(MONEY Magazine) – How do you put a price tag on a barefoot walk in lush green grass? Consider this: Every dollar you spend on landscaping can easily return 100% when you sell your home. But that's just one reason why Americans plow an estimated $25 billion into their yards each year. "Some people are on a mission to enhance their homes," says Joel Albizo of the American Nursery and Landscape Association in Washington, D.C. "Others feel that neighborhood pressure forces them to keep up their space."

Whatever your motivation, the challenge is putting your money to the best possible use. "Most people spend too much buying supplies and services they don't need," says Doug Fender, director of the Turf Resource Center, a clearinghouse for lawn information in Rolling Meadows, Ill. And despite their diligence, he adds, "many homeowners give their yard the wrong kind of care."

Fender, like most of the landscapers, horticultural experts and pest-control professionals we interviewed, recommends using simple, affordable treatments to care for your lawn and trees. They also encourage homeowners to eschew nationally advertised lawn and pest services and mass-merchandise discount stores in favor of local--often family-run--garden centers. Their reasons: Experienced local professionals can help you keep costs down by tailoring your purchases to your yard's specific needs. Perhaps more important, seasoned local pros can usually render solid advice on soil, grass, trees, flowers and shrubs for your region and can provide the most plausible estimates of the time and costs for upkeep. "My sons and I didn't just move into the 'yard department' two months ago," says Chuck Johnson, whose family has run a garden center in Cookeville, Tenn. for 83 years. "This is our profession."

Your county extension service--a government-funded agency operated though state colleges that employs horticulturalists and master gardeners--is also an excellent source of free or low-cost assistance for most yard concerns. (To find one near you, consult your Blue Pages.)

Whether you're driven by love or money--or a combination of the two--here are a tips on making your yard flourish without going broke. The prices and quantities listed are for a 10,000-square-foot yard, or roughly a quarter of an acre.

1. LAWNS

The biggest risk to your grass--and your wallet--comes from doing too much. Prime offenses: overfertilizing, overkilling of weeds and overwatering. Too much fertilizer or herbicide, for example, can burn your tender blades, forcing you to reseed the damaged areas.

What your lawn really needs to thrive is disarmingly basic: First, choose a type of grass that is appropriate for your part of the country and then use a nitrogen-based fertilizer three times a year--in early May, early June and mid-August. Combine the May feeding with a "weed and feed" herbicide treatment. Total annual cost if you do it yourself: about $50, plus another $30 for a spreader. If one weed treatment isn't enough, you can apply another batch of herbicide--you'll pay about $20 for the chemicals you need from your nursery. In contrast, a lawn-care service will typically charge about $230 a year.

As for water, check with your nursery to see how much your grass typically requires and make up for what nature doesn't provide. (See the discussion of irrigation on page 110.) Another tip: To keep your lawn in top shape, use a mulch mower, which finely chops the clippings and distributes them as lawn food. Cost: $200 to $400, depending on horsepower and extras, such as a self-cleaning engine.

2. TREES

The right tree in the right place can greatly enhance the aesthetic and financial value of your property. Conversely, the wrong tree in the wrong place can cost you thousands; a deep-rooted oak that wraps its roots around a utility line is a disaster, no matter how beautiful it may be.

When shopping for trees, opt for disease-resistant, sturdy varieties that are suited to your area. In the Northeast, for example, red maples will generally live for decades, while white paper birches usually last only about 15 years. For the best planting results, choose saplings that are five to 10 feet tall and weigh 50 to 75 pounds. Most common types, such as ash, maple and oak, cost from $70 to $100. Smaller trees may get whiplashed by adverse weather; larger ones will run you at least $200 apiece, plus $100 to $150 to hire a pro to transport and plant them.

Check with your nursery about where to place your trees. For instance, deciduous trees generally belong in the southwestern part of your property, where their leaves cast shade in the summer and their bare branches let the sun in during the winter. And never plant a tree before locating all utility lines. To find out where they are, ask your local garden center whom to call; in many states, you need to get in touch with the local One-Call agency, listed in the White Pages.

Finally, get written instructions on how to plant and care for saplings, including how often you should water, fertilize and prune them. If you can't prune your trees yourself--because they're too large or precariously situated, for example--you'll need to hire a tree-care expert, or arborist. Costs can vary widely, depending on where you live and the types and numbers of trees you have; pruning and thinning one 40-foot ash can cost from $200 to $500. So treat arborists as you would any contractor. Obtain referrals from neighbors who have paid for similar work. Then get several estimates, and make sure that anyone you consider carries adequate liability insurance and workers' compensation and hasn't generated complaints to the local Better Business Bureau.

3. PESTS

All kinds of unexpected guests will buzz and burrow through your yard. For four-legged pests, you'll need a pro, but you can probably cope with flying or crawling pests on your own. Strong grass outgrows most pest problems, so controlling bugs is ideally a subset of the overall lawn care outlined above, with one addition: Once a week, you should cut or pull weeds, since these are hatcheries for pests such as slugs and cutworms. A weed whacker, which costs about $50, will cut down unwanted greenery. You must pull out a weed's roots, however, to keep it from growing back.

