The small lawns are given a new life with cheap and easy front yard landscaping ideas that do not empty your pockets and do not require weekends of labor. Dress up on mulch, natives and recycled materials (instant curb appeal at less than 100).
Mulch Magic Beds
Substitute ditch grass with curved mulch beds at a cost of $20 bags of dark bark or rubber mulch. Sow cheap perennial plants such as hostas, daylilies or salvia (3-5 dollars each at discount stores) in unusual groups of three. Feather reed grass is used as the background; dollar store edging stones make clear boundary lines. Mulch kills weeds, retards water-weeding reduces by 80%.
Gravel Path Accents
Between the lawn and house, place lay pea gravel paths (25/ton), which turn naturally. Flank art with thrift-store pots of annuals such as petunias or marigolds ($2/pack). Solar path lights (10/set) shine at the dusk, to light the way. Gravel soaks quickly and does away with mud following rainfall.
Vertical Thrillers
Train ivy on house walls with twine grids, no ladders required Espalier dwarf fruit trees. Hang mason jar herb planters on wire on rails of the porch (5/dozen). Cracked teacup succulents are placed on stumps to bring a sense of whim.
Native Meadow Patch
Turn a corner of a 5×5-foot lawn into wildflowers: scatter zinnia, cosmos, black-eyed Susan seeds ($8/packet). Mow once in a year; butterflies fly, water cut in half. For polish, gravel circles around.
Plant in fall or spring according to zone with free compost made of leaves. These will fit 500-square foot lawns and increase value by 7 per cent immediately. Change mulch once a year–painless loveliness lives.
