Mumsnet Talk

I have a colleague who waxes lyrical about artificial lawns - some of which include fake moss so look realistic. The only thing is to be careful not to allow any animals to poo on it - awful to clean up.
Note to Snus - I agree with you - my colleague is lovely but is a UPVC window, neo-Georgian fakery type of gal... ah, each to their own.

I have a yard but installed a strip 4mx2 for the dogs to do their business on!
It's fab, really hygenic and very comfortable to sit on or play on! It washes well and looks very convincing! Just level the ground (with sand if neccessary) and secure with double sided tape!
I used Verdegrass but used their budget offerings (offcuts ex display etc).

waterlogged lawns

If you are dead set on having a lawn.

gardening on wet soil

HTH

Snusmumriken I can think of few things more annoying than a perpetual mud bath in the back garden! Our garden can be played in 365 days a year.

We used NoMow. Good product BUT we did have problems with the fitting and they had to come back and replace it after a couple of months (our lawn slopes and it was wrinkling at the bottom!)

I can think of few things that are more tacky then a plastic lawn. Anything would be better....please, for the sake of good taste-reconsider!

We are thinking of getting this. Can anyone recommend the brand they had as I don't know who is good on this.

We've got it as we have 2 children and 2 large dogs and the original lawn turned into a mud pit within weeks of moving here. It's brilliant - clean, drains and dries quickly and looks good all year round. It's easy to clean up dog mess and can be washed and hosed down.
Definitely get the best you can afford as the cheaper shorter ones will be scratchy and look unnatural. Better ones have realistic texture and colouring and are much softer to walk and play on. The only real disadvantage is that in very hot weather it can be hot to walk on

We have got a small london garden and the previous owners put in astro - it is fab! Admittedly after 8 or 10 years or so it looks a bit tired, but still much better than real grass which would require a lot of tlc. We will either replace it idc, or perhaps go for a more "adult" garden. Depends on age of children when we get round to it.

how do you clean up the animal muck?

We have some and it is really good! I was not a fan initially, but there was nothing else practical other than having a mud pit.

We went for a more expensive one as we wanted a more natural look. The DC love it, it is more like a slightly bouncy carpet. We did ours through LazyLawns who had a bit of a lead time and weren't the cheapest by a long way, but did an excellent job.

I do agree with you 'betterwhenthesunshines' but the reality in our garden was that we did not have that lush springy kind of lawn anyway.

My neighbour got an artificial lawn last summer. We've got postage stamp sized front lawns and they got fed up of mowing theirs. They bought the most expensive kind it's very soft, has brown bits so it doesn't look too green. The only thing that gives it away as being fake is that in direct sunlight its a bit shiny, looks great though especially now that mine is looking mid winter shaggy.

the thing is my bins are at the one corner of my garden and I have to drag then across full and its a slippy muddy mess. maybe just this bit fake would be great. like your swing hintofbream

We had it in the old place and it was Fab! Looked nice, easy to sit on, lovely in the summer with water. All good. Will get it again for new place when we can be bothered - even dh agrees and he was dead against

Get lots of quotes.

Our DGCs wore out a largish area under a tree from which a swing hangs, so we laid a piece of artificial grass to cover it. A great success, it blends in pretty well with the rest of the lawn, but I don't think I would want huge expanses of it.

We got our fitted by the suppliers (one of the big chains, but based fairly locally). The whole thing was expensive, but cheaper per sq/m than the paving - although that's probably because I have expensive tastes

I'd agree that nothing beats sitting out on real grass on a summer's day. If my garden was bigger and suited a natural lawn then I wouldn't have gone artificial. I don't find raking it a problem, mind, I've always had to sweep the patio anyway!

Lurking as interested in this too. There is a house that has this locally - must go and pluck up courage to knock. Theirs looks pretty good and as we want to spend time away it would be great if we didn't have to employ someone to mow and water in our absence. I think you might have to pay quite a bit to get something that doesn't look too fake.

I looked into this but, apart from the cost, I think on hot days it wouldn't be very comfortable. Nothing nicer than a cool grassy lawn rather than hot plastic. And to me that's worth more than not having the muddy winter lawn. After allm in the winter you don't spend much time in the garden, in the summer you do.

Although there'll be no mowing, prepare yourself for lots of sweeping instead.

how was it fitted?

We had our green plastic carpet installed last Autumn. Our garden is too small and shady to have considered the real thing. It was therefore either artificial or sticking with all paved (which I hated) or decking (which I don't like). I can't wait until the Spring and the dc can properly get out on it.

In fairness it does look fake, but I'm still excited by it. I especially like the fact that it's super clean and there's no mud to be walked in!

does anyone have this?

really thinking of it as mine is a muddy mess at the moment, plus I'm lazy and no mowing sounds like heaven.