Don't assume you have a pest problem just because your lawn, plants or trees exhibit a troubling symptom, such as discolored or perforated blades or leaves. "People see a spot and want to spray their whole lawn," says Fender. Instead, take a sample, such as a leaf that appears to have been munched, to your local nursery for a consultation. Bring along any suspected perpetrators that you can snare. It may turn out that you've simply overwatered.

You can also eliminate harmful invaders by using "beneficials"--benign bugs that feast on pests. For instance, ladybugs (about $10 per 2,000) eat aphids and mites. Beneficials are sold at some local nurseries or through mail order (try Biocontrol Network at 800-441-2847). If taking the natural route doesn't eliminate your problem, consider low-toxicity treatments. Ultrafine horticultural oil, for example, will often fend off small bugs like aphids or spider mites; insecticidal soap can protect trees and specimen plants from similar critters (cost for each: under $25).

You may need heavier-duty intervention to combat a recurring problem (such as moths) or a real danger (like a wasps' nest). Even then, however, you can minimize the use of poisons by employing a lawn service that offers integrated pest management (IPM). This treatment protocol attempts to rid your property of pests by controlling the root causes of the infestation and by using relatively safe chemicals for spot treatments. For instance, an IPM professional would first locate the breeding grounds of moths (such as a branch that serves as a caterpillar hatchery), remove it and then kill the existing pests. For a single IPM treatment, expect to pay from $25 to $50 per tree. If you need several treatments, check out an annual IPM contract, which will generally cost from $400 to $600.

One caution: There is no explicit license for IPM. However, any bug hunter you employ should be certified by your state for outdoor pest control. Then, ensure that he or she is using IPM techniques by examining the treatment plan for your yard. It should emphasize baits and biological means of controlling your problem pests. IPM pros do not use highly toxic chemicals such as chloryrifos and malathion.

You will also need professional assistance if your pest problem consists of major yard beasts. True, you can play Caddyshack, chasing gophers and other interlopers. But catching such creatures is difficult--and what are you going to do with them if you do snare them? Also, some animals, such as raccoons, can carry rabies and other dangerous diseases. See if your town or county has a wildlife-control agency that will help you out for free. You can probably get a listing through your county extension service. If you need to hire a private company, expect to pay $50 to $100 for someone to set traps to capture your problem animal alive and cart it away either to distant woods or the big woods in the sky.

4. WATER

For about $25, your local garden center will sell you an impulse sprinkler (the kind that goes tch-tch-tch as it rotates), which will efficiently irrigate an arc of lawn with a radius up to 35 feet. To inexpensively water your trees, shrubs and flowers, you can try a drip irrigation system, which consists of a series of water emitters attached to a hose that you can snake around your landscaping. (Cost: $75 to $120 for parts that you can easily assemble yourself.) For help in designing a system or purchasing parts, consult your local nursery or call DripWorks, a mail-order irrigation supply firm (800-616-8321).

If your yard has many different kinds of trees and plants, or if you're often away from home, you can pay an irrigation contractor to plan and install an automated sprinkler system that allows you to set one zone of sprinklers to water your grass, say, every morning and another to hydrate your trees twice a week. From start to finish, you'll pay a professional about $2,500, although you can trim the tab by doing some of the assembly work yourself once your pipes are installed.

First you'll need a contractor to design your system, which includes pipes, heads, valves and hydraulics. Cost: about $150. To select a contractor, get names from neighbors or the Associated Landscape Contractors of America (800-395-2522). Then ask the contractors you're considering for written bids--and reject any that do not explain how much the installation will cost and how long it will take.

Also request a list of items (identified by type and brand name) that the contractor will use to build the system. State-of-the-art materials for a 10,000-square-foot yard will cost you about $1,200, but if you agree to purchase them from the designer, he or she will generally rebate the design fee. Don't balk at the cost of parts, because skimping can lead to disaster. For example, cheap thermostat wire can disintegrate underground. Your wire should be approved by Underwriters Laboratories (UL) for underground use; your pipe by the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF); your heads should be of commercial quality, not from a discount store, and your screws and clamps should be made of stainless steel. "Sprinkler contractors bury their mistakes, so inspect materials and the work before the trenches are covered," says Ed Heckman, president of Lawn Design Irrigation Centers in Littleton, Colo.

The biggest part of installation is "pipe pulling," the process of actually laying sections of pipe under your yard--and is a job for your contractor. You'll need about 700 feet of pipe and two dozen heads (total cost: $350).

Next, the pipes, heads, valves and wires have to be linked and the excavated turf replanted. At this point you can save $1,000 or so by doing the work yourself according to the contractor's plan. Sure, it will probably cost you a week and a half of your life, but what's 10 days of sweat equity compared with all the luscious springs and good ole summertimes you'll spend in your perfect yard?