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!

I saw a Twitter thing today about how birds are going hungry because of insufficient insect numbers and the report suggested that plast-o-grass was to blame.

Worms and other ground dwelling insects can't get to the surface so birds are starving.

This plastic abomination needs to be banned .

Plastic grass has now been linked to cancer: 6 sports players in USA died of brain cancer with possibly link to inhaling plastics from the AstroTurf they played on.

Will be interesting to see if there are links proven a la asbestos. Especially if people have let the kids play on it for years. Frightening possibility.

Not only is it disastrous for wildlife and the environment, smelly and hot....turns out it might be bad for us too.

Get a clover lawn, the needs will love you forever.... or you could plant thyme or Chamomile if it's really sunny and parched. So many alternatives that aren't #shitlawns

If you fall down on grass and clover it's nice and soft but falling down on plastic grass you can get a thing called "Astro burn"

Fake plastic grass is not very classy is it?

I love lawns.

I have astro turf. I would never lay it again, and this is wholly down to the environmental impact.

It was laid 10 years ago when DH got sick and over those years he is less and less able and even 10 years ago he struggled with the mowing chore. Problem is I work full time and away from home a lot. Astro seemed like the logical answer. And it was. The area is relatively small, bound by 2 m border all around, which due to poor soil and lack of time (me) and ability (DH) is pretty much a wild garden and trees (cherry and elderberry).

I would say that it has served us well. Our garden (muddy space) flooded when we moved in (terrible soil and poor managment by the developer), but we fitted drainage and the trees help so it is dry now. Our astro doesn't stink, is suitably shaded by foilage to not overheat and we're north enough that it's not a problem. Looks ok, needs maintenance but 3-4 times a year is sufficient to keep it looking ok. It was what we needed it to be.

So why do I not want it? Well the benefits do not outweigh the negatives enough for me. It looks ok - just ok, and that doesn't cut it for me anymore. As we have a lot of wild plants (weeds by any other name) there is a fair bit of creeping around the edges that does need weeded so it's not truly mainenance free. The dog doesn't like it and we don't let him pee or poo on it now coz it really wasn't that dog friendly, you pretty much needed to lift and water immediately otherwise it would smell and that didn't happen as badly on real grass. I feel as though I do as much as I can to mitigate the loss to wildlife. We do have plenty birds and there seems to be adequate pickings in the borders but I wonder how much more wildlife there would be if I didn't have the plastic?

If Robomowers were as achievable 10 years ago then I would have done that instead. We will not be staying in this house so I won't spend money removing it now (I don't think) but I won't ever do it again. Grass seed and Robomower all the way for me now. My next garden will have a natural lawn area, a pond and wild garden area as well as a small formal decorative area and vegetable beds/herb garden/greenhouse/potting shed. I want to retire into my garden😌

They leach toxic chemicals. It's not really a good idea to have very young DC exposed in that way.

I have astroturf, the grass wouldn't grow properly at all and was full of stones , we smashed a window with a flying stone once mowing it and it was such a small area so barely seemed worth storing the lawnmower and with young kids it seemed the best option at the time and whilst it has been great and almost makes the garden an extension of indoors, with a completely level surface and no mud dragged through the house and low maintenance now I know the environmental implications and the potential risk to health I would not choose it again and am actually relieved we are moving to a house that has real grass and my bug crazy kids will be thrilled too! Will be getting a robot mower though

Can't believe anyone would even consider putting down an artificial lawn. I just don't get it. Has the world gone mad?!

People across the road are just taking their (inherited to be fair to them) plastic grass up for a number of reasons but have been horrified by the rats burrowing and nesting under it.

My "lawn" is a green space - some of it is grass, some dandelions, some clover, some moss - all fine by me. I just mow it all down in the growing season as normal. I live in the country and posh velvet lawns would look ridiculous.

So - keep your lawn but do not fuss about what is in it.

Do not under any circumstances get AstroTurf - it is vile.

Plastic grass looks naff. It’s environmentally awful and we are in a climate EMERGENCY. We should be cutting down on our use of plastic. Plastic grass leaks micro plastics into the soil beneath.
If you want a no maintenance surface use natural substances (gravel) or grass alternatives (meadow, chamomile, creeping thyme, moss, clover).

If you go for real grass remember it’s only good for wildlife because it has weeds and flowers in it. And the less you mow the better it gets for wildlife. A lot of the plants we buy for our flower beds are not as beneficial as natural “weeds” that have evolved alongside the native insects and birds

I have often watched goldfinches on my lawn teasing out the seeds from dandelion clocks. I have lain on my lawn and seen myriad bees on the clover.
Last year I only mowed once a month and to my utter delight found I had about four lawn orchids.

If you would prefer shorter grass for your child then mow paths through the longer grass.

I like the sound of robo mowers until I realised that they need to cut grass very short to work.

I did once use Astro turf many years ago when I was living in the Middle East, and having a real lawn was akin to having a rolls Royce or your own yacht. It served a purpose, and I wouldn’t use it in the UK, unless as a last resort and I had no lawn and wanted to cover a concreted area.

We are moving away from manicured treated lawns with No mow May, and The Chelsea Flower Show showcasing weeds.

I wonder if that's why our cats seemed so fascinated with next door's plastic grass!

We had a couple of (dispatched by the cats) dead baby rats in the garden and wondered where they were coming from.

Everything else aside, I can't believe complaining about mowing is a reason for putting plastic down in your garden. Cutting grass is the easiest thing and I do it, instead of my partner (don't want him anywhere near my garden). Seriously, people are getting lazier and lazier.

While I agree that plastic turf in a garden is never as good as the real thing it does depend on circumstances. I have a large concrete paver roof terrace which looked really grim until I laid a green plastic lawn on top of part of it.

I've had it 10 years and contrary to what other PPs have said it is never too hot to walk on (unlike the pavers), it never smells ( and we use to have a dog who sometimes wee'd on it so we'd hose it down) and I have never once had to use any chemicals on it to clean it. T

BF it is rather flattened now as it's quite old but looking out on green rather than grey slabs is heart lifting. I have plenty of pots around the terrace and lots of bees and insects.

Someone I know had to weed their Astro turf as it started coming through. They regret getting it. As they now have to sweep and spray it. So didn’t really save much time

I have astroturf, to make the garden wheelchair accessible. Grass is horrible for wheelchairs. I've never cleaned it in the ten years I've had it, it doesn't smell and I like the low maintenance aspect. The only downside for me is that it gets hot in summer. Amused at the outrage tbh.

robot lawnmower?

There are no pros to a fake lawn. HTH.

So worrying about the cancer link.
Every school near us is has fake grass somewhere.
I truly hate the stuff.

We have fake lawn. We tried for 7 years to grown turf including reseeding, shady lawn seed etc . Our garden is tiny, North facing and surrounded by tall trees. It was constant mud and we couldn't use the space. The artificial grass has transformed it. It drains well, doesn't smell despite dog. It does need brushing. It doesn't get very hot since the garden is so shady. I wouldn't have had it in a South facing garden or one where the options were to have real grass. Current view from my deckchair

Pic didn't post

Astroturf stops birds feeding.

It turns a funny 'fake' colour fairly quickly.

It's bad for drainage.

It gets hot to walk on.

Seriously bad for the environment. Ground nesting bees could become trapped underneath or have nowhere to burrow.

It'll affect worm life which will affect your ground growing plants in your borders.

Basically it's ecologically disastrous.

DH is currently mowing the lawn and he's just mentioned getting somebody in to see if the grass needs anything doing to it (and sorting out the extension of the patio he did a couple of years ago!). No mention of Astroturf any more - we've won! 😂