Artificial lawn for a family garden - what do you think?

[amydown]

I'm not keen on it but my husband is very keen. I can see the benefit of it but can't shake off the feeling that it will feel really plasticky!

Does anyone have this and have any thoughts to share? Does anyone have it for a large ish garden? I wondered whether a large garden means you end up with lines where it's been joined up, etc...

Finally, any issues with fox poop!?!

Advice and recommendations gratefully received!

[sarahew]

We've got one, and despite early reservations we love it. Plasticky depends on the quality you buy, and your budget. Our garden is pretty large, and it's a little stripy in one section, and looks flatter than a natural lawn (which we couldn't easily have because of tree cover). We have two boys, aged 2 and 4, and it's a godsend. Always looks great, no mud in the house, good in all weathers, no maintenance apart from brushing occasionally.

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

A family member has this as the cats and foxes were using her current lawn as a toilet resulting in us not being to enjoy the garden at all .

We sent off for some samples of turf and were pleasantly surprised to see how realistic some of them looked.

A realistic looking turf with a thick pile was chosen as it felt lovely and soft underfoot .

Laying the turf was very easy and the garden looks wonderful.

The children especially love the feel and always remove their shoes as it's so soft .

Thankfully no cats and foxes have poop and hopefully they never will but if they do then the lawn can be hosed / washed down with disinfectant to make it clean again.

I love it so much that I am getting it for my garden .

I think it great as it looks good all year around, you can choose the style you want and the thickness. No mud , and no cats coming to your garden to bury their poos.

[Zedd]

I'm interested in getting this for our garden but have so far been put off by the expense! Would you recommend a particular company as reasonable but good quality?

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

Hagrid ( username ) on here is really helpful and does gardens 07738292725 http://lancelotbrown.co.uk.

We got our lawn and samples from here :

http://www.grass-direct.co.uk

[amydown]

I had a rough quote from Easigrass today and it's come back too expensive.. I shall give Hagrid a call.

[bluesuperted]

Hi there

We have artificial grass in our small garden. It was expensive and I wasn't sure when my husband suggested it BUT godsend is the right word!!! Any weather can be garden weather, for a small (max 25ft garden, partially decked) over exposed garden it's been brilliant and transformed the space, feels lovely underfoot, only gets wet so no mud and looks brilliant year round. We even hoovered it last week, oh the shame but it looked fab afterwards! Everyone I know who has it loves it and lots of friends with kids are thinking of getting it having seen ours. We got a few quotes and Easigrass was too high plus they recommended the extra padding thingy which I really don't think is necessary, it's already v bouncy. We went with Hitech lawn, much more reasonable and dealt with Simon, he did us a good price and we used Guy Daubney to fit it via Simon, Guy had done plastering for us previously so we already knew he was good. Yes there is a join but it's a small price to pay! We chose the luxury option with brown bits in, gives it a more realistic look.

Have attached a pic, would definitely get again and for a bigger space think it would work just as well.

[bluesuperted]

[email protected] is contact, Hitech Turf not lawn, sorry.

[Hillstop]

I'm interested in getting this for part of our garden. However there are some lime trees behind our house which lean over into the garden. They exclude a sticky sap. Do you think the grass would get all sticky as well? Currently we have stone slabs on the ground.

[maritap]

What about slugs and snails etc: I hate them, do they stay away from this artificial grass

[bluesuperted]

We have slugs and snails in our garden (3yo son loves snails so they are very welcome) but neither go on the grass. Occasionally there is bird poo which we wipe or hose off, hosing is very easy. Imagine sap would be similar but might be worth asking suppliers, expect would be easier to remove from slabs.

Also we went for the 'long pile' look and the grass is thick; my son's school-to-be has just put a huge expanse of shorter pile fake grass in half of their huge playground and it looks amazing. 10x better than concrete and makes the front of the school look so bright and welcoming, thought I would mention as example of probably a cheaper shorter 'pile' that looks great in a really big space.

[katesani]

For our school we used Artificial Grass from Tiger Turf New Zealand.

