Forty years of lawns and gardens taught Harold one thing that had nothing to do with grass: the money leaks out a few dollars at a time. The Frugal Yard finds all fifty leaks — and shows you exactly how to plug each one, using what you already own.
“Add it up over ten years, and it's a used truck.”
— Harold“I've been taking care of lawns and gardens for more than forty years — my own, my neighbors', and a good many I was hired to rescue after somebody else gave up on them. In all that time the single most surprising thing I learned wasn't about grass at all. It was about money.”
A bag of the wrong fertilizer here. A lawn-service invoice there. A flat of annuals every May. A water bill that creeps up all summer. None of it feels like much on its own —
The Frugal Yard is a list of those leaks. Fifty of them. For each one, Harold tells you plainly what it is, roughly what it's costing you, and exactly how to plug it — the lawn leaks first, where the biggest dollars hide, and the garden ones after.
And he's honest about the numbers: “Every dollar figure in here is a range, not a promise. I'd rather you save $300 and trust me than believe I promised you $3,000 and feel cheated.”
Five of the fifty. You don't have to do all of them — read it once, pick the leaks that match your yard and your wallet, and start there.
Most folks aren't doing anything wrong on purpose — they're just paying for habits nobody ever questioned.
The whole system, in order: the biggest lawn dollars first, the garden after. Here's every leak, exactly as it appears in the book.
“I cancelled the lawn service after Leak No. 1 and my grass looks better than it did when I was paying for it. The book paid for itself the first month.”
“The soil-test chapter alone saved me from buying lime I didn't need. I've been guessing for fifteen years. No more.”
“Read it on a Sunday, plugged five leaks by the next weekend. My water bill's already down and I stopped bagging the clippings.”
Harold has spent more than forty years taking care of lawns and gardens — his own, his neighbors', and a good many he was hired to rescue after someone else gave up on them. He isn't a chemist and he isn't a salesman.
He's the fellow who reads the label, tests the soil, sharpens the blade, and keeps the receipts. Over the years he noticed the same thing in yard after yard: the grass was rarely the problem. The spending was.
The Frugal Yard is everything he wishes someone had handed him at the start — the whole honest list, in one place, so you can keep your green lawn and your green a little longer.