Hello!

We are in the process of extending and renovating. Hubby and I were hoping to do the outside landscaping by ourselves and save some money in the process. I’m in Sydney, NSW and was wondering if anyone had any tips or sources to share for cheaper landscaping supplies like gravel, pebbles, pots, garden beds and gardening soil. Thanks.


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  • Sway buy sell on facebook can help. Mke sure you do ur research how much it cost at bunnings, mitre10, masters, sand n soil places, nursery etc before looking on fb n gumtree.. sometimes ebay u can b lucky. So u hve an idea how much to bid or barter off ppl.


  • Good point/tip about the soil JUNE11!


  • Gumtree has a lot of free and cheap pick up landscape stuff, otherwise bulk buy including delivery can vary a bit depending on the area.


  • If you are getting garden soil I strongly recommend you check out its origin. You could end up with all sorts of nasty weeds otherwise. My Mum and Dad bought a new house. The block already had enough soil on it. It had what was known as knot weed all through the soil. It grows by putting its own bulbs in the soil and is a fast grower, not just across but downwards too. My Dad dug a big hole trying to find out how deep it was growing. The dug a 6 feet deep hole and was still finding roots and bulbs.. He ended up partly refilling the hole, digging the resr of the strip to approx. the same depth and putting in a thick concrete base and sides, left it for a few weeks and bought new soil from a reputable business. Kikuya is a pest too. It will grow in a lawn 2 houses down from you, spread underground and come up in your yard. We had it happen and another neighbour did too. In our yard it came up through a join in a concrete path next to our house foundation. It may have even been under the house. I lost count how many times I poisoned it. I even managed to pull a piece long enough to poke the end of it in a container of premixed kikuya poison and kept topping the container up for about 3 weeks. It all went yellow, then a small section died before another growth of it appeared. Another weed we had problems with was bindii. We got that from a huge duststorm in which a lot of farms lost all their topsoil. We were away on a holiday and actually travelled through some of it. It was so “thick” it was hard to see through. When we got back home our grey cement was a brown sandy colour. There was also photos of the duststorm on the TV News while we were away. We had no bindii prior to that.


  • I agree; facebook and gumtree.


  • facebook is great for free stuff other people may not want. we got a wooden cubby house which we painted and looks fantastic now. Also I have given away plants that I don’t want on there too. if you are getting stones etc try getting them direct from the quarry as its cheaper but they do only sell in truck loads


  • Facebook and gumtree are your best friend they will help you get anything you need cheap or free. Just be patient and keep searching
    best of luck.


  • We used gum tree and where able to pick up a amazing supplies for our yard. We also posted on Facebook what we where doing and ask if anyone had anything they no longer wanted. The jungle vine was amazing and we did it so cheaply by doing this


  • Just say on Blacktown Buy Sell Swap facebook site ** FREE ** FREE ** approx 1 tonne of blue metal. You must pickup and remove. Easy access as it is on the driveway, location is south penrith. try they type of sites and save lots of money.


  • Some great answer’s here I have joined a few local private groups in my area on Facebook. Buy sell and swap in your area on Facebook then ask for the things you need. You will be blown away with who has stuff they want to get rid of for nothing or almost nothing.


  • Ask on your local facebook page? We needed bulk sand and when I asked on our page someone mentioned a place that I had never heard of and it was so much cheaper!


  • Don’t know if you know anyone on a property but my husband and I got a heap of soil from my father’s property and then we searched eBay for plants, sleepers, pavers,etc and found a heap listed from a nursery sale and picked up a heap for a fraction of the local price.
    If there are exact items you are after why not post a wanted ad on gumtree and see how you go, someone out there might have stuff they are happy just to get rid of
    Goodluck


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