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Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

Original poster

Considering an artificial lawn, thoughts?

184 replies

AnxiousPixie · 17/01/2022 16:02

We have fought with our lawn for years. It's always wet and boggy and covered in more moss than grass. I even invested a couple of years ago to have it all ripped up, a good drainage layer put down and new turf. After two years and most of that maintenance being done by a Gardener we are back to square one.

So I am looking at artificial grass.

Looking after lawn tips are welcome but looking specifically for any advice/pros/cons of artificial lawns please!

Thanks!

OP posts:
mumsiedarlingrevolta · 17/01/2022 19:22

@KeepingAnOpenMind

It’s an environmental disaster. If you care about wildlife at all please don’t.
Think of the hedgehogs
purpleboy · 17/01/2022 19:23

@frogswimming

Following this thread with interest!

Our lawn is in bits because of heavy traffic, kids playing and dogs. They've worn out large parts of it and it's just mud. We've had it returfed already and back to square one within a year.

When we bought the house the garden was gravel, so we had to replace that. It's just the same as anything in a house - kitchen / bathroom / carpet etc People have different taste and you can't appeal to everyone. For every person who thinks they're horrible someone else thinks they're practical.

How do they fair with dog poo? Is it easy to clean up?

I notice everyone who actually has one on this thread is very pleased with it.

Dog poo is very easy to clean up, even a runny one only needs a hose down. But do look into granite chips underneath instead of sand as the urine stays in the sand and the smell can be very strong especially in the heat.

Yes your right, everyone I know loves theirs and it works for their children to be able to play outside. We've had several friends lay it after seeing and using ours.
It's been a game changer for us.

Mangofandangoo · 17/01/2022 19:30

They get very hot in the summer, a nightmare if you have pets. Also they are terrible for the environment

Snow1n · 17/01/2022 19:38

We've had a seriously mild winter, hot days even - please please consider what you're doing to the earth. Every action has an impact

Clover or thyme lawns with paving stone or shingle pathways

DragonMamma · 17/01/2022 19:39

I didn’t realise there was so much hate for fake grass - we are having installed in a part of our garden this week. The dogs have ruined my grass and quite frankly, I’m sick of cleaning muddy paws several times a day.

stmw123 · 17/01/2022 19:43

Bought our house with one already down, thought I'd hate it and want rid but we all love it.

Looks great all the time, no mowing which is my favourite thing about it. No issues when it rains (I thought it might flood but it doesn't at all), no mud. In summer it's lovely to walk on, there's no smell either which I was anticipating for some reason?

It's brilliant.

Kendodd · 17/01/2022 19:49

It's all well and good saying don't get it, it's vile, bad for the environment etc, but what do those posters suggest people do when they have a north facing clay soil garden that doesn't drain and you have small children who want to play outside?

Let them get muddy. What's the problem, kids love mud.

Tara336 · 17/01/2022 19:49

We have artificial grass and it’s made life so much easier for us, we were struggling with the patch of weeds the previous homeowner left us with. With time constraints we have these days and DH with a bad back which made mowing the weeds/lawn a sometimes difficult task it was for us a good decision. The garden is easy to manage now, we’ve added tons of plants and flowers to try and help the wildlife. We don’t add to the noise pollution of the constant drone of lawnmowers :)

frogswimming · 17/01/2022 19:51

I don't see how hard landscaping or moss lawns etc can be an alternative to an artificial lawn, when you've got kids playing football etc. You'd hardly advise the local footy club to have moss instead of AstroTurf. They're not for the same purpose.

AllThingsServeTheBeam · 17/01/2022 19:51

@Kendodd

It's all well and good saying don't get it, it's vile, bad for the environment etc, but what do those posters suggest people do when they have a north facing clay soil garden that doesn't drain and you have small children who want to play outside?

Let them get muddy. What's the problem, kids love mud.

It's a problem when you have mobility issues and you can't bend and use your arms properly to wipe your dog and clean the kids up.
togymornottogym · 17/01/2022 19:59

@Kendodd

It's all well and good saying don't get it, it's vile, bad for the environment etc, but what do those posters suggest people do when they have a north facing clay soil garden that doesn't drain and you have small children who want to play outside?

Let them get muddy. What's the problem, kids love mud.

