will recommend this lawn for anyone who wants an easy lawn as it requires less mowing and nitrogen than Kikuyu and Couch grass.
Tif tuf
Tif Tuf is a fantastic new couch grass variety that has been created to provide a tough lawn that also has the ability to cope in less sunny positions. It is a fast growing grass that needs to be mowed once or twice per week, and has invasive runners that can sprawlout into garden beds.
Kikuyu
Kikuyu is a tough and fast growing lawn. It is great for high traffic areas and is commonly found in large commercial spaces. As it is fast growing it has greater mowing requirements than Buffalo turf.
If your wanting to save time on the mower then take a look at Low Maintenance Gardening for your Lawns
If you want ideas for a low maintenance garden, book a free quote with 2 Men and a Shovel here or call us on 9013 6588.
4 Landscaping Tips to Make Over your Garden
Tip #1 – Landscape to attract the right buyer
Where does your property sit in the market? Positioning your landscaping for different markets means fine tuning your efforts to suit the buyer’s needs. First decide which market your property falls into, is it a…
- Budget Friendly Home?
- A Classic Family Home?
- A Luxury Forever Home?
Budget Friendly Homes
When deciding if your home appeals to a budget friendly market consider the priorities your buyers have and landscape to appeal to those needs. Factors such as low cost finishes, simple designs and affordable ongoing maintenance will be important to your market.
Classic Family Homes
If you are designing your garden makeover to appeal to families, then your landscape design needs to be focused around 2 main ideas:
- Space and safety for kids to have fun and play
- Simplicity and low maintenance to appeal to busy working parents
If these 2 ideas are kept in mind throughout the planning phase of the makeover then you will be sure to create an attractive landscape for you prospective buyers.
Luxury Homes
High end luxury homes will need to have a beautiful landscape to compliment the look and the features of the home. That all important front entrance will be inviting and showstopping, whilst the backyard will be an area to celebrate and socialise in style. To ensure a premium finish, a luxury home will need to include high end design, creative planting and multi-function landscape design.
Want more tips on landscaping to attract the right buyer/ Then read our blog on Landscaping For Your Market Price.
Tip #2 – Create an Stunning First Impression
The front yard and walkway to your home should build anticipation for what’s to come. There are many factors that go into creating a spectacular first impression, but here’s the winning line-up…
- Lush Lawns– Your lawn is a winning feature when it comes to first impressions, so start mowing regularly to promote health and give weeds less chance to take over. Reseed any patchy areas and begin weed control spray early.
- Perfect Paths– Use paths to add structure and flow to your garden. Ensure the front pathway has been pressure sprayed to leave a clean finish.
- Beautiful beds – Replace any dead plants, neatly prune healthy plants and mulch garden beds to give a fresh finish.
- Pretty Pots – Use pots strategically to uplift your front yard by adding colour, design and symmetry.
- Clean Lines – when it comes to edging the key is to be consistent and choose one type of edging throughout the garden. Avoid having one section in timber, another in steel and another in brick.
Feeling inspired to make a fantastic first impression? Then read our blog on
Garden Makeovers to Create The Best Landscaping First Impressions.
Tip #3 – Forgotten corners
When it comes to a garden makeover there are 5 forgotten corners that sellers often forget:
- Side of house walkways – Clean up this area using decorative toppings or gravel.
- Tired old fences – Applying some fresh paint can often achieve a brand new look. Creepers Creepers can be a good planting choice to cover a shabby old fence. Install a metal rope trellis and let your plants do the painting 😉
- Messy Back Corner – Utilise this space and construct a garden shed. Whether your looking for functionality or a bit of design flare, there are many different options available to suit your needs.
- Unsightly Exposed Services – Construct screening to hide your services or use plantings. Creepers can do the job if they are close to a wall or a few well place shrubs able to grow into the size required to screen your services.
- Bland and Sparse Courtyards – Use pots to add interest and creativity to your garden. Think carefully about the size of your pots and place them in corners or clumped together in a well balanced series of 3 different sized pots.
Let’s make sure you don’t forget any corners that will become a nasty surprise on home open weekend, take a look at our 5 Landscaping Secrets To Rejuvenate The Forgotten Corners In Your Garden.
Tip #4 Add the Finishing Touches
As a homeowner it’s easy to miss little things that make a big impact on first impressions. These one percenters’ are the wins that can be the difference between ít’s nice but…’ to ‘I’m making an offer!’
Tick all of the boxes in every area with small finishing touches that are easy to implement but so easily forgotten by other sellers.
- Lighting – Garden lighting can create elegant night photos for the sales and marketing campaign
- Annual Flowers – Don’t be shy here, buy several trays and add some splashes of vibrant colour to your garden
- Outdoor Furniture – Make your property into an inviting space, ready to be enjoyed with family and friends, don’t be afraid to go all in and style the table for entertaining
- Clotheslines – Think functionality and install these against a wall in a convenient area, ideally out of sight.
- Bins – When it comes to your bins, rule number one is to hide them! It’s also crucial to think about functionality and place them somewhere that has a simple route towards the street.
If you want more tips to finish off your garden makeover, Then read our blog on Landscapers winning touches for a pre sale garden makeover.
We provide a full landscaping service, quoted according to your needs and budget. If you want some help, then get in touch here or give us a call on 9013 6588.
