Budget Beauty

Sun Herald

Sunday September 23, 2007

By Peter Fudge

A landscaped garden can add to the value of your home, and it doesn't have to break the bank..

Landscaping a garden used to be a relaxed affair. Well, no longer.

A lovely garden can dramatically improve your property's look and value and a few pavers and a smattering of mondo grass won't cut it. However, the extra effort is worth it, and the good news is that it need not cost the earth. Although landscaping your garden can be as technically challenging as the renovation of your house and the vast range of products and materials available can be expensive, it is possible to minimise spending in the garden without scrimping on the design. Here are a few financial shortcuts.

* Choose plant species that already grow locally. They will be adapted to your soil type and will save you having to condition your garden beds with organic material or import premium garden soil.

* Make sure you take plant size into account. This may seem obvious but when you plant a new garden, smaller is always better. For one, you will save money. An advanced plant in a 100-litre pot, for example, can cost hundreds of dollars, while a 20-centimetre pot plant will, in most cases, be less than $20. The other benefit is that smaller plants grow faster. This is because their roots acclimatise more quickly than mature plants that have been pampered in the nursery for years.

* Instead of splashing out on a masonry or sandstone boundary wall, try building a timber paling fence for a quarter of the price. Or, if it's privacy you are after, in most instances a hedge or creeper planted on your boundary will provide adequate screening.

* Use gravel or decomposed granite instead of pavers. Both natural and man-made pavers, and the concrete slabs on which they are laid, can be costly and you'll make big savings.

* If retaining walls can be concealed by plants above or below the wall, consider using treated pine slab walls at half the cost of stone or masonry walls, which also require concealed footings. Pine slabs are also far easier to build. Check with an engineer or builder about the maximum height that can be built and whether more than one terrace or level can be created. The retaining wall pictured at left

will be covered by the trailing jasmine in a year or two.

* If you're putting in a pond, use a rubber pond liner instead of building an expensive concrete pond. Pond liners are generally black, which is ideal for most ponds as it will be reflective and the built-up silt on the bottom won't show. However, make sure the liner is secured to the underside of the paving that surrounds the top edge of the pond.

Planter's box

Common name: Spanish bluebell

Botanical name: Hyacinthoides hispanica

Flowering in early spring, this bulb is wonderful in pots, left to naturalise in the garden or even mass-planted under deciduous trees if you have a larger garden. Thriving in part-shade in well-drained soil in cool to mild climates, this plant is a vibrant sign of spring with its lovely spires of blue, white or pink flowers. It may still be found in some nurseries or make a note to buy bulbs in late summer to enjoy next September.

© 2007 Sun Herald

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