Artificial Grass

[rockyracoon]

We have a 2 year old Bullmastiff who has all but destroyed our lawn. OH suggested artificial grass. Does anyone have any experience with this stuff? I'm not mad keen myself, but the thought of no more mud getting dragged through the house is quite appealing. My only concern is, would it be robust enough for a big dog that loves his nutty half in the garden and also likes to dig holes?

[Vagus]

We have a small area of it for just the reasons you’ve mentioned and it’s proved to be excellent. But we also have a larger area of proper grass.
The firm who installed it put something down, granules or something, under the ‘turf’ to stop any smells from dog wee. Our dog likes lying on it and wriggles on his back in ecstasy as it’s quite soft but rarely wees on it, and has never pooped on it.
Our dog only digs holes in the soil in the flower beds so that’s never been an issue.

[alavahalf]

Artificial grass can look amazing, it can also look terrible. It will be down to three things. How well the ground preparation is done. How much you are willing to spend on the 'grass' and how experienced are the people who are laying it.

If your dog digs.. just forget it now. It is meant to be walked on not dug up!

[rockyracoon]

Thank you both. Yes, he is a digger, usually when he's haing a nutty half hour, he doesn't do it for any particular purpose, like burying a bone.

[Vagus]

We used easigrass, they were recommended by John Lewis and I can’t fault them.

[barry1010]

Can artificial grass go round several trees, if you see what I mean. I have a few trees in a mud bath and artificial grass would improve it no end

[royfromaus]

Don't go for the long pile grass, a shorter pile looks better.
My garden is half artificial, half real. The best thing is even after a heavy shower you can go back out and enjoy the outdoors without the usual downside that you get with real grass

[royfromaus]

Of course it can, Barry and it looks great.
It is taped back together and you can not tell it has been cut.

[woofgang]

your dog will dig through it. Also (and it may be different now) when we loooked into it, it was held down to the prepared base by long wire U shaped pins, so when the dog does dig, it will dig up bits of wire :( I did look into it when mone were younger and were making mud racetracks round th garden but decided a) it wasn't safe for mad dogs and b) it wouldn't stand up to their nonsense. ITs a pity because I know a coupel of people who have got it and it looks fab. The other thing to consider is from a wildlife and ecology POV its a real environment loss.

[tamborine]

Paving stones would be better & also wear down dogs claws.

[royfromaus]

woofgang
your dog will dig through it.
_________________________________

You mean the dog 'may' try and dig through it.
That was a worry for my daughter when I put down artificial grass for her...they didn't dig through it.

[alavahalf]

We did it for my son.. It took three days to skim the topsoil off, cover the whole area with a layer of sharp sand, hammer it down with a Whacker plate and lay and pin the grass down. It looks amazing. They do have a dog, but she saves her digging for the nearby beach.

[MWG14]

There are different grades of artificial grass at varying prices. Some are excellent and difficult to tell from the real thing.

Beware of laying it in the front of your house. Our son had his entire lawn stolen overnight and he lives in a ‘nice’ area.

[Vagus]

Ours isn’t pinned down, there’s a narrow concrete edging all the way round which it’s glued on top of so you can’t see the concrete, no pins anywhere.
We didn’t want any more paving so I disagree paving would be better, this may be artificial but it’s still a nice green space.

[royfromaus]

I put these around the perimeter of the daughter's grass and fixed the edges off the grass to the sides of the plastic tiles.

[Old_Geezer]

It'll be fun clearing off the dog mess. Not to mention the neighbourhood's cats' and foxs'.

Can be an issue if the ground underneath drops or whatever.

[woofgang]

royfromaus
"You mean the dog 'may' try and dig through it.
That was a worry for my daughter when I put down artificial grass for her...they didn't dig through it. "

Its a bullmastiff....if it wants to get through it, it will!

[royfromaus]

I meant to put this lnik up on the earlier post
Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation


I meant Rocky's dog won't necessarily want to dig through artificial grass. Congratulations on having a hard dog though.

[rockyracoon]

Thanks for all your input, we certainly have some food for thought. Once we're a bit freer, we'll get some companies round for a bit of advice.

I must say though, after looking at a look of pictures, it would be lovely to see a sea of green instead of a load of divots and bald patches.

We were reliably informed that bullmastiffs get very lazy when they get to around 2 years of age. What a crock!

[Unsureme]

Listen to alhavahalf,good advice.

[woodchopper]

You will still have to spray the weeds on it after a while too - seriously!

Have to on mine and kill the moss too that comes up in it.