Has anyone got a fake lawn? Just saw a Smart Grass display!

[OoohMrCoyne]

Don't get me wrong, I do love real plants, and would NEVER have even considered a fake lawn before... But I saw a Smart Grass display today and it looked amazing! Really lifelike and uncannily accurate colour mix.

I have a north facing courtyard garden on 3 levels, a dog, two DCs and a non-gardening DH... So it looks like a great solution.

Has anyone out there had such a product installed? How does it wear over time?

My cousin has had his entire 150 ft garden astro-turfed.

He has 4 football mad boys and chickens. Between the 2 factions, his lawn was fucked. I was at the thought, but it looks fab! He's had it down for about 5 years and it's like new. He gives it the odd sweep and that's it.

Could you hoover it?

Yes! My cousin has hoovered his!

Sooooo tempting then....

I have a small, north facing garden, 2 DCs and 3 dogs, so I love our fake grass!

Only had it for about 18 months but it's still looking good, but it's not cheap so I am hoping it wears well!

Ok, slightly odd but very serious question for those of you with fake grass and dogs...
What happens if the dog wees / poos on the grass? Does the wee soak away like on real grass or do I have to sponge it up? Our dog suffers with colitis so any runny poos I hose away. Can I do this with fake grass?

Because it looks beautiful and my northfacing tree-shaded lawn is not standing up to two children and one whippety lurcher!

When you say you have a courtyard garden do you mean it is paved? If so, and you lay the grass on top of the paving, it will look fine but the wee will have no where to drain away to, same when you are hosing poo.

Decent fake grass comes on a backing with plenty of drainage holes, so in our case the wee soaks through and I pick up the poo as normal. On a dog forum I go on a couple of people with multiple bigger dogs said that their fake grass started to smell in periods of dry weather.

We're thinking of getting a fake lawn this year, with two big dogs our little lawn has turned into a mud patch and I've given up hope of restoring any 'real' grass :(.

Apparently the wee soaks through and drains away as it would on grass, obviously normal poos you'd pick up as usual. I assume you could hose any runny ones if necessary. If you've got pets (or kids who are going to play on it) you want to make sure to get one of the more hard-wearing varieties, make sure it's designated suitable for pets.

I guess it could smell a bit in hot weather where the dogs have gone, but tbh so does a normal garden/lawn unless you hose it down regularly!

The lack of drainage worries me.... We have a very muddy north facing garden, made even shadier by the big Ash trees which line the canal towpath behind our rear fence...
We pick up poo as soon as dog does it (he gets three walks per day so does not often poo in the garden anyway), his morning and evening wee just run into the ground. The grass does not really smell where dog has been as it keeps growing and 'refreshing' itself and we cut it regularly. Obviously this cannot be done with fake grass...

Actually, the more I think about it the less I am convinced that this is a good idea in the long term. A bit like carpet - beautiful the first year or so but after a while you inevitably start to dream of new ones... (or is that just me...?)

The 'bottom level' of my garden is very old crazy paving. There are lots of drainage cracks and it is pretty uneven. Drains very well. It looks pretty awful as it is and I'm now fantasising about rolling a lush green carpet over the top...

The companies I've looked at online seem to do an optional layer of spongey underlay for hard surfaces and special weed/spore-killing sand (machine swept after fake grass is laid).

We only have one dog who gets regular walks, so not much wee and poo in our garden anyway. We could probably train her to do it on the top or middle sections, which will be left paved.

Any recommendations on companies covering Sussex / South East and prices?

BehindLockNumberNine, most of the fake grasses have the same drainage as normal grass.

We're just about to get some for our patio area. Try expressgrass.com and you'll see their most popular grass that explains the drainage. I can only assum the rain will wash away any residue through into the ground.

Hi everyone ! New mum here ! My husband bought some SmartGrass from a company called Sabalex - they were very helpful and it arrived next day too. They have an installation guide on their website blog thing which we followed.

This was last summer (2011) and a year on we are still very happy with it. hope this helps someone !

sue.

I am a garden designer and I've installed fake turf lawns for clients.
The preparation is very similar to that for real turf, and if you have drainage problems you will need to dig over and incorporate lots of horticultural grit to the surface to be turfed.
A reputable landscaper should know that they need to do this - if you don't do it, then you run the risk of moss building up on the surface of the fake turf.

There are companies which will send you turf samples. They are very lifelike and incorporate 'dead' looking strands of grass into the mix for authenticity.

I really think it's worth doing if you have lot of wear or a small garden with no room for a lawnmower.

Hi CuttedUpPear, where are you based? My garden is in desperate need of an overhaul & DH has suggested fake lawn due to the hosepipe ban. I need to be convinced as we have a large garden, but perhaps it would be ok under a play area for DS, with real grass elsewhere in the garden?

Hi Micro
I'm in Gloucestershire but I also work in London, I installed one of my fake lawns there two years ago and it still looks lovely.
I would recommend it for under swings - it is as soft as real grass and will look healthy all year if laid right and swept every now and again to prevent fallen leaves decaying on it.

no no no no no

so many birds in my garden this year looking for worms they can't do that in a fake lawn you nutcases

under swings???? no, children need to learn how the earth feels

Well Micro has a big garden, the kids can feel the earth everywhere else apart from under the swings.

I have a strip 4/2 meters for the dogs to use in the yard. VV hardwearing. I had an extension built before Xmas and it looked a sorry state with workmen trundling barrows of soil, hardcore and concrete over it. It looked good as new once it was swept and pressure washed.
It was from the bargain offcuts at Verdegrass. About £70. Money well spent. Its in its 4th year now and good as new.

Sorry I should have said I laid it myself over a patch of well draining soil.