It's not that simple though, is it? Cleaning up the bigger ones when I have a small baby too, changing clothes and doing it multiple times a day as they go in and out. Also if they went out to play on it then it would be churned up in no time and absolutely ruined by the time spring/summer came round,with quite likely no grass at all in some places. It also becomes uneven and unsafe to play on.
Covidclaire · 17/01/2022 20:00

Put in a pond and do your bit for nature!

We’ve barely got room for a paddling pool in the summer on our fake grass. I don’t think making the whole garden a pond would be very practical with two small children.

Some people really have no appreciation that others have very different circumstances.

OP we’ve been there. I got sick of OH spending hours and hours every weekend trying to sort the lawn out. We had a whole corner that never grew because it got zero sunlight and the rest was patchy, muddy and mossy all at the same time. Fake grass definitely looks better than that mess in my garden. And I wanted something the kids could play on. Planters and gravel wasn’t really going to work.

ToddlerMumma · 17/01/2022 20:13

We had one in our old house. Best thing we ever bought for that garden. No more MUD! No mowing, dry after 30mins after rain, safer for little ones than patio, decking etc. looks good, all. The. Time (splash out on decent stuff) and don't scrimp on the drainage and it will last years... years I tell you!

Classica · 17/01/2022 20:21

Such lovely stuff. Reeks of cat piss and has to be hoovered. Those are the delights I look for in a garden!

AllThingsServeTheBeam · 17/01/2022 20:25

@Classica

Such lovely stuff. Reeks of cat piss and has to be hoovered. Those are the delights I look for in a garden!
It's doesn't and it doesn't.
JayAlfredPrufrock · 17/01/2022 20:44

Will nobody think of the children???

Oh hang on.

Shmithecat2 · 17/01/2022 20:45

@JayAlfredPrufrock

Will nobody think of the children???

Oh hang on.

😂😂
MiladyBerserko · 17/01/2022 20:56

Tacky as fuck

hamstersarse · 17/01/2022 20:56

I live in an area with loads of wildlife in our decent sized gardens. My neighbour has just sanitised their garden with fake grass. I feel sorry for their kids - remember when exploring the wildlife in the garden was a thing - digging for worms, turning over stones to find the creepy crawlies, all the birds pottering around, the frogs coming in spring time, the hedgehogs snuffling around, foxes making their dens. Their garden is now barren, sanitised and full of more plastic (toys).

No appeal at all to me. I'd rather a bit of mud to enable the encounters with nature right outside the back door.

BurbageBrook · 17/01/2022 20:56

Unsightly, trashy, terrible for the environment, and gross. Just no.

Sparticle · 17/01/2022 21:05

@hamstersarse

I live in an area with loads of wildlife in our decent sized gardens. My neighbour has just sanitised their garden with fake grass. I feel sorry for their kids - remember when exploring the wildlife in the garden was a thing - digging for worms, turning over stones to find the creepy crawlies, all the birds pottering around, the frogs coming in spring time, the hedgehogs snuffling around, foxes making their dens. Their garden is now barren, sanitised and full of more plastic (toys).

No appeal at all to me. I'd rather a bit of mud to enable the encounters with nature right outside the back door.

In our last house, with the astroturf, we had deer coming down onto the ‘grass’ from the woodland nearby, we had toads, pheasants and the usual garden birds. Our DC played on the grass and also made fairy houses in the shrubs and borders. It wasn’t fence-to-fence fake grass, what an odd thing to remember. And the DC spent probably 100% more time out there playing than they would’ve done if we had had a soggy, muddy, patch of ‘real’ grass or the gravel that existed when we bought the house. We put tents up in the summer and played football on it, cricket and even board games straight on it.
Sparticle · 17/01/2022 21:05

*odd thing to suggest

AllThingsServeTheBeam · 17/01/2022 21:10

@MiladyBerserko

Tacky as fuck
Oh no..please... Not tacky!! I'll have mine ripped up immediately 🙄
JayAlfredPrufrock · 17/01/2022 21:10

Deer came to your fake grass? Really?

For what?

AllThingsServeTheBeam · 17/01/2022 21:11

@JayAlfredPrufrock

Deer came to your fake grass? Really?

For what?

I have foxes, hedgehogs, and badgers in my garden. They don't come for the lawn