Anyone have artificial grass?

[Nick67GT]

Odd question here, but bear with me.

Our front lawn is North facing and suffers continually from moss and the usual infestation of weeds.

I have tried all the usual products (feed 'n' weed etc) to try and strip out all the c**p and get it back in shape ready for re-seeding, all with little or no success.

It was even totally re-turfed about 5 or 6 years ago, but gradually degrades to a sorry looking state, partly I suspect to the clay type soil in our area, although the site was inially prepared with good quality top soil.

Drainage, or lack of + the North facing could well be the main problem, but is a fact of life here.

Hopefully someone on here will some experience of buying and/or laying artificial grass, since this seems a realistic option to get it looking good on a continual basis with an accasional hoover over, although I'm not looking to rival the local bowling green or win prizes in the village open garden competition........

 

[F.J.]

We have it in our back garden as the dog kept killing the grass with her acid wee!!! It is very convenient as there is obviously no mowing but as daft as it sounds, the wife hoovers it now and then. It gets bloody hot in the summer though and has burned the bottom of my daughters foot before now. It cost £700 for around 25m2 which included digging down about 6-8" and filling with granite sand and fitting a drain from the middle of the garden to the main drain.

 

[bigegg]

Concrete and green paint

 

[normspanners]

The guy over the road has it in his front garden, but has had an awful job getting it to grow looks ok( to me ) but I am FAR from a gardener. I dig up the flowers and leave the weeds.

 

[cumbriasteve]

There are several gardens done around where I live, some look amazingly real and others just look plain stupid, it's probably a price thing.

 

[Gareth0123]

how disappointing.........


I thought this was going to be a discussion about the merits of free range outdoors organic cultivation compared to intensive indoors under artificial light hydroponics.

 

[BrokenBiker]

my step fathers parents have it in their front garden...one word of advice is if its in the sun for any amount of tie and you want to walk bare foot on it, spray it down with a hose first or you will get burnt

 

[123hotchef]

my mate used to fit it for no mow great stuff I helped him a few times and he has it in his own garden front and back well over 100m2 his side garden.

looks great but it is not cheap I have a NE facing rear garden with high trees both sides my lawn is the same I would love to get the fake stuff still arguing with the mrs about it, but if she dont start cutting the grass ill do it!

 

[Shox Dr]

Ironically the weeds will still grow in it, if not kept in check. Even if you lay it on concrete. All they need is somewhere to gain a hold.

 

[Kent]

You can get special stones which you put in your dog's water bowl. It neutralises the pee and is better for the dog - dog wee that kills grass isn't great for the dog either

I hate the artificial stuff! Get out and look after it and drain it or flag it or stone it up which is better for the birds etc

 

[Nick67GT]

Thanks for all the comments - especially concerning high surface temperature in sunlight, although it's unlikey we'll be bare foot in the front garden.

I guess it comes down a cost per square metre, much like carpet.

My wife has ordered some samples from supply only companies to get an idea on quality versus price and I'm now going to research local companies for 'fitting' or supply & fit.

We need about 60 sqm by the way if anyone has a decent source for the stuff.....

 

[johnakay]

I've not tried this grass but I've heard good stories of it not letting weeds grow and durable.
https://www.wdrake.com/buy-canada-green-grass-seed-345515

 

[rockweasel]

I've not tried this grass but I've heard good stories of it not letting weeds grow and durable.
https://www.wdrake.com/buy-canada-green-grass-seed-345515

Canada green is what I seeded our front lawn with 10+ years ago. The original lawn was a mess. Had a friendly JCB scrape the top off and started over. Looks ok.

 

[F.J.]

You can get special stones which you put in your dog's water bowl. It neutralises the pee and is better for the dog - dog wee that kills grass isn't great for the dog either

I hate the artificial stuff! Get out and look after it and drain it or flag it or stone it up which is better for the birds etc

We tried everything with the dog but nothing stopped the grass from dying. We even got rid of the grass for stones for a few years but then replaced with the artificial stuff for the kids as they have grown up.
The stones don't work for every dog as we found out after returfing the grass for it to turn yellow again very quickly

 

[Kent]

We tried everything with the dog but nothing stopped the grass from dying. We even got rid of the grass for stones for a few years but then replaced with the artificial stuff for the kids as they have grown up.
The stones don't work for every dog as we found out after returfing the grass for it to turn yellow again very quickly

did you ask the vet for guidance? Diet etc? if anything popular peeing spots here have lusher grass ( though my GWP did kill a conifer ) it was his first big pee from the kennels spot and I fed raw meat diet then.

I do get the kids thing and I suppose unlike flags it can soon be re-sown as lawn.

 

[F.J.]

We have always taken the vets advice as we want the best out of Missy and do the best for her. I feed her raw when she comes to work and we feed a quality kibble at home. It is our fault considering pee spots as we have never tried to implement it. What's GWP?

Either way, we have the plastic grass now and it's great for the kids, we do have to swill the pee spots now though as it can smell after a while as it sits on the plastic sheeting. The house were moving to has a big grassed garden so I will be making some fencing around the patio area for the dog to go on