[Misc] Artificial lawns

LamieRobertson · Jul 26, 2018

I can understand people choosing it so they don't have to bother cutting the grass...but in summers like this I think it looks odd...maybe they should develop one that changes colour so that it matches their neighbours real grass or the weather conditions

AmexRuislip · Jul 26, 2018

LamieRobertson said:
I can understand people choosing it so they don't have to bother cutting the grass...but in summers like this I think it looks odd...maybe they should develop one that changes colour so that it matches their neighbours or the weather conditions

View attachment 99193

Where's the tumbleweed?

Harry Wilson's tackle · Jul 26, 2018

Horrible horrible shite.

Women stopped wearing merkins a long time ago. Why now flop the green equivalent on what used to be your lawn?

Garden syrup. Dia****inbolical

GT49er · Jul 26, 2018

Merkins? Never heard of them before - had to google. Wonder when they'll crop up on Countdown? Can't wait to see Susie trying to explain.......................

AmexRuislip · Jul 26, 2018

GT49er said:
Merkins? Never heard of them before - had to google. Wonder when they'll crop up on Countdown? Can't wait to see Susie trying to explain.......................

Jack Straw · Jul 26, 2018

Traditionally, peoples' front gardens usually consist of a square of grass with a one metre wide mixed border of a mish-mash of plants all around the perimeter. Very few people use their front lawn for anything. It's only there because it is. Mown lawns offer very little if anything at all in the way of helping nature and artificial grass offers nothing at all.
I've always suggested that front lawns are put over to permanent planting with ground cover plants. There are plenty of lists of such plants on-line. With good soil preparation and bit of maintenance for the first year, you'll have a very nice looking garden. No lawn mowing. Lovely looking garden, and with good plant selection, lots of goodies for bees, butterflies and other pollinating insects.
The cost to do this would be comparable with artificial grass.

Superphil · Jul 26, 2018

Mustafa said:
Can't stand them.

Terrible for the environment, look shit and serve no real purpose other than saving lazy people a few minutes work every few days.

Takes a good hour to mow ours, using a petrol powered lawn mower. The lawn takes A pile of fertiliser, weed killer and moss killer every year, and then that takes hours of raking out (scarifying) for which I’m thinking of buying an electric machine to do.

Would that still be terrible for the environment if I put one in with a 20 year lifespan? It would certainly save us loads of time, and fuel, and chemicals.

beorhthelm · Jul 26, 2018

Mustafa said:
Can't stand them.

Terrible for the environment, look shit and serve no real purpose other than saving lazy people a few minutes work every few days.

in what way are they terrible for the envrionment? looks is a bit subjective: clean, green even lawn, or weed ridden, brown lawns?

Bold Seagull · Jul 26, 2018

Superphil said:
Takes a good hour to mow ours, using a petrol powered lawn mower. The lawn takes A pile of fertiliser, weed killer and moss killer every year, and then that takes hours of raking out (scarifying) for which I’m thinking of buying an electric machine to do.

Would that still be terrible for the environment if I put one in with a 20 year lifespan? It would certainly save us loads of time, and fuel, and chemicals.

I've got a side garden that is on the North side of the house so in constant shade and it provides an excellent space for kicking a football about, or bit of basketball or mini tennis for my kids. The grass is trashed. It simply won't grow with that much activity and so little sunlight on it.

I'm contemplating what I can use as a surface that will be great for the kids to play their games on and be minimal maintenance. Cheapest way I was thinking was just compacted type 1 - won't look good though. Any kind of tarmac or screed is going to have a lot of embodied energy in it. I was thinking of a shortish hockey like artificial grass surface myself - just for this shaded well used area.

Weststander · Jul 26, 2018

Jack Straw said:
Traditionally, peoples' front gardens usually consist of a square of grass with a one metre wide mixed border of a mish-mash of plants all around the perimeter. Very few people use their front lawn for anything. It's only there because it is. Mown lawns offer very little if anything at all in the way of helping nature and artificial grass offers nothing at all.
I've always suggested that front lawns are put over to permanent planting with ground cover plants. There are plenty of lists of such plants on-line. With good soil preparation and bit of maintenance for the first year, you'll have a very nice looking garden. No lawn mowing. Lovely looking garden, and with good plant selection, lots of goodies for bees, butterflies and other pollinating insects.
The cost to do this would be comparable with artificial grass.

Great post.

I'm gradually altering our front garden of a small, awkward to cut lawn, with some wildlife averse shrubs, to a haven for pollinators.