They provides artificial turf surfaces for sports clubs, school grounds and home recreation.

[david_carnell]

How does it affect play ball sports?

My son is cricket mad and we have ruined our lawn this summer so are thinking of getting artifical lawn but I'm worried it'll make playing cricket impossible with the long fake grass asorbing any bounce of the ball.

Sorry....Dad questions!

[christinaH]

Just adding a different perspective - I am not keen at all. I can see that it may be convienient but it seems like such a crazy concept to me. Are gardens not for enjoying the natural beauties of the world? Should children not play on the grass and in the mud which supports their health. Creating a fake outdoors conjures up all kinds of wrongness for me :-)

[david_carnell]

2 x boys under 5 + grass + British weather = filthy boys (not that much of an issue tbh) and lawn destroyed (so what's the point?).

I'd rather not have it either but I'd rather my kids were outside playing than me shooing them off the grass in winter so we have some left by summer.

Parks and woods can be substitutes for "real" nature in the meantime.

If we had half an acre of land it might be different but the use our postage stamp garden gets means it's just a losing battle.

[LondonMix]

I tend to agree... Depending on which kind you get it can be harmful to microorganisms in the soil, ruining it for future planting for years after its removed. Also, make sure it drains well as too much of London is being covered over which is leading to drainage issues and increased flooding.

For us, our garden is so small that we mow it with a manual mower rather than one that uses petrol. That means for us, fake grass wouldn't be very environmentally friendly (we don't need to water it or use fertiliser either as rain water is enough). Our garden is south facing as well so the lawn helps cool the garden down. Also, lawn absorbs a lot of carbon dioxide.

Anyway, I like to have a small patch of nature outside where I can see the birds coming to eat worms and the rest of the parade of creatures etc that are part of having real living nature around me.

Maybe I'll change my mind if it turns into a mud pit though in future.

Good luck with your decision!

christinaH Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Just adding a different perspective - I am not

> keen at all. I can see that it may be convienient

> but it seems like such a crazy concept to me. Are

> gardens not for enjoying the natural beauties of

> the world? Should children not play on the grass

> and in the mud which supports their health.

> Creating a fake outdoors conjures up all kinds of

> wrongness for me :-)

[legalalien]

david- we are going to put down astro in our cricket mad household's back garden - the chap doing it is also cricket mad (he has several sons playing county cricket) and he thinks it's OK for backyard cricket. That said he has installed a proper cricket net in his own back yard....

[gillandjoe]

When my son plays at a local playground with astroturf hills he gets friction burns on his wrists and arms!

I have to say that I can't think of anything weirder than putting fake grass in your own garden!! It can't possibly ever look natural and it's so wrong in terms of the environment. What kind of world are we living in?!

[Saffron]

There's some relative perspective to it though, surely? Some interesting thoughts here: http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/artificial-turf-versus-real-grass-which-is-greener.html

If the alternative would be slabs, then eco-friendly artificial turf over soil might be better? (Yes, you can get eco-slabs that improve soil drainage, but small children still can't rough-n-tumble on it like turf.) You could offset the loss of greenery by having a container garden surrounding the artificial turf to act as a carbon sink and to attract wildlife.

[LondonMix]

If you mow your lawn with a petrol mower, use fertilizers and have to water it a lot, there is a lot to be said for the environmental benefits for the best types of fake grass.

None of that applies to my grass though which is one of the reasons, I wouldn't do it.

Compensating for the loss of nature with a container garden is a nice idea!

[Saffron]

You can also do container ponds ('pond in a barrel') for small spaces. Depending on the types of plants you choose, you may not even require a pump, because the plants stabilize carbon capture and the nitrogen cycle in the water. If you do need/want a pump, you can get solar-powered pumps for an eco-friendly pond.

Prefab fiberglass kits can be eye-wateringly expensive, but if you do a little online searching you can find cheaper components. I'm sure there must be a local-ish garden centre that has pond plants, but I can't remember! Anyone? xx

[Simonking]

i suggest you https://www.cheapgrass.co.uk/ for quality lead free safe for kids pet and family