14 cheap landscaping updates that make a splash

Revamp your landscape (and impress your neighbors) with these inexpensive updates.

FAMILY HANDYMAN

Roll in a Boulder

Boulders are eye-catching and provide a natural location for adding grasses, flowers and other garden plants. You’ll find huge piles of boulders to pick through anywhere that sells landscaping supplies. Prices vary with size, less for breadbox-size ones and more for giant boulders that you’ll need delivered and placed. Whatever sizes you choose, nest the boulders into the ground a bit. They should look like they were left from a receding glacier — not like they were just rolled off the back of a pickup!

 

Courtesy Melina Gillies

Use Cheap Planters, but Dress Them Up

Garden twine is a useful tool for any gardener, especially as a cheap and cheerful addition to any planter. With a little hot glue and some imagination, you can create almost any look you like. Wrap an entire run-of-the-mill plastic planter with twine for an industrial look or cover only a portion to give your decorative planters a modern edge.

Twine is also easily painted, so consider adding a colorful stripe to the middle section of twine with spray paint for an extra pop of color, or group pots together with assorted colors to accent your other outdoor decor. The only limitation: Make sure that the size of the planter matches the size of the plants you want to display.

 

FAMILY HANDYMAN

Go with a Gravel Path

Adding a garden path provides interest and a place to walk through your landscape. But rather than installing an expensive concrete or paver pathway, opt for less-expensive gravel or mulch.

There’s three for you. Check out Family Handyman for all fourteen.