Anyone laid artificial grass in their garden?

[askarisiddiqui]

We have a small garden that faces north and is mostly in the shadow due to our 3-story house on a raised foundation. The area receives little to no direct sunlight. Currently, the majority of our "lawn" is covered in moss. We are looking for a surface for our child to play on that requires minimal maintenance. Additionally, we frequently go away for extended periods during the summer.

Is artificial grass good? [spam link removed by MNHQ]

Any suggestions, recommendations or opinions based on your experience would be greatly appreciated.

Yes, we have a small patch of lawn which has artificial grass. Our garden is north facing and it was pretty much always soggy. We paid to get it done properly though, and there’s layers underneath for drainage. The lawn part is surrounded by planted borders and mature trees.

www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/new-studies-show-pfas-artificial-grass-blades-and-backing

www.jackwallington.com/17-reasons-to-avoid-fake-lawns-how-bad-is-artificial-grass-for-the-environment/

www.housebeautiful.com/uk/garden/a39906538/chelsea-flower-show-ban-artificial-grass/

www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/gove-plans-crackdown-on-fake-grass-in-new-housing-schemes

Moss is a wonderful surface to play on. ☺️ I've spent many an hour in a noisy glade as a child. Lying on your tummy watching little creatures inhabiting their micro world is one of life's chief pleasures. 😍

amp.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/30/boston-bans-artificial-turf-toxic-forever-chemicals-pfas

Will stop with the links now!

Anyway, plastic grass is going to be our generations asbestos.

Our grandkids will wonder what we were thinking

It’s awful. It breaks down into microplastics. Terrible for the environment.

"we are very active so do not have time to maintain a lawn." 😂

I strongly believe that this is spam. (see link in OP: don't click it!)

It's quite bizarre though. It was a link with an UAE address. Why would anyone ship it all the way from there?

Mind you, no one using plastic grass would actually care about where it comes from anyway.

Agree with @Tessasanderson
We have it because our garden was unusable when it's wet. Unbelievably boggy for months. I personally don't like artificial grass but it has turned our garden into a useable space for the kids & it's low maintenance so it serves a purpose for us. We have no regrets getting it installed.

All grass is not the same. You can get mixes for every condition.

Before doing something ugly, ecologically unsound and expensive I’d take up your existing turf and sow specialist seed.

Something like the mix below…

Please don’t put down plastic grass. It’s terrible environmentally https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/17/why-fake-grass-is-far-from-green-in-ways-you-might-not-guess and never looks good. At the end of its useful life it has to go to landfill. All the living creatures in the soil under it die. It doesn’t have the cooling effect that grass has.
There are grass seed mixes that work in shade. Or other plants could be used for ground cover. A good landscaper or even garden centre should be able to advise.

Fucking awful stuff. People are trying not to cover the planet in plastic. Moss is nice for kids to play on. It's soft

Please don’t! Agree to look @ shit lawns on Twitter
we do not need to cover our damaged and broken planet in plastic

I wold really strongly advise against plastic grass. Aside from the well documented environmental concerns (it is catastrophic for the environment) it gets really fucking hot in the summer, seriously, too hot to even walk on, it smells if animals wee on it, and it is 100% NOT maintainance free. You still need to sweep up leaves, pull up weeds, hose it down etc... PLease, please do some research into natural alternatives such as moss, chamomile or shade tolerant grass.
NB I know all of the above as we bought a house last summer which has it laid in the back garden. It was the one thing that made us think twice about buying the house which is another thing you may want to consider. We're saving up now to have it removed and a actual living garden replaced.

(Also, it looks awful - i know this is subjective but it really really does, who wants their garden to look like disney world? Who wants to introduce even more plastic into their/their children's environment???)

I was going to say this. I think moss is better than grass for a playing surface. It's incredibly soft and spongey and never needs cutting.

Ugh please don't.

Agree totally.

We have some for similar reasons. The lawn area is tiny so it works well. Wouldn't be keen on a larger area though because of the environmental factors.

Those that have it, are you really not bothered by the health if not environmental concerns?

I genuinely don't understand that position

We’re North facing.
Wet, damp, soggy garden. We’ve had some decking and it’s layered- DH did it during lockdown. So we have some raised areas- one part with bark chipping and a trampoline. One part to sit when it’s hot in summer…. To be honest just to make it look tidy.

If it’s very wet, just keep in mind it’s slippery and potentially scalding hot in summer…

MIL has plastic grass- and a dog. It stinks. Urine gets underneath and as her garden slopes upward when she hoses it, all the water runs back into a drain. Just can’t clean it properly or perhaps she isn’t very thorough.

People have it for convenience. There’s no work involved in it, it’s cheap, unlike paving you can do it yourself if you’re elderly. I don’t understand why that’s so difficult to comprehend….

Not supporting it, I don’t like it. BUT I can see that it’s cheap and if you don’t use your garden, but want it to look tidy it’s a good option.