Free material for adding curb appeal

Most of the things in this world are not free...

or are they?

Yes, if you are not picky on what you want,

most times you can get free material and add curb appeal.

Today I am going to show you two things that you can get for free,

pretty much anywhere you live.

We just landscaped our entire yard for FREE.

I am talking about 

landscaping rocks and wood chips.

Let's start with wood chips.

Wood chips are the discard of tree companies when they cut down trees.

Tree companies have to pay a fee to dump their wood chips, 

so they are most happy to deliver them to you and dump them 

on your property...for FREE.

Just call a tree company in your area and ask them to bring you a load. 

It will be a lot, but truthfully, we are using it in a lot of places: mulch for the beds and around large trees, pathway, vegetable garden use and compost. The wood chips will slowly break down forming a rich soil.

Wood chips can be used as mulch, and they are slightly larger chunks of wood (compared to mulch) mixed with crushed leaves.

pathway

This is what it looks like when it's delivered to you.

This is what it looks like when used in landscaping.

If you can't use them all, share with your neighbour or friend.

If not, leave them in a pile in the back of your property, to create rich compost/soil to use in the future for your plants.

I left some in a pile right in the garden area. They will be ready for Spring time.

And now let's talk about landscaping rocks.

Call a few companies that sell landscaping rocks, and ask them if they have a "discard pile".

Those are basically rocks that they can't use or sell.

They are FREE.

I stop at this company when I am running errands in their area.

This is today's discard pile. 

Some days is bigger than others.

Bring gloves and maybe an old blanket to line your car/van.

I look through the pile and pick out the most flat...

which I used in making this pathway/dry creek bed.

I will be filling the in between "open spots" with smaller rocks as I find them

This area gets water flowing through during hard rain,

making this a very muddy, soggy and messy spot.

No more with the rocks.

On the edges of the dray creek, I used roof tiles left over from our new roof few years ago.

Nana Diana uses them around the edges of her beds, making a breeze to cut the grass around the beds (as the lawnmower goes right over it).

She suggested I used them around our beds (which I recently did as well), 

and now I used them to line the dry creek bed borders, so the lawnmower can still cut right next to it, without hitting the rocks.

I also used some of the more chunky rocks to make a small retaining wall right next to our driveway.

Then added the wood chips for the Winter.

I read that this Winter will be almost as cold as last one we had...so adding some wood chips layer to your beds, will keep the roots of your plants from freezing and dying.

So this is how we landscaped our yard with wood chips and rocks without spending a dime!

I guess some things in life are still FREE.

Stay Frugal,

Daniela