Astroturf v Grass

[StampOnTheGround]

Hello!

Myself and DH are discussing the garden, one of us wants to replace the grass with AstroTurf and the other doesn't.

Can anyone tell me the pros/cons and what you prefer so we can try and come to a final decision?

Thank you!

We have fake turf in our garden. Hate it!
Gets so hot in the summer you can’t walk on it. Bad for wildlife/ environment too I understand.

Astroturf is hot, disastrous for wildlife and is thought to cause cancer. Please don't use it.

Plastic grass is vile.

Do you actually want or need a lawn? Other options are available.

We have gardeners in at the moment, taking up the astroturf.

We have dogs, and it stinks to high heaven in hot weather. It’s also rubbish for wildlife, and it gets very hot.

Have a look at @ ShitLawns on Twitter for examples of why plastic gardens look rubbish, require endless chemicals to keep clean, and end up looking grubby.

If you're interested in a low maintenance lawn then normal living grass with clover in it is a good option.

What’s the current issue with the lawn? If it’s just that one party doesn’t want to mow it then, just mow it less! You’ll get some lovely wildflowers.

Sorry I just can’t get on board with plastic grass. It’s such an unnecessary destruction of a nice habitat and unnecessary use of plastic.

Plus it’s not maintenance free - you have to clean it otherwise it’ll get leaves and dirt on it, which will build up and then (ironically) things will start growing on it.

Astroturf raises the heat of your garden whereas plants like grass are constantly respiring and cooling the air around them.

Astroturf has no recycling possibilities once it's worn out (doesn't last forever looking "good" or as new anyway), it can only be ground down and pelleted to use in niche industry (they're trying to use this to build roads in some countries). It'll eventually need to be replaced or the pile maintained by brushing it with a specialist brush to try and maintain its vaguely grass like appeal.

Astroturf essentially creates dead soil below it as the soil microorganisms can't exist under it without oxygen and adequate rainfall. This also chased off worms and larger insects which in turn are part of the food chain for birds etc.

When pets are involved, the lack of microorganisms to breakdown any roiling residue means even if you take off a poo, there's still some there and rainfall won't permeate it away much either as under astroturf is usually several layers of ground sheets.

I hate astroturf, probably can tell 😅

Plastic grass is awful, terrible for wildlife, terrible for drainage, still needs cleaning (saw some ridiculous product to make your fake lawn smell like real grass the other day, wtf nonsense?!)

Too hot in summer, if you have a dog it’ll end up smelling, and I’ve never seen any that actually looks decent at all.

Agree with the above. Real grass all the way

Plastic grass is an abomination.

We love our astroturf and love that our DDs can play outside on it all year without carrying mud inside constantly.

When it is hot we either wear flip flops or sprinkle the hose on it first.

Decent grass wont get muddy unless you have torrential rain

@StampOnTheGround there are threads on here already about artificial grass, short answer is very, very few people on here will recommend it you are the devil incarnate, everyone hates you, why would you contemplate such an evil act? Everyone says plant a clover lawn or chamomile like it is some sort of ornamental lawn that no children play on. Oh and the worst thing ever, your neighbours will judge you.

Those that are brave enough to say they have artificial grass say they love it, low maintenance, does not kill living things underneath despite what people on here say, wildlife will still come to your garden, it is easy to clean, dries fast, drains fine unless installed badly. And no you don't hoover it as you remove the sand that weights it down ffs.

Thank you all for being on my wavelength! It was his idea for me to post on here and now he's getting annoyed the more I read out haha.

Yes he hates mowing the lawn and currently it's got moss and dandelions all grown into it (it really needs a good mow!). He thinks it'll need new real grass anyway and he has been going on about AstroTurf for a 2/3 years!

I'm hoping you've all put him off enough, he's still trying to argue his case but I can tell he's wavering a little. 🤞🏻

Why on earth would you want AstroTurf in your garden?

It is horrible stuff, dreadful for the environment, ugly, bad for pets, bad for wildlife, requires maintenance, gets too hot to walk on barefoot. I can't think of any good reason to have it unless you want an all weather sports pitch.

If you don't want to mow there are options that are better for the environment or you could get a robo mower.

In my opinion nothing smells better than cut grass.

Would never lay artifical grass don't like It, not good for environment or wildlife. But each to their own I guess.

Plastic grass is shit. Shit for bees and wildlife, shit for kids (astro burn very painful), hot, smelly, really expensive if you want the stuff that looks even halfway like real grass. I hate the stuff.

Astroturf is awful. It should be banned. It's awful for the environment in so many respects and it looks like shit. You can spot it from a mile away even the expensive stuff.

@StampOnTheGround why does he mow it when you want to keep it? You know you are asking the wrong people don't you? There is no pro-artificial grass section, this is the gardening board. No one on here who is out in their garden mowing and weeding is going to recommend it. You are asking people who don't have it, those that do love it. MN stance on artificial grass is the same as SUVs which again are the work of the devil.

Real grass every time. You can plant clover lawns if you’re concerned about having to mow. Please support nature, it needs all of us to support it as it supports us

Plant Life

This.

And this.
I don’t have a lawn .

Plastic grass is pretty terrible environmentally but a badly kept lawn is pretty awful for your neighbours as it will harbour ticks and increase incidence of pollen allergies. If you can't keep up with lawn care and can't afford a gardener then plastic grass would at least give you a pleasant space to enjoy your garden in. You can always have a patch of wildflowers elsewhere in your garden to help pollinators without all the hassle that people around you get from you having long grass.

If you already have grass try a robot mower? It would be less than what you would spend on installing astro turf and no more mowing!

We had this very debate when we moved into this house. In our old house it was already laid with fake grass and I hated the stuff, stank, it doesn't grow out if the dogs have a sore tummy so you have to be super on the ball with hosing down (sadly our doggy day care wasn't and k tell you it's awful to hose out) same if there are a lot of pigeons!
I won the argument and I mow the lawn myself as part of the agreement (except I'm pregnant just now so he's agreed to maintain for me as I'm getting quite large now) we have got a small area near the house with astroturf on it, this is purely for use in the winter to preserve the grass for the dogs to toilet on and gets very regular washing.