Artificial grass - share experience and where to buy

[Mummyfry]

Hi,

Can anyone please share their experience with artificial grass and what to look out for when choosing and installing the artificial grass? Did you install it yourself or get the shop to install it?

We would ideally want something realistic looking, high quality and our daughter will play in it. The grass area won’t be that big so we don’t mind paying a higher price per m.

I’m not looking for any comments on how we shouldn’t get artificial grass (I’m aware of the negatives ie environment concerns and how it can get very hot) as I have a grass and pollen allergy so we can’t have real grass and we don’t want the whole garden paved as we already have a patio area.

thanks in advance!

Yes . They have a small garden which is almost entirely artificial grass

Pretty bloody miserable for either human or dog to lie on hot plastic grass I would have thought.

I've considered it (and discounted due to environmental reasons). But we are still with a muddy north facing garden in the winter. What are the best alternatives for a surface that can have football and basketball played on?

I've considered a large patio (good for basketball, not great for football). Anything plant based is going to be worn to mud by children.
Does the rubber matting really stop mud, allow grass to grow in heavy traffic and wet areas? Or do you end up with a rubber mat embedded in your mud? It seem the latter from the tourist attractions where they use it, and I'm not sure that is much better than fake grass for the environment.
Gravel isn't ball and child friendly.
Bark is ok for football, but rubbish for bouncing balls.
Other hard surfaces like tarmac, resin driveway stuff and concrete seem worse than paving slabs or blockwork. I suppose block driveway stuff is laid on sand and can be fixed and re-used to some extent. Maybe that is the best compromise. Rubbish for footy sliding tackles though!

I’m not looking for any comments on how we shouldn’t get artificial grass (I’m aware of the negatives ie environment concerns and how it can get very hot) as I have a grass and pollen allergy so we can’t have real grass and we don’t want the whole garden paved as we already have a patio area.

you can want whatever you like. Don't buy it, it is an environmental disaster.

Even from Google earth they don’t look realistic except in winter.
In summer you look green
so either they are fake grass or someone is ignoring the hose pipe ban.

Most peoples gardens are muddy or water logged in winter. Due to the amount of rain. I’d be surprised if anyone has a dry lawn in winter.

No they dont, they overheat. Dogs are sort of intelligent and in other ways they are incredibly dim. Ours would lie out and get sunburn (white dog)

And all this plastic containing PFAS going to landfill and leaching into the groundwater. Those chemicals never break down.
It needs a total ban.
It also looks awful so why would anyone want it?

I’m not looking for any comments on how we shouldn’t get artificial grass (I’m aware of the negatives ie environment concerns and how it can get very hot) as I have a grass and pollen allergy so we can’t have real grass and we don’t want the whole garden paved as we already have a patio area

Not sure where to start with this, so you ARE aware of the environmental issues surrounding plastic grass but are still quite happy to plough ahead with it? No wonder the planet is so fucked.

You seriously think your pollen allergy just comes from the grass??

Just omg ..

Looks lovely doesn't it? So realistic!
I'm pleased the moss is growing.

Obviously not as maintenance free as the installers would have you believe.

Absolutely not my garden btw

Yes this!
I've just posted a photo of one that is a particularly nauseous shade of jade.

Exactly my situation. Had the lawn about 8-10 years professionally laid and I bought top quality. It still looks great. It's slightly warmed up the back garden which is great. I love it, the cats love it and when DC were little it was great for them too. Much easier and cheaper to look after than the tiny patch of lawn at the front. That has Moss, dry dead patches from where it was badly laid on builder rubble, on an awkward slope. This year I will be paying GreenThumb £50 for just 2 visits and it will still look crap.

DSis inherited a completely paved garden (more like a yard really) from the house’s previous owners, and when repaving it went with a very small patch of artificial grass (max 4m square) in the middle for the kids’ paddling pool, just to add some cushioning for them in the summer. It looks ok, but she’s said she’s not sure she’d bother with it if she was doing the garden again. She doesn’t have any of the smell or debris issues or anything, I think it’s more awareness of the environmental impact.

We have a shit north facing new build garden and the lawn is a bog, looks dreadful. But aside from the environmental issues we’ve never considered a fake lawn because the larger the area the more fake it looks. Plus on the days where it’s hot enough to get the paddling pool out and the kids are running in and out in bare feet, what point is a homogeneous green lawn if they can’t actually go on it? I’m trying to convince DH to go with a clover or sedum lawn, I think it’s the only real solution tbh.

@socialdilemmawhattodo

"Exactly my situation. Had the lawn about 8-10 years professionally laid and I bought top quality. It still looks great. It's slightly warmed up the back garden which is great. I love it, the cats love it and when DC were little it was great for them too. Much easier and cheaper to look after than the tiny patch of lawn at the front. That has Moss, dry dead patches from where it was badly laid on builder rubble, on an awkward slope. This year I will be paying GreenThumb £50 for just 2 visits and it will still look crap."

You could go for some natural stone paving with plenty of gaps with gravel for drainage at the front.
Add some planters and pots you can maintain yourself.

By the way moss is extremely good for the environment- stop worrying about what your neighbours think!

I'm really struggling to imagine what a whole lawn made of moss might look like....sounds like something from a gothic horror movie.

I’m in a (relative) new build, and the grass situation is really dire… especially as my NDN is very proud of his luscious turf that he got reseeded about 5 years ago. Mine looks awful 😁

Meanwhile, I mow my weeds and chop off a bit of moss every 10 days or so. I’d think there’s maybe 20% grass left.
My back garden is 10m x 5m and has a similar feel to it. It has a lot of overhanging trees so gets hammered by beech nuts, ash seeds and leaves.

Anyone know of the definitive guide to alternative natural lawns?

Not necessarily

Advertising Standards Authority ruling on 'Eco' Easigrass.

https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/easigrassdistributiononltd-g23-1215528-easigrassdistributiononltd.html

It is not Eco and it is not recyclable.

That looks nice in that area with surrounding trees and the colours in the photo are bright....I can't see it looking very nice in a square tiny garden of a newbuild house on a dreary day.

A lot of my lawn is moss and at this time of year it still looks green and OK but in the summer when it dries out it doesn't look so good.

Just be aware that so many people don’t like artificial grass that it could knock value off your house. If you don’t intend to move for many years, maybe you don’t care about that.

Are there questions like can it be used when temperature is really high?

Plastic grass never looks real. You can spot it from Google earth.