Fake grass is the height of tackiness

[Ihatetomatoes]

Horid stuff, and bad for wildlife.

If you don't have any spare time or are lazy, perhaps a property with a smaller garden.

To be fair on the scale of things, does this really matter

I’ve got zero money like yourself

I have a shaded muddy garden with a patchy “lawn”

I have an asd son, I drive a low emissions car and have zero holidays ever by plane. I’m also vegetarian.

Yet I still don’t have the inclination to fit plastic grass. Couldn’t afford it even if I wanted to.

Throws up debris that settles in your lungs - think UFPS (ultra fine particles). Awful stuff and naff to boot.

We replaced our lawn for fake grass ten years ago and have never regretted it. We’d had the original grass lawn re turfed twice, as always overrun with weeds from farmers fields next door. It was always water logged as very poor drainage. When my daughter got a puppy it turned into a ploughed field after rain as he constantly raced around chasing birds, flies, butterflies and bees. My husband damaged his back and couldn’t manage a mower anymore; so what was the alternative? Would concrete slabs, block paving, gravel or wooden decking be any more environmentally better?
We have large borders, containers and a large pond containing fish and insect and bee friendly plants. We can walk on it after a downpour without water almost coming over the top of our shoes.

If you have money for turf, you have money for a basic garden. It doesn't have to be expensive.

As I said, I believe humanity is doomed because of their own actions anyway, so it doesn't really make any difference what you or I do in the long run. People are going to continue to make environmentally unfriendly decisions for their own comfort (I include myself in that, though I do try to minimise it). The radical change needed isn't going to happen.

It should be banned. Some plastics are easy to get rid of.

YABU - we tried for years to grow grass on the shitty soil in our small london garden. any time there was a drizzle it was a mudbath. known issue in the area.after yrs of resistance we put artificial grass down so kids had a garden they could play in. we kept all trees, shrubs and flowerbeds sround it and have lots of bird feeders. we plant regularly and attract lots of bees and butterflies and birds.

https://cleanwater.org/2024/09/16/turf-artificial-harm-very-real#:~:text=Artificial%20turf%20contains%20hundreds%20of,%2C%20and%2For%20endocrine%20disruptors.

So you prefer your child to play breathing in ultrafine particles?? Not like he hasn’t got enough to contend with already.

As for being out of touch, a close family member died, I had the cost of their funeral crippling me on credit cards for 10 months before a small life insurance policy came through that enabled me to pay that off. They had no assets and I couldn't afford it. I'm not wealthy. I used the rest of the payment to buy some land to rewild, for the animals and because I felt it honoured them in some lasting way. I build it bit by bit, as I can.

What a shitty post.

It's still tacky.

It will last forever. Its plastic

I personally hate them (along with plastic flowers and plants) but I’m also a shit, but enthusiastic, gardener so my own plastic free garden looks like a weed-harbouring disaster. I’ve also done plenty of things bad for the environment so I’m in no place to judge really.

What does annoy me is that dh loves the whole fake lawn and concrete shit low maintenance garden and we know a lot of people with gardens like this. I get sick of having to make non-commital smiles and noises each time we’re at a friend’s house and he starts with ‘now this is what we need, don’t you think? What about this style - would you like the grass this style? I could just see our garden like this, can’t you?’ Etc etc etc.

It's dreadful stuff. Every time it rains it seeps microplastics into the soil poisoning actual plants and wildlife. Wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.

Ecological deserts, and environmental disaster. It cannot be recycled and lasts forever. Real grass should not be perfect either, and should contain a variety of weeds to sustain wildlife. It doesn't matter if you have a smattering of flowers, bees and birds, whoopy do, the majority of nature in your garden will be in your grass and soil. If you had real grass you would have ten times as many. And yes, gravel would be better.

On a more hard headed note, it will devalue your property.

The concept of it is tacky. And so, so bad for nature. I judge very harshly those who choose to tear up actual grass to lay down plastic. Vile stuff.

It doesn’t have to “look tacky” to be “tacky”.

Ignore him!! Your enthusiasm for your garden is far more important than your ability/knowledge - that can be acquired. Start to collect images from Insta/Pinterest of gardens you like that are wildlife friendly.

• Stay organic.
• Use recycled materials.
• Grow annuals/perennials from seed/cuttings/plug plants to economise.
• Spend your money on a multistemmed crab apple tree & some flowering/berrying shrubs.
• Stick with single not double flowers.
• Choose more drought-tolerant species.
• Add some grasses & other plants with good seedheads.
• Think vertically - low groundcover, mid-layer of taller perennials/shrubs, climbers, then taller shrubs/small trees.
• Think of nectar-providing sources through the year - ie from early spring bulbs through to winter-flowering shrubs.
• Try & include a water feature.
• A mown lawn isn't necessary - in fact, a lawn often isn't necessary at all!

Lots & lots more things you can do to make a garden that is good for the environment AND beautiful!! And then your friends will envy YOU & start copying you instead ...

I'm a Landscape Architect & garden designer, so do this all the time in my designs. I've never used plastic grass & am looking forward to ripping it up in my latest project!!

Also, just because a garden is wildlife-friendly doesn't mean it has to be informal/wild/messy-looking - it can also be more designed/formal. It's the elements that are important.

Some looser more informal wildlife-friendly garden ideas.

And some more formal ones that will still offer plenty for wildlife.

Same here. I don't have enough space to make it worth having a real lawn.

Are they plastic too !
Ive also moved to a rented house a couple of months ago, we have plastic grass and i possibly hate it even more than I did before. Looks really tacky .Horrible to walk on, I’m not going to be washing it or whatever you’re supposed to do. I’ve never seen a bird so much as look at it let alone hop across it ! Thankfully we’re only here temporarily 🤞

It’s nasty stuff. I do judge people who have it, same as people who slab over their whole gardens. If you’re too lazy to have a garden and look after it properly either pay a gardener or buy a flat. And before anyone harps on about disabled people, yes I know but the majority of people with these zero effort gardens aren’t.

Next door has fake grass it looks like shit. Like they threw a fake grass rug down.
The same people that love fake grass also seem to hate trees as well, there isn't a single tree in my row of houses. I refuse to chop down my big tree, it's a bird sanctuary, there have been so many complaints about it despite the fact it blocks nobodies sun and only sheds it's leaves in my garden as it's in the middle.
Other than my house it's an entire row of grassless, treeless sterile gardens.
I was thinking this thread was a bit spicy for the gardening forum then realised it's AIBU 😂