Anyone has artificial lawn installed?

[ItsNiceItsDifferentItsUnusual]

We've got a v small garden where grass won't grow due to shade. Lawn area 25sqm.

Just been quoted £3000 for artificial grass, installed professionally, material taken away etc. We're a bit taken aback - is this expensive or were we being unrealistic?

Trying to get other quotes but not many people willing to come out.

Farmers, if I said I meant it politely then that's what I meant. If I didn't mean it politely I would have absolutely no hesitation in ensuring you knew that and would not say I meant it politely.. My user name is bluntness for a reason.

No wonder the poor little hedgehogs are dying out with all the plastic gardens.

Flipping heck. We used artificialgrass4u and it was £1300 last year for double that. They came from Nottingham to Southampton. Did an excellent job. Make sure you clean it though.

This thread should be moved to Home decoration or even Housekeeping since you have to clean your grass, FGS! Fake plastic grass has got absolutely nothing to do with gardening, it is in fact the antithesis of gardening so bog off with your plastic grass!

I despair at fake grass .You may get some birds in your garden,but I doubt anywhere the number or variety of garden birds as in the past.Numbers are plummeting,as are insects.I've just been watching blackbirds foraging for worms after a heavy downpour this evening.How can they do that on artificial grass?There is a house near us that has gone even further. Plastic vine festooned around the door.Plastic plants in pots.When we moved several years ago we had hedgehogs using our garden -all natural - as a thorough fare.Not a sign of one now.Could be something to do with the number of 'gardens' that are more like outdoor rooms.

I'm a bit on the fence about plastic grass.

On the one hand I'm not a huge fan on people ripping up proper lawns to lay it, but on the other hand I think it's a great alternative to a patio for Families if there is a bit where grass just will not grow.

We've got some on our balcony (along with some plastic decking tiles) with some plastic plants so we have a fake no maintenance garden up high. We wouldn't have any plants up there otherwise as I would forget to water the pots. We also have a few fake grass offcuts from someone else that I'm currently using to cover some weedy beds to try and kill off the weeds before I mulch and plant up (major bindweed problem in our garden!).

Could you try getting someone like GreenThumb in for a while to do treatments to the lawn to see if you can salvage it?

Not sure if this is helpful at all but just wanted to share my experience. We live in a Victorian terrace with a small paved yard and I want somewhere soft and safe for my 2 kids to play. It's North East facing with high walls so real grass wouldn't work, and I decided against fake grass for the multitude of reasons listed above(!) I've gone for playground tiles made of recycled rubber, for a 3x3 metre area it's costing around £350 (laid ourselves on top of existing paving slabs). It's coming tomorrow so no first hand experience yet, but might be worth looking in to if you want somewhere soft but your real lawn isn't working out? They're tested to give a critical fall height like the tiles used in school/park playgrounds. I've also got some high raised beds and a tiered plant stand to get my real plants up high to make the most of our sun, so hopefully they offset the lack of lawn a bit!

I'd go against a pp and say ours drys quicker than real grass. After its rained we can get out on it much sooner.

Our garden before was stoned and it would have cost more to get it turned than the artificial grass. We hardly used our garden before and now the children play out there for hours. Plus, I like that the grass is a warm to lay on when its sunny.

Lord. This is reminding me of some of my neighbours. They gravel or tarmac over their front gardens so they can park right up against their front room window, they deck and gravel and plastickify the back gardens "so the kids don't get mud in the house" and rip out their hedges in favour of fences because they cba trimming them.
It looks so tacky and it's so bad for the environment.
Do what you like op, but I think it would be a shame for the millions of insects and hundreds of birds and bees and frogs and hedghogs etc that depend on an ever diminishing habitat.

I generally live my life as plastic free and eco friendly as possible.

😂 You have smothered your garden with metres of PLASTIC GRASS. So, no, you do not live your life as "eco friendly and plastic free as possible". Not by a very, very, very long way. Stop lying.

How about using something other than grass? Camomile? Thyme? Thyme in particular is supposed to be a robust alternative...

Definitely not chamomile.
I have chamomile, it needs lots of sunshine, won’t do at all well in a shady spot.

Moss or possibly pearlwort or ajuga would probably work though. Maybe a sedum..

Sorry to hijack OP.I'm considering fake grass. However I'm wondering if it can go over existing patio?
The existing patio is madevup of 1970s pink and yellow slabs, some broken.
I watched a few You Tube videos and they suggest a thick layer of underlay and a mix of with sand and lime to go under.
Water currently drains quickly but wondering about drainage.
Also north facing garden here and u feel the green will help lift a horrible concrete yard.
Anyone had fake grass over a patio?

You do not need to clean artificial grass. Rain cleans it perfectly and any company that says you need to buy special cleaner is just trying to rip you off.

We have real lawn at the rear of our house and have put in insect and bee boxes, and bird feeders, and plenty of insect-friendly plants to compensate for our small patch of artificial lawn.

And you can lay it over patio as long as your patio drains well.