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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To astro turf my garden?

306 replies

hibbledobble · 04/07/2017 14:12

I put beautiful turf down and it's sadly looks like the pennines now: bumpy and lots of dead patches.

Astro turf would mean minimal maintenance and would look good, not good for environment though and pricey.

Wibu to astro turf it? If not, how does one maintain a lawn?

OP posts:
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7
Barbie222 · 05/07/2017 09:52

Our priority was for me, DH and DS to "properly use the lawn space" - not the wildlife

If we all did the same as you, there would be a big problem with a decline in the numbers of pollinating insects, though? Aren't they already on the decline for lots of reasons? And aren't our gardens a little way we can help, perhaps the only way we can help? They being the only outdoor space most of us own, and that? I think your attitude is selfish, you don't and you're justifying your thinking by saying that your family's needs are greater here. I don't agree.

Bluntness100 · 05/07/2017 09:52

I think a badly kept lawn looks fucking naff so each to their own

Bwahahahaha so much emotion. Agree a badly kept lawn looks bad too. But quite frankly you don't need to have either a badly kept lawn or Astro turf. It's not an either or situation.

There is a looks good option out there. Get someone in to feed and reseed your lawn a couple of times a year, as said, it's cheap, and then just cut it on high setting every couple of weeks in summer. Job done. No biggie.

Dowser · 05/07/2017 09:54

To me it will be like carpeting the patio.
We don't have a dog. We do have birds though.
Surely the rain will wash it.
We also have next doors nuisance sycamore

Dowser · 05/07/2017 09:58

I have an old filled in pond that has a hydrangea and lavender growing.
The bees love the lavender and this would stay. Also have pots with flowers in that would go on top of the turf.
I'm trying to make things easier for me and dh in our dotage but I do feel it would be more time consuming than the old decking.

It would look naffly nice though.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 05/07/2017 09:59

Bwahahahaha so much emotion. Agree a badly kept lawn looks bad too. But quite frankly you don't need to have either a badly kept lawn or Astro turf. It's not an either or situation.

Not really emotional, just replying to previous poster who said the same about articficial grass!

Writerwannabe83 · 05/07/2017 09:59

think your attitude is selfish, you don't and you're justifying your thinking by saying that your family's needs are greater here. I don't agree.

And that's fine.

If wanting to be able to use and enjoy my own garden and wanting somewhere safe and clean for my son to play is considered selfish then I will accept that.

We'd already previously spent £2'000 having it re-turfed in order to try and have a 'normal garden' but it didn't work so we had tried to keep it natural before opting for A.T.

Both my neighbour's gardens are as awful as mine used to be so there's still lots of space for the local bees and ants to enjoy the wildlife Smile

bumblingbovine49 · 05/07/2017 10:05

We just made a decision about this. We had a lot of lanscaping work done in the garden and were considering astroturf for the small bit of lawned area in the plans.

In the end, the astroturf was quite a bit more expensive than grass, also I did feel a bit bad about it being artificial (though honestly not bad enough for that to be the only reason I didn't use it). In addition DH said he thought it was quite a divisive thing in that if we came to sell the house some people would hate it and it would put them off, whereas most would not be put off by a bit of lawn even if it looked a bit unkempt/threadbare etc . Given all this we decided on grass.

However, the garden has only been done about 4 months ago and despite regular watering and cutting (1-2 times a week cutting and watering most days when it is very dry) the lawn is not looking very good. Cutting around the edges after mowing is a pita also.

We just never did much on the lawns in our previous houses (except cut it every 2-3 weeks when it was very long in the summer) but the lawns generally looked absolutely terrible when we came to move out. As we have spent quite a bit of money getting the garden looking nice, in this house I feel obliged to look after it much better than we did before and it is definitely more work than we did before.

As I spend ages cutting around the edge of the lawn after mowing (strimmer does not really do the job well enough) I do have flashes of wishing we had put in astroturf despite the extra expense but we will l stick with the lawn (at least for the moment)

nina2b · 05/07/2017 10:05

Today 08:11 monkeymamma

Kind of like people who 'hate' new builds - because they can afford/inherited a period place 🤔

Ouch.

nina2b · 05/07/2017 10:08

So in terms of equivalence, astro turf is slug eyebrows, fake tan and pouting selfies into your phone camera? Yes, that probably sums it up.

RollingGreenMarble · 05/07/2017 10:08

But it looks so ugly...

I walk past a garden with AT everyday and everyday I'm just as baffled why anyone would think it looks good. It looks ridiculous

nina2b · 05/07/2017 10:09

Oh - and don't mention decking.

nina2b · 05/07/2017 10:17

Today 09:45 PinkSparklyPussyCat

Your lawn, your choice. I just think they look really fucking naff.

I think a badly kept lawn looks fucking naff so each to their own.

I don't think you understand the meaning of "naff".