Lavendula, Nepeta and Byzantia are already thriving, despite the drought, and are full of species of bees.

studio150 · Jul 26, 2018

Jack Straw said:
I've always suggested that front lawns are put over to permanent planting with ground cover plants. No lawn mowing.

But extra weeding, hoeing, deadheading, pruning, watering....

something for serious gardeners who have the available time I would suggest

mothy · Jul 26, 2018

my lawn is a whole 5m x 4m. having tendered it for 9 years & relaid it twice, each year it turned into a bare dust bowl worn by kids playing & in winter a mud pit. put astro in at the start of the year - i love it. dries quick, no mud, soft all year round for playi ng on- what's not to like

even my mrs who hates the stuff has come round to it as it's so practical

I've installed it not because it's maintenance free (it is) but because grass just wouldn't grow

if i had a large lawn i wouldn't use it - as it looks unnaturally naff, but in a small space it works a treat

Sussexscots · Jul 26, 2018

I wanted one but the wife didn't.

She got her way on the basis that the lawn became her responsibility.

I believe she may be reconsidering her choice but doesn't wish to acknowledge that she MAY have chosen unwisely.
In the spirit of magnanimity, I am making no comment.

Screaming J · Jul 26, 2018

GT49er said:
Merkins? Never heard of them before - had to google. Wonder when they'll crop up on Countdown? Can't wait to see Susie trying to explain.......................

I think Merkins were originally worn by those on the game to hide obvious signs of VD weren't they?

As for artificial lawns, horrible things. One company our way tries to flog them with an advert which encourages you to 'give your garden the natural look' !!

Juan Albion · Jul 27, 2018

If you get the right one, they can look fantastic. I came across one in Australia last year and even down on my hands and knees and groping it I couldn't tell it wasn't real. Well out of my price range though.

marcos3263 · Jul 27, 2018

I have one and love it. Always looks good, soft to sit on , flat, no ants and I like the way the odd weed comes through. Very realistic cost £1500 4 years ago. Paying for itself daily. I have well stocked beds for wildlife. Can't recommend highly enough

schmunk · Jul 27, 2018

mothy said:
my lawn is a whole 5m x 4m. having tendered it for 9 years & relaid it twice, each year it turned into a bare dust bowl worn by kids playing & in winter a mud pit. put astro in at the start of the year - i love it. dries quick, no mud, soft all year round for playi ng on- what's not to like

even my mrs who hates the stuff has come round to it as it's so practical

I've installed it not because it's maintenance free (it is) but because grass just wouldn't grow

if i had a large lawn i wouldn't use it - as it looks unnaturally naff, but in a small space it works a treat

With a similar garden and usage, and horrible grey clay underneath the lawn a good couple of feet deep, I made the same decision. It's just so much more usable, and what's the point of having a garden, if you're not going to use it?

Questions · Jul 27, 2018

Superphil said:
Takes a good hour to mow ours, using a petrol powered lawn mower. The lawn takes A pile of fertiliser, weed killer and moss killer every year, and then that takes hours of raking out (scarifying) for which I’m thinking of buying an electric machine to do.

Would that still be terrible for the environment if I put one in with a 20 year lifespan? It would certainly save us loads of time, and fuel, and chemicals.

If you have a dog beware. My friend had one laid and it smells to high heaven. You have to continually spray it to stop the smell with a special solution and the drainage holes get blocked so that doesnt help.

BLOCK F · Jul 27, 2018

marcos3263 said:
I have one and love it. Always looks good, soft to sit on , flat, no ants and I like the way the odd weed comes through. Very realistic cost £1500 4 years ago. Paying for itself daily. I have well stocked beds for wildlife. Can't recommend highly enough

So have I.
Spent a fortune on the garden last winter and had the old slabs taken up and beautifully repaved. At the same time had the shitty lawn removed and replaced with an excellent quality "falsie'.
I don't feel guilty at all. For someone like me with a disabling back condition, it saves a hell of a lot of work, that otherwise I would have to pay someone to do for me. Still have the flowerbeds in a seaside type garden and certainly no shortage of wildlife. Plenty of butterflies, birds, frogs and even the occasional hedgehog.

Jack Straw · Jul 27, 2018

studio150 said:
But extra weeding, hoeing, deadheading, pruning, watering....

something for serious gardeners who have the available time I would suggest

If the soil is "clean" ie no couch grass, convulvulous or other pernicious weeds present, after planting, a 100mm covering of mushroom compost will prevent weeds from coming through and keep the water in. A good choice of plants means no dead-heading or pruning.
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[Misc] Artificial lawns

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