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Real grass vs artificial

wildlife, gardening, environment, Rural living, Pets and Vets
granretire
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Real grass vs artificial

#173895

Postby granretire » October 15th, 2018, 2:33 pm

My front lawn is a mess - not helped by the dry summer. Area about 45 sq metres. A new lawn will need the top removing as it is about 35 years old (ie original when the house was built, before my time here) and the ground leveling. It has poor drainage, owing to compaction over the years.
Advantages of fake:
no mowing
birds won't make holes looking for grubs
won't show tracks where leaflet people walk across
Disadvantages of fake:
looks too uniform
cost (I assume it is more expensive)
will it fade?
Anyone got any comments/advice on the matter?

colin
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Re: Real grass vs artificial

#173902

Postby colin » October 15th, 2018, 2:44 pm

Anyone got any comments/advice on the matter?

it looks ridiculous

UncleIan
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Re: Real grass vs artificial

#173905

Postby UncleIan » October 15th, 2018, 3:04 pm

granretire wrote:My front lawn is a mess - not helped by the dry summer.[snip]
Anyone got any comments/advice on the matter?


It's just the time of year, squirrels busy burying nuts, birds looking for grubs, like you say, patchy from the dry summer, leaves and detritus from the windy weather.

I would have thought with artificial grass I think you still get moss issues, as it doesn't really care if there's no soil, if it's not done properly you may still get weed problems as they grow through the grass.

To be a bit hippyish, replacing oxygen producing grass that supports all sorts of insects and other invertebrates with something plastic and sterile...not for me.

https://www.lovethegarden.com/community ... cial-lawns

Suggests fake costs £10-£30 a square metre, just for the actual grass material, plus any substrate, plus getting rid of existing grass, and needs to be professionally installed. And it might only last 8 years.

And how you going to make daisy chains?

But seriously, how about finding out the cost of a lawn maintenance company if you didn't want to do it yourself, and get them to make your lawn look nice, might well be cheaper than fake grass, depending on how long they do it for I guess.

maximan
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Re: Real grass vs artificial

#173920

Postby maximan » October 15th, 2018, 4:00 pm

Hi granretire
One of my sons had his back garden laid with artificial grass last year and until then I would not have considered myself.
It was expensive but I do not know the exact cost as it was part of major building and gardening works.
However it does look great. Always tidy and it does not look silly. They have a lot of trees around and the debris sweeps up easily.
A big factor for them was it is usable by their young football crazy son even after heavy rain without any ill effect and more importantly
no mud.
So from a sceptic I have become a fan.
Hope this helps.

colin
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Re: Real grass vs artificial

#173964

Postby colin » October 15th, 2018, 6:32 pm

If you just want easy maintenance cut the grass really short, remove clippings, cover with weed suppressant matting, the heavy duty sort, build some kind of edging around the perimeter a few inches high then fill the lot with stone chippings and chuck down a few potted cactus plants, cow skulls and broken wagon wheels.

midnightcatprowl
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Re: Real grass vs artificial

#174007

Postby midnightcatprowl » October 15th, 2018, 9:40 pm

Sorry but I think artificial grass is sad and environmentally unfriendly. We pave and artificially grass over our environment and then complain when there are water shortages. Personally I'd rather have the most ragged area of grass and enjoy the blackbirds digging for worms and the squirrels burying nuts and so on. I think the cult of the perfect lawn has a lot to answer for. One solution, of course, is not to have a traditional lawn at all...

TonyB
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Re: Real grass vs artificial

#174054

Postby TonyB » October 16th, 2018, 9:45 am

I'm at the risk of incurring the wrath of some of our more zealous contributors I think artificial grass can be a good solution for some people in some circumstances. I replaced my small front garden lawn a couple of years ago and have been pleased with the result. Weed seeds do still germinate but the larger ones are generally very easy to remove although there are some very low growing plants that are more difficult but these don't cause a visual /physical problem. I've not noticed any moss. It isn't maintenance free but almost when compared to a well maintained natural grass lawn.

Clitheroekid
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Re: Real grass vs artificial

#177253

Postby Clitheroekid » October 30th, 2018, 9:29 pm

This reminds me of the answer given by Major League Baseball star Tug McGraw when he was asked whether he preferred grass or Astroturf:

"I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf." :lol:

bungeejumper
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Re: Real grass vs artificial

#177526

Postby bungeejumper » November 1st, 2018, 9:26 am

I can see that the easy-care aspects of the matter might appeal to a forum member with "retire" in their name, so I think some allowances are due. But nope, not for us. Our lawn is as old as the 19th century house, although I think some of it might have been dug up during the war to grow vegetables. :)

A 30 minute motorised mow, and an spiked aerating roller every couple of years (30 minutes of hard work that I'd happily outsource!), and maybe a weed 'n feed every two or three years. Keeps everybody happy, especially the birds and the earthworms on whom everything depends. We treated ourselves to a cordless edge trimmer, which tidies up 100 yards of lawn and path edging in ten minutes flat, and it's amazing what a difference it makes to the overall appearance.

But the argument about rainwater and natural run-off is one of the most important these days, as people complain about flooding and overloaded drains while simultaneously concreting up their local environments so as to make it all more likely to happen.

And another thing. Fallen leaves will rot into a normal lawn, assuming you don't just mow them up. (Or the worms will pull them down.) With a plastic lawn you're still going to have to get out there with a broom. Or maybe a vacuum cleaner? :lol:

Dod101
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Re: Real grass vs artificial

#177536

Postby Dod101 » November 1st, 2018, 9:45 am

I must take up the comment by bungeejumper. My leaves do not 'rot into the lawn' they rot the lawn, which is why I have been raking them up assiduously at least twice a week for the past couple of weeks. Almost finished now though.

I agree with his general sentiments though on a natural lawn and indeed natural boundaries. I remember when my next door neighbour had just rebuilt the house on his plot and he told my wife he was about to erect 'quality fencing' she said 'That's fine John but just remember birds don't nest in fencing'.

As far as a lawn is concerned people tend to forget that on the whole you cannot just mow it every week and then do nothing more. Like any part of your garden it is a growing crop if you like and will benefit greatly from a little attention now and again, like being scarified and fed in the spring. The area of 45 square metres is not a big area and so could be tended easily. In fact instead of being scarified it could just be raked firmly. One of the advantages of my raking up leaves is it helps remove moss and opens up the surface of the grass.

So I would never go in for an artificial lawn.

Dod

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Re: Real grass vs artificial

#177589

Postby Slarti » November 1st, 2018, 12:05 pm

Dod101 wrote:As far as a lawn is concerned people tend to forget that on the whole you cannot just mow it every week and then do nothing more.


Every week?

Every 2 weeks, at most!

And this year it has been mowed 5 times in total as it just stopped growing in the hot weather, though I did wander over it with the strimmer when the grass stopped but the dandelions didn't.

But other than that? Not a damn thing for 30 years.

Slarti

Dod101
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Re: Real grass vs artificial

#177590

Postby Dod101 » November 1st, 2018, 12:07 pm

Slarti is obviously a true gardener :D

Dod


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