VeuveLilies · 05/07/2017 10:18

Yes plastic is ruining the ocean
But I'm not planning on putting my fake grass in the ocean.
Same as my straws

Funnyfarmer · 05/07/2017 10:21

I have it. My garden was tarmac before had so didn't cover up any of mother nature's creations.
I find it really low maintenance.
It gets jet washed a couple of times a year and child/pet safe disinfectant thrown down a few times a year too.
I love mine

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 05/07/2017 10:24

And I really don't care what you think nina2b.

For the record I don't have slug eyebrows, use fake tan or pout into the camera. I do however have decking and artificial grass and I've spent more time in my garden since it's been done than in the first 9 years we lived here.

Just to really upset everyone I also have netting all the way round my garden to cat proof it!

Actually posts like this really remind me why I rarely come onto AIBU, whatever happened to live and let live?!

Bluntness100 · 05/07/2017 10:31

He said it's really common to have the decking covered with A.T these days which surprised me

I'm not so surprised by that, decking is a bitch, it needs staining, gets slippy in winter and is prone to rodents living underneath it. Astro turfing it is much cheaper than paving it and would be easier to maintain. Just power wash it and hoover it. It's really just plastic carpet.

One of my friends has decking and it's a bastard if you go out in autumn onwards, your liable to slip if you're not careful. Astro turfing it probably would look better and be safer.

bbcessex · 05/07/2017 10:45

I wouldn't be without my artificial grass. We have it in two areas.. it has shock sponge underneath it so it's super springy.

You can get varying qualities.. the pricier options tend to look more realistic, and you can choose a mixed blade colour to get a less 'bowling green' look.

It doesn't have to be all or nothing.We still have plenty of trees, plants and bushes for the wildlife. This is just a very asthetically pleasing, practical way of having grasses areas.

If you're into secret, wild gardens then I completely appreciate this is not your thing.. but it is mine !

bbcessex · 05/07/2017 10:47

we've never had to wash the grass.. the most we do is leaf blow.

As for decking.. our decking is composite (mix of plastic and wood), completely weatherproof and non-slip.. maintenance free

DonttouchthatLarry · 05/07/2017 10:47

Haven't read all the replies, but have to say we love ours! We had a very small lawn (6x7m) and 3 large dogs, they just trashed it and it looked horrible and smelled of dog wee. Now we just hose it down and it doesn't let the rest of the nicely landscaped garden down. It's edged with sleepers and whoever buys the house can easily replace it with turf.

It's lovely to walk on, not at all prickly as one poster said. We got lots of samples from a seller on ebay who was much cheaper than garden centres and carpet shops. There are different lengths and colour mixtures so we went for a longer one with some brown in to look natural - it's not like artificial football pitches or the stuff greengrocers use Wink

I don't regret it for a second and love the fact the dogs don't bring mud in every time it rains.

lemureyes · 05/07/2017 10:49

A wildflower meadow would look good and doesn't need any maintenance. Then you'll get pretty butterflies and bees 🐝🐞

ChardonnaysPrettySister · 05/07/2017 10:57

Yes plastic is ruining the ocean
But I'm not planning on putting my fake grass in the ocean.
Same as my straws

I'm sure you're not planning it, but it ends up in the stochachns of whales who then die a horrible death.

But you can have your plastic perfect life.

MaQueen · 05/07/2017 11:03

A colleague had AT laid a couple of years ago. I have sat on their patio several times and never noticed it wasn't real. It looks very natural to me...and I'm the saddo who can tell the difference between F&B matt estate emulsion and inferior 'so called' very matte paint Blush

Her AT is many different shades of green and differing textures. God knows what she paid for it, but it honestly looks lovely.

RebeccaWithTheGoodHair · 05/07/2017 11:37

But no-one has to put bleach and disinfectant on a real lawn, no-one has to hoover a real lawn both of which are also harmful to the environment. It's collateral damage because of your initial decision.

Although I have to say those with real lawns who leaf blow are equally as bad - leaf mulch is great for wildlife, why not just rake it all into a corner and leave it to decompose?

Also, don't dig up ponds as they also support a whole ecosystem on their own, and leave bits of wood around for hedgehogs and insects.

I have heard lawns called 'green concrete' as they can be bad for the environment for sure - but that is for people who have real grass but want it to look like a tennis court (which in turn looks like astroturf!).

Basically I guess if you want a 'perfect' lawn whether grass or astroturf then you are going to harm the environment.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 05/07/2017 11:41

I'm not sure what size garden some of you have got but if I had a compost heap and a pond (not an option as I wouldn't want the cat catching frogs!) I wouldn't have any garden left!

Floggingmolly · 05/07/2017 11:42

No one has to put bleach and disinfectant on Astro turf either? Confused. The odd shower of rain keeps ours in perfectly good order; given that it's used daily in all seasons as a sports pitch, it doesn't need to be sterilised...
And it cost a king's ransom - it really is indistinguishable from the real thing.