To ask about your artificial lawn

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Do you love it? Pros and cons? Considering doing ours. Lawn is extremely wet and mossy. Would like it nice for DC to play on. Would be interested to hear from anyone who has one. thanks

We have a lovely weeping silver birch and are the north side of a very high brick wall. The 'lawn' got no water or sun, was mostly moss and weeds. Easigrass provided a range of samples, i chose the one which most closely matches the few patches of grass. Installation took a whole day, with an early start, they needed access to an electrical socket and a source of water. They tidied the site and left it immaculate

We have raised beds in the sunnier parts if the garden, this smallish patch is now very low maintenance, looks fine and is very practical. I would do it again, in the same circumstance.

Pretty much like buying a carpet / linoleum for the house these days. Basically two things to consider the 'underlay' and the carpet on top. Expect to pay the same amount for the underlay and prepping as you do for the carpet. The prepping of the ground is all important as you want it to be completely level so that it doesn't puddle. When you are finding installers go for someone who is quite fussy and anal about resolving the bottom layer as the actual laying of the carpet is much more straight forward. If it needs to be 'joined' it is just like in the house- make sure the joins are not on high traffic areas.
Before you choose your artificial turf product work out who is going to be using the turf and what for... there are lots of products from entry level all the way up. Weigh up how important having the garden done is in the scheme of your life and budget accordingly.
You might find that if you have the only decent outdoor surface in the neighbourhood your kids will always have friends over to play and they are using your garden far more than before.. If it's for DC to play sport / tumble on then ask for a large enough sample that you can physically walk on with your bare feet. [If your budget allows they may suggest giving you a 'shock pad' underneath so put the two sample layers together when you are choosing.]

We have had astro turf (fake grass) laid down now for a few years, has not lost its colour, and is ideal for us. I hoover it every now and then, much to the amusement of the neighbours, it was costly but for us worth every penny. The grandchildren love playing on it, win win all round.

But what about bugs, needs, butterflies, hedgehogs, roads etc?

*bees!

*toads!

I can’t type!!

Our previous place had it, best stuff ever. DS could play football on it all weathers. Fast forward to new place - we've been in 2 months and never been in the garden... it has been cold and snowy though

If we weren't renting, I'd lay it again in a heartbeat

:(. I always feel so sorry for Hedgehogs/Bumble Bees/Birds when I see artificial grass. It's damaging to ecosystem and we need less plastic in the environment, not more!

We have it best thing we ever did.We also have a pond so a great haven for frogs and toads.We also have very tall palm trees that flower every year which the birds and the bees cannot get enough off.
So I think we balance out our Astro turf

I have it in my small front garden , the previous owners laid it. I do Hoover it once in a while - much to my DD's embarrassment!

LOVE ours. It's brilliant. We spent a bit more and went for a higher quality one. Doesn't look fake at all and it's so soft and clean for DCs to play on. We hoover it regularly (leaves etc).
Highly recommend it!

Actually very many of the new synthetic carpet products are 100% recyclable at end of life. Ask the provider / installer specifically about their environmental and sustainability policies.

No reason why somewhere else in the garden a small corner can be allocated for a 'bug hotel' or another environmental project.

I don't have fake grass, but I thought you weren't supposed to vacuum it? I was told that vacuuming it can suck out the sand and make it uneven with little pits eventually.

Yes it makes me feel a bit sad for the ecosystem / environment to replace natural greenery with artificial plastic :(

We have it. It is only a small area but provides a safe outside space for our disabled son to sit on/lie on that can be used all year round. I don't think ours looks real but we don't pretend that it is. It drains very well and is dry again very quickly after it rains whereas the previous grass was a bog for 8 months of the year.

My friend has a very large garden done in it. I was wild to get some I loved it. It cost about £2500 it's been fab for her and her dogs, cleans really easily but it did need replacing about 10 years later, we've still got the same grass and I sometimes hanker after the clean short fake stuff, but tbh much prefer the smell and naturalness of my real grass, no matter how good the fake grass is you can always tell it's fake as it's too perfect.

It is terrible for the environment, replacing plants with plastic.

Not necessarily, we replaced gravel with plastic. We love ours, our daughter can play on it in all weathers with no mud or digging up the lawn. We haven’t done anything to maintain it, just swept it up every now and again.

What impact does it have on drainage etc? The fashion for paving over front gardens has had a massive impact nationally on flooding etc (ie increased it as there is run off)

I've just had it installed as an area for my dog to play on. It's like carpet with the less fake looking thicker piled type being more expensive so I do think you pay for the look of it.

The base is important and our installers put down crushed limestone which helps the drainage. The finish looks so good we are considering doing the rest of the garden.

The plastic grass is porous, so rain soaks though it.
But it does need good drainage underneath, or it can sit in a puddle.

We have a big section of our garden done in fake grass, great for football all year round with no mud, and no maintenance needed! Mine cost over 5k including having it layed because it’s auite a big area. I don’t regret it although it was v expensive we’ve got the use out of it

It is terrible for the environment, replacing plants with plastic.

I replaced foul smelling slimey moss and mud with it so no plants were hurt in the installation of my lawn

BiteyShark what do you think moss is?

The secrete for a nice lawn is not to mow it so often, mowing weakens the grass in winter and does not let -weeds- wild flowers develop.

Mud is good, some bacterias in mud have been shown to increase serotonin (happiness hormone) in mice:
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycobacterium_vaccae

EatTheChocolateTeapot I was being light hearted in my comment but equally moss isn't a 'plant' I want to look at or walk on, especially the smelly slimey kind and it definitely isn't a nice place to 'play on'.

Just had it put into our holiday apartment to replace scrubby weeds. Saves on precious water too.