Question about Landscaping Beds

[elbenn]

We need to put in some landscaping beds. We got a quote from a local nursery, and it is so expensive. It worked out to approximately $5 per square foot and that didn't include the edging or any plants--just the beds. If you had it done, how much did it cost? If you did it yourself, how hard was it?

[BeachBum]

I'm not really sure what kind of landscaping you are talking about. (ie what is a bed, if it isn't plants or edging?)

But yes, it is expensive! We did a big project several years ago...we put it off for some time because of the price...but we kept asking around...Finally we found an independent guy that did great work for us for about 30% less than most of the quotes we got from one stop shop type places.
For that project there was a lot of hardscape that was beyond our abilities. We also needed some design help. We knew what we wanted, we just didn't know how to make it all fit.

At other times we have done our own work. It's just time consuming.

I would suggest that you put the word out to friends that you are looking. You might stumble across someone great that way.

[Tondi G]

I would check your local craigslist and see if there is a hobby landscaper that could do it for less for you.

[Uno-Mom]

We've done our own. It's killer work. But the hard part is doing good preparation. The fun, easy part is planting. But the planting is the part that needs careful technique.

So, the hard part is basically manual labor. You could research the proper technique and then find somebody to do it for much cheaper. For example, we have a neighbor guy who does odd jobs and yard care. We'd never have him plant our beds or tend plants that we care about (he isn't very skilled) but we totally have him come to do projects like this.