To landscape on a budget does not mean to give up on all your household dreams--just practice a little ingenuity and a little patience and your landscaping project will be an inexpensive tour de force! So bring your A-game to the job and follow some simple rules to budget landscape.

First of all, sketch out an initial landscape design for your property. The internet and your local library's gardening collection can help you research plants that are zone-hardy. A quick trip to your town nursery will steer you towards plants that are available in your landscaping region. Wandering through the nursery will also be a chance to absorb color, texture and size of plant ideas as well as prices and growing requirements. This sort of informal research and planning will save you the expense of hiring a professional landscape designer.

Next, begin comparison shopping for landscaping materials--plants, mosses, shrubs, topiary, etc. Getting a sense of price ranges will potentially save you hundreds of dollars. Don't be a landscape snob--although the landscape section of your local discount department store may not stock the exact evergreens you imagined, they certainly will have sensibly priced junipers that can also fill your design requirement. A little compromise can stretch your budget to the fullest implications.

Now take some time to consider architectural elements for your landscape property--benches, statuary, trellises, pottery, plants, garden decor, etc. If you search for sale items that work with your design, you'll be saving a ton of money.

Once your design, landscape materials and architectural elements are chosen, it is time to begin installing your new landscape. The often back-braking labor of digging juniper pits, dragging marble birdbaths and mulching plots of land will all be worth it when you friends and family see how beautifully you've planned and laid out your yard. You may even want to recruit some of your neighbors to help you out with some final touches--tempt them with the promise of future barbeques and garden parties at your home. This "do-it-yourself" landscaping, while tiring, may prove to be the project of a lifetime!