Artificial Grass

[ABAuntie]

Hi All,

Heard an interesting and heated debate yesterday on Jeremy Vine ( I know some of you dislike him but please refrain from commenting :-)) about artificial grass.

There was a very knowledgeable chap from a supplier of artificial grass who said the technology has moved on from the astro turf of old and that drainage was now not such a problem.

He said many of his customers had dogs in the garden that had ruined lawns etc or children doing similar and that the ease of up keep was also appealing. Other customers included people in flats with balconies and the like who didn't have access to a "proper" garden.

What are your thoughts?

[ummmm]

I would love to have it, the good quality stuff.

[Frank97]

I love mowing my lawn, so wouldn't entertain the idea of replacing it with artificial grass, dogs or not. Oh, and I've just bought a new lawn mower! ;-)

[sandyRoe]

So would I. I could give the flymo to Oxfam.

[ummmm]

I only have a small garden that needs a complete makeover. It kinda feels like a waste of money buying a lawnmower for a lawn the size of my living room...but I want grass.

[mazie]

Ummmm get the artificial stuff, it looks really good. Daughters friend has it in her small garden, she loves it and every one that passes admires it. Her's was off cuts from a bigger job in the city

[Frank97]

Perhaps if my lawn was tiny then I wouldn't enjoy it so much, but as it is I find it very relaxing and a good time to think about things.

[gness]

Hi, Auntie.....I have seen an artificial grass "lawn" which look terrific....

I shall keep what is left of the lawn I haven't dug up because I quite like mowing this small area but I have investigated artificial grass to cover a decked area which I'm not too happy with.....

I'm tempted by some of the funky colours but if I do go down that road I shall use the black "grass".....x

[ummmm]

I watched one of those makeover programmes and they leveled off the concrete in the garden....and put glitter in it....I want glitter in my garden :-)

[-Talbot-]

Half my garden is artificial grass (great drainage) half is real grass. I can use the artificial part in winter when the real part is too soggy. It only looks slightly dodgy in very bright sunlight.

[-Talbot-]

I would advise getting the stuff that looks like it has some dead grass in it, looks far more like real grass.

[ummmm]

Where did you get it, Talbot?

[Canary42]

So, a programme featured a supplier of artificial turf speaking very highly of it - now there's a surprise.

[-Talbot-]

Garden centre, ummmm. They had lots of different type, tacky grocers shop type to quality stuff that looked really good (30 quid sqm)

[ladybirder]

Horrible ghastly stuff. No bees, no butterflies, no worms so no birds pecking about on it to eat them. Loathe it. When I'm PM it will be banned.

[-Talbot-]

So should I take it up and put down decking, ladybirder?

[ummmm]

Thanks, Talbot. LB...we can all add things to attract birds, worms...etc.

[vulcan42]

A supplier would say drainage is not now such a problem but what exactly does that mean? is it 1%, 60%, 100% better? Artificial grass, however good it has become is still a contributory factor to flooding but obviously not as bad as the gardens that are concreted over. I think the artificial grass is like so many things people want these days, instant gratification for very little effort. I have grass and will continue to do so.

[Ratty2E]

Have looked into it myself and provided you get decent quality stuff and it's installed properly then it's hard to tell the difference apart from the fact it always looks good unlike real turf. I have a small lawn that the dogs have trashed and did consider artificial grass but I don't think it could stand up to them hairing about and doing skid turns without wrinkling up or becoming uneven, I think I'm erring on the side of patio now but if it wasn't for the canine considerations I think I would go for it.

[ladybirder]

Decking, Nooooo. Just as horrible! Oh wait ... at least rats can make their nests under decking:-)

[-Talbot-]

concrete it is then.