Artificial grass what's the deal?

[BG2015]

Last year we had our garden done. Really pleased with it. Decided to have the lawn re-turfed as artificial grass was so expensive.

However, although our garden/patio is south westerly the bottom half is sheltered by a massive willow tree so gets little sun. We also had a visiting mole x2 which created havoc and turned it into a mud bath.

We've decided to go with artificial grass, I'm not a great fan but it's the only way to go with our garden now.

So what's the deal with the grades etc as I know nothing about it. We've got someone coming to give us a quote next week so would like to have some idea first.

[quote GnomeDePlume]@NeilBuchananisBanksy But it's a million times better than a plastic one. No amount of justification gets around that.

A million times? Do you have any stats for that please?

I expect my artificial lawn to give me maybe 20 years of use. At some point we may replace it with turf again. At that point the artificial turf will probably be moved to our allotment where it will be used to cover a bed over winter.

In the mean time we arent mowing, strimming, weeding & feeding the lawn.[/quote]
Are you trying to argue that plastic grass has the same environmental impacts as a natural lawn? Like really?

It’s one thing to have it, but own the issues and don’t get a bit silly about it.

We have a massive lawn, we mow it yes, and we strim the edges with an electric strimmer, I’ve never applied chemicals to it ever, or any lawn I’ve ever had.

My mind boggles at anyone trying to argue that it’s similarly damaging, from the run off issues with plastic grass, to the killing of the ecosystems a lawn houses, to the landfill issues when it’s eventually disposed of. The time it takes to break down. Its unbelievable to argue they are the same level of damaging.

@Franklyfrost

I call total bullshit on the ‘I’m disabled so I need fake grass’ line. It’s a very British thing to want a lawn, most of the world doesn’t have the right climate for lawns and yet they manage to have easy to maintain child friendly gardens. I do judge when someone buys something both useless and vey environmentally damaging. I am also a pollock. And my children are muddy.

Call bullshit on it all you want. I am disabled and the artificial grass that was down when we moved in changed my life.

@NeilBuchananisBanksy I'm not sure why you say we wouldnt be able to reuse our plastic lawn on our allotment.

Allotments are an elephants graveyard where all sorts of things are re-used, recycled, repurposed. Private allotments so no council rules on what can or cannot be used. Old pieces of scaffolding, children's garden toys, transitanks are all re-used.

I dont dispute that an area of artificial lawn is not as environmentally friendly as natural lawn but I dont think that hyperbole helps the argument.

If an artificial lawn is one part of a garden with beds, borders and trees how does the environmental cost compare once you take into account lawn mowing, strimming etc? In the lifetime of our recalcitrant natural lawn we got through a couple of mowers and strimmers and countless quantities of weed and feed.

A garden is artificial. Left to its own devices a garden would quickly become an impenetrable mass of brambles, tussocks, mares tail and other native species. Environmentally friendly? Yes. Useable? No.

We want our garden to be useable so a compromise has to be reached. My compromise is that I have trees, beds and borders in my garden plus an artificial lawn.

We use plastics on our allotment but these are re-used many times over and if organic mulch such as wood chip from our local tree surgeon is available we use that.

@Bluntness100 I have not said they were the same but I dont think hyperbole or a claim that a tended lawn is environmentally cost free help the argument.

There's some good ideas here on how to minimise the impact on wildlife of having grass-free gardens - www.houzz.co.uk/magazine/can-i-have-a-lawn-free-garden-thats-kind-to-the-environment-stsetivw-vs~118138769

and some more ideas here that are worth a think about: www.ecohome.net/guides/3402/grass-lawn-alternatives-eco-friendly-bee-friendly/

Some more interesting ideas here as well: ethical.net/ethical/sustainable-alternatives-to-garden-lawns/

Yes I looked at all the natural lawn alternatives (clover, moss etc) but they were all unsuitable for being walked and played on regularly. We have children who use every inch of our small lawn.

