Good afternoon, my reader. Arrangement of a summer cottage requires money - but a summer resident never has extra funds. Fortunately, there are ways to be smart and save on labor costs. Let's see how this can be done.
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1. We save on the services of specialists
Landscape designers eat their bread and butter for a reason. And you cannot do without them if the site has a complex relief. But here you can save in the following ways:
- By contacting in time. The cheapest services are in late autumn and winter, but in spring and summer prices are at their maximum.
- By doing the work yourself. If the site is simple, without relief drops, close groundwater and other features, you can make the layout yourself.
2. Tracks
Take your time to build them. First, give yourself and your family time to walk the path. This is an old way, but it saves a lot of time: you only need to pave where people often walk, not where it is beautiful.
Save on material. Brick fight, slabs, tree cuts will cost less than asphalt or concreting.
3. Parking for cars
You can't do without a paved platform for a car, but here there are options:
- pave the parking lot as close to the entrance as possible;
- bridge two tracks, not a whole track. Even a novice driver can easily drive the car along wide tracks;
- use construction waste. Sawdust, broken brick, waste gravel, etc. - all this will perfectly strengthen the access roads even during muddy roads.
4. Drainage
If groundwater is close or the site is in a lowland, make soft drainage, it is the cheapest.
5. Fertilizers
Don't waste money on nitrogen fertilizers - build a compost heap, pit or pile! And actively use ash - it is beneficial for two reasons:
- You dispose of plant residues (especially those infected with diseases).
- You enrich your crops with potassium.
For safe burning, arrange a stationary hearth with a concrete base and walls made of red refractory bricks. By the way, at the same time you will get a brazier or a brazier for barbecue or barbecue.
6. Saplings
There are some guidelines here:
- Buy young seedlings rooted only this year - they are much cheaper.
- Don't forget about plant cuttings.
- Exchange seedlings with relatives or friends.
- Don't forget about sales.
IMPORTANT: This all applies only to ornamental plants. Saving on fruit will go badly for you. It is better to spend money and buy quality material here than to suffer for 10-15 years with someone who has grown up with something incomprehensible.
7. Priming
During construction, do not be lazy and separate the fertile soil in the foundation dumps from clay or sand. Unfertile parts can be poured onto paths, used for drainage, and access roads can be paved with stones or an alpine slide can be made of them. But lay the fertile layer with plant waste in the compost heap - and in 2 years you will have excellent fertilizer for the garden and vegetable garden.
8. Carport instead of a garage
Why do you need a garage in the country? It is easier to park the car under a slate or polycarbonate canopy. It will protect the car from bad weather or bird-shitting - and you will still carry out serious work with the car in the city.
9. Free Flowers
Annual seeds can be collected in parks or lawns, or asked from neighbors - usually there is always a surplus. As for the bulbs, you can contact the local municipal unitary enterprise Zelenstroy (or whatever you call it specifically): every year the lawns are updated, the waste material is sent to the landfill - and therefore you will be given tulip bulbs for free or purely for a nominal fee or daffodils. They will not be of the highest quality, but they will do for a season or two.
As for perennials, talk to your neighbors. The same phloxes or irises must be regularly divided or transplanted - and there will always be a surplus.
10. Water
It is better not to make a decorative pond from old wheels or tubs. But to create a dry stream from improvised means, a decorative bridge or a flower bed in blue tones in the shape of a stream is quite real.
Do you know how to save money on setting up a summer residence?
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Read about budget recreation areas in the country in the following article:Budget options for arranging recreation areas for the summer