You may be looking out over your yard and wondering what you should do to spruce it up. Hiring someone is probably too expensive. Yet you know the basic skills and basic ideas, and could start to bring about the changes with a bit of DIY garden landscaping.

The first thing to deal with is weeds. Remember that weeds are just flowers growing where they are unwanted. Consider if it is possible to make that clump of flowering weeds a feature in your landscape. Remember, many of these plants will attract birds, bees, and other valuable wildlife.

Weed control is easy with home made ground cover. Old newspapers are your allies. Get your friends to save them, or see if the local news paper office will let you have back copies. When you layer it thick, it is impenetrable, yet it is not as environmentally unfriendly as black plastic ground cloth.

You can cover your newspaper weed barrier with a variety of materials. The cheapest is mulch. If you live in an urban area, check with your town council. You may find that they have a community mulch pile chipped from the trees which they trim from the streets, and in most cases this is freely given if you load it yourself.

Once you have got your ground covered and mulched, then you can start adding color. Home improvement super-centers can be a great inspiration for this. Don't buy anything, just see how you can create the ideas they give to you. Paving stones and paths are a great place to start. Get a feel for what you want to do, and then check where buildings have been demolished, or post to your local freecycle group advertising that you would like old bricks. It's surprising what people are happy to give away.

Now it is time for flowers. Is surprising how many people will give away their plants, too. Many plants like lilies and hostas need to be split to stay healthy, and it is possible to cadge starts of nearly anything. Befriend the people in your area who have lovely flower beds. Most keen gardeners are very happy to talk about their successes and share their plant starts with you.

Finally, you might want to add some ornaments to your masterpiece. These are very expensive if purchased new, but many a good bargain can be found for next to nothing. Don't snub garage sales, and always be on the lookout for turning something that has been cast aside into a floral treasure. Old chairs and other items can be painted with a mixture of common moss to create amazing living sculptures, sinks and bathtubs can be turned into rustic planters, old boots can be planted, discarded handbags filled with vines and hung in trees; the list is endless.

And there you have it. Basic garden landscaping that didn't cost more than a bit of time and effort. But don't forget to return the favor to those who pass by your garden, wanting to know how you managed to get things looking so good with DIY garden landscaping.