Of course it’s not as good ecologically as a real lawn, it’s daft to claim that. However I have minimised my ecological impact in various other ways, including planting 3 trees and re greening our previously paved large front garden, so I’m not going to feel too guilty about our small patch of artificial grass (which by the way drains perfectly in heavy rain - much better than our old lawn with clay soil).

[quote GnomeDePlume]@NeilBuchananisBanksy I'm not sure why you say we wouldnt be able to reuse our plastic lawn on our allotment.

Allotments are an elephants graveyard where all sorts of things are re-used, recycled, repurposed. Private allotments so no council rules on what can or cannot be used. Old pieces of scaffolding, children's garden toys, transitanks are all re-used.

I dont dispute that an area of artificial lawn is not as environmentally friendly as natural lawn but I dont think that hyperbole helps the argument.

If an artificial lawn is one part of a garden with beds, borders and trees how does the environmental cost compare once you take into account lawn mowing, strimming etc? In the lifetime of our recalcitrant natural lawn we got through a couple of mowers and strimmers and countless quantities of weed and feed.

A garden is artificial. Left to its own devices a garden would quickly become an impenetrable mass of brambles, tussocks, mares tail and other native species. Environmentally friendly? Yes. Useable? No.

We want our garden to be useable so a compromise has to be reached. My compromise is that I have trees, beds and borders in my garden plus an artificial lawn.

We use plastics on our allotment but these are re-used many times over and if organic mulch such as wood chip from our local tree surgeon is available we use that.[/quote]
Because you don't actually know of the grass will be in a usable state by that time. It has a shelf life, that's unknown at the moment. Plastic decomposes. It might not be suitable to use.

I think you can still use it after twenty years, I’m just not sure what for. Most will last eight to ten years, it won’t look very nice by the end of that period, it will be very worn, depending on how much it’s used, but it will functionally not have degraded too much.

The uv protection will have gone so it will be fading as well. . After this though, and up to twenty years, although worn and faded it will still be functional, afte that it will be a bit of a mess.

Obvs weeds can still grow up through it, moss on it etc, and it needs maintenance throughout. I’m not sure what anyone would do with some very worn faded plastic grass on an allotment, but if that’s what the pp wants to do, then fair enough.

I’d also be very careful of carcinogens, if young kids or animals playing on it, as some is thought to provide a risk to human health.

Are you trying to argue that plastic grass has the same environmental impacts as a natural lawn? Like really?

It’s one thing to have it, but own the issues and don’t get a bit silly about it.

We have a massive lawn, we mow it yes, and we strim the edges with an electric strimmer, I’ve never applied chemicals to it ever, or any lawn I’ve ever had.

Totally agree. I have a lawn - I don't feed it, don't use weedkiller or insecticide, and a few times a year it gets mown with an electric mower (we do need to use more renewable electricity in this country, but that applies to everything that uses electricity). Every now and then I might weed it a bit by hand, but I don't get upset about the odd dandelion, so it doesn't require much in the way of human intervention.

There is no way on earth that it's equivalent to a plastic lawn environmentally, and it's fairly silly to claim that it is.

There is a terrible 'weed' phobia everywhere. (people forget how useful some of them are). Weed killer is a vile product. From what some of you have said you'd put it on normal lawns and on plastic ones . There's no hope really

Oh and grass itself is one of the most prolific weeds of all! It's often designed especially to be.

Also, lots of comments seem to be saying that having a few borders or a tree/hedge somehow 'offsets' the plastic lawn - no it doesn't! That's not how it works. Before the plastic lawn went down, there was soil/plants (aka weeds)/patchy grass AND the hedge.

I have moved to only buying natural fabrics where possible, have tried to eliminate plastic waste wherever possible, and I don't eat meat for environmental reasons. I don't try to use those facts as excuses to justify creating excess harm in other areas of my life!

If you want a weedy lawn and not to mow it often then crack on, nobody is stopping you. If your lawn thrives like that then lucky you. We had a couple of goes at laying turf and also seeding. For some reason our soil is not conducive to growing grass. Interestingly we dont get it coming into the borders from neighbouring gardens either.

