I mowed the lawn yesterday and despite spending loads of time and effort on it last year it looks really crap (several large parches of bare soil etc). So I’m considering replacing the whole lawn with fake grass / Astroturf. Has anyone already done this and if so what are the pros/cons and would you recommend it?
We’ve only got a small lawn (about 5m x 10m max), it’s pretty level, but very poor drainage (despite about 2 tonnes of sharp sand last year). It’s shaded by several large trees in neighbours’ gardens (crap for the grass but great for privacy) and visited by too many bloody cats!
What do the cats do to the grass then? Trample it or something? I’ve heard that can be really bad for it.
They dig in the bare areas, which makes them worse and makes it difficult to re-seed as the bare soil gets dug and crapped on!! (although it’s probably my fault for doing something wrong 🙁 )
Although one of the cats is pretty fat -I think it broke the fence!!
Don’t give up on the grass option without a bit of experimentation.
You can get drought, wet, wear and shade resistant grasses even from your local B&Q, a specialist would probably have even more options.
Also, top tip for a good lawn, keep it long. Like 2-3″. The grass loves it. To go shorter and keep it looking good you need ideal conditions, flat ground and a good mower.
Rake hard to get the moss out, aerate it lots to at least a forks depth, sharp sand dressing and sow some grass seed for shade (usually fescues and dwarf rye grasses). Probably time to start sowing depending on where you are. If you want to feed it use high Phosphorus (P) lawn food and trim it to 30mm length at most.
It may take a year to get it looking like lawn but will look one hell of a lot better than astro turf.
there a pretty country cottage on a bridal path, they have a 1m x 3m patch of grass outside the front of the house , he’s obviously decided to be lazy as it’s now astroturf… fricken unreal, looks awful & properly artifical… with his sit on lawn mower in the garage opposite.
I’m going astroturf as soon as i get the money. Our grassed area is completely in the shade and we have 2 kids and a dog. Its re sown every year but looks like a mud pit from October to now.
We are going for the spring lawn (the one with artificial thatch in!). A lot of the suppliers provide there own how to sections on the websites.
I cant wait, however will have to tell my dad in case he ‘helps’ by giving the lawn a short cut with a mower 😯
There is a garden on the way to Hardcastle Craggs that has astroturf, I ended up doing a double take this winter wondering how they had kept their lawn so green!
Hello people, if you have any questions regarding astro turf (which is now called artificial grass!!) just give me a shout. If you need anything answering you can contact me directly at sam@grass-land.co.uk
It’s not cheap I agree but well worth thinking about. Every job we do we always end up going back to the same street to install another few houses. It really is that good and looks amazing!
don’t sweat it grassland, this place has been rather chippy recently, think it might be the weather or something
this is a mountain biking forum, where people come to talk about bikes, not to be advertised to.
I totally agree that we shouldn’t be subjected to irrelevant spam….. but advertising? I can barely see the posts from the amount of advertising on this website! 😀
This was a proper question and a chap whose business does exactly what was being discussed offered his services. That’s the best thing about the interweb!
Interestingly, one of the ads at the top of my screen right now is for thegrassseedstore.co.uk, sort of ironic!
Although I disagree with the idea of fake grass, isn’t it potentially useful for someone who knows their stuff to step forward? I think there should be a tyre logo/valve alignment code for the type of lawn you keep: Aligned=genuine lawn, opposite=astroturf.
druidh has a point, amongst other things we have cars, baking, architecture, plumbing, woodburning stoves, running, eBay, suicide, depression, happiness, helmets, music, fillums, tv, homophobia, racism, any ism, religion, maggie, blier, bankers, protesters…..andandand….now, fake grass! 😀 could be worse..