On the whole a small lawn will need to be tended to keep it strong to withstand family use there being a concentration of wear.

My comments have been around the use of hyperbole by saying that an artificial lawn is a million times worse than a living lawn.

A living tended lawn is not an especially environmentally friendly space. It's a monoculture so bugs living there will be limited to the bugs which are happy in that monoculture. Some bugs may actually be harmful to the lawn. Mowing requires a mower and possibly a strimmer to stop the lawn and beds becoming one.

The OP wants an area which isnt a mud bath and is useable and so far has had no luck with grass.

'My comments have been around the use of hyperbole by saying that an artificial lawn is a million times worse than a living lawn.'

It was me that said million times worse. It's not hyperbole, but a turn of phrase which you seem to have latched on to in order to try and justify your claim that plastic grass is ok.

I'd respect people more if they at least acknowledged the fact it's terrible for the environment, but they like it so have got it.

Frankly, you trying to say it's only a little bit worse environmentally than a lawn is laughable.

I'd respect people more if they at least acknowledged the fact it's terrible for the environment, but they like it so have got it.

Same here. At least be honest about it.

@ReceptacleForTheRespectable

I'd respect people more if they at least acknowledged the fact it's terrible for the environment, but they like it so have got it.

Same here. At least be honest about it.

It is worse for the environment if I were to get rid of it when it is perfectly usable. It was here when we moved in and I have no plans to replace. It would be wasteful to rip it up

As a counter story - we have new build that had a very poor lawn. Bald in places, muddy, moss growing in others. We have 3 dogs peeing and running about and we planted trees in it so there's also shade. It's a north facing garden so doesn't even get full sun.

It was an absolute state.

We championed the lawn. We bought industrial sized sacks of feed and rock-hard seed (used for haevy use sports pitches) from Boston seeds. We applied both liberally and than kept applying them twice a year (spring and autumn). Now, five years later we only do it once a year.

Within a year the rock-hard seed had replaced most the original grass. It grew in shade, in bog, in the dry summer spell. It just kept recovering and each time it got a bit better than before.

We now have a fully covered, lovely lawn that doesn't require much maintenance anymore. Just cutting and the feed then reseed once a year. Yes it has a fair bit of clover and daisies so it'll win no 'perfect lawn' awards. But it is always green.

Some lawns can be saved.

Good for you Limber. I'm going to change my back lawn into a wildflower meadow, a vegetable garden and an orchard. I have a massive basin to make into a wildlife pond. It feels like such a wasted space at the mo as we have lawns and raised beds with perennials to the front. I already have plum trees, apple trees, black currant, red currant and gooseberry bushes out back, along with my greenhouse. I'm quite excited about it and seeing the wildlife...if you build it, they will come, right?

Plastic lawns are just horrible. I don't understand how anyone could truly enjoy their garden knowing how damaging the plastic is.

I have a massive basin to make into a wildlife pond.

We just dug a little pond in this weekend (my arms and legs are now SO sore!). Just waiting for the plants to turn up so that it can become a wildlife corner. But, tbh, we love plants, buy too many and then let them run rampant so the bit of garden that isn't lawn is as messy wildlife friendly as it gets

Aw lovely. Well done!! What you're doing is kind of my dream for my garden. I want it to be a haven not just for my family and me, but for birds, amphibians, insects, bees, worms...won't even begrudge rabbits eating my flowers.😂 I only recently got into gardening but the time just whizzes by and I love the feeling of working hard to produce something important and beneficial

I got rid of my lawn but replaced it with brick paths and insect friendly plants. We did it ourself, bricks were free as they were reclaimed from a neighbour.

That looks beautiful.😍

Bloody hell @LastSummerHere - you just shot straight to the top of the 'coolest person on here' charts.

That path and garden is so cool - even more so for someone who just got into gardening.

Sorry, I meant that for @Cakeonthefloor

(not that you're not cool, @LastSummerHere )