Help! What 2 use 4 ground cover in shady area around kids climber.. also cat proof.

HappySad

Hello. I hope you can help.

I have a play den/climbing frame for my children and we want to cover the ground in a cost effective way around it. I have thought of wood chips; but found info saying that it attracts cats using it as their toilets.

I was thinking now about grass; but wonder if grass would grow in a heavily shady area below a large tree.

Do you have any other ideas about what surface to go for? Would grass be OK? ARe there special grass that

What surface can you suggest that would protect the children from a fall plus not be a cat's toilet....

Are they any good low growing ground cover plants that would do the trick?????

megzmam

we have bark chippingsat bottom end of our garden in a planted area and yep its a cats dream!!!! i have to do a sweep everyday to make sure its safe for my little girl to play there.
my daughter has a playhouse in the garden and we put it on top of some play tiles we bought from homebase they're fantastic we needed 12 i think in total to put the house on and have a little bit of a pathway round it and i think it cost us around £70. i don't know how to post a link to different websites but if you search homesbases website they're on there they come in various colours i think too we got green to blend in with the grass.

Outer_Limits

Grass is pretty thin in heavy shade, and with children playing in the area anything you plant will struggle. You'd most likely end up with a muddy, bare mess. In a dry Summer soil can be as hard as concrete.

I've seen stuff that looks like chopped up tyres, but in quite a deep layer, and it may be difficult to stop it spreading out of the area you want. Megzmam's tiles sound good.

HappySad

I am seeing that grass is not that good. I am looking at artificial turf at the moment now... the area is so much under shade that this should be good for it. It's just that it cost a bit to do it.

jillyjacks

slightly off topic but I did a search and didnt want to start a new thread....does anyone know if I have to use play bark to cover a play area or can i use wickes ordinary bark chippings which are the cheapest I can find at the moment?? I saw some in poundland for £1.99 for 40 litres and it said on the bag not suitable for use on play areas. Any help gratefully recieved x

a1cat

jillyjacks wrote: »

slightly off topic but I did a search and didnt want to start a new thread....does anyone know if I have to use play bark to cover a play area or can i use wickes ordinary bark chippings which are the cheapest I can find at the moment?? I saw some in poundland for £1.99 for 40 litres and it said on the bag not suitable for use on play areas. Any help gratefully recieved x

Of course you can use them in play areas.

Ash_McCloud

HappySad wrote: »

What surface can you suggest that would protect the children from a fall plus not be a cat's toilet....

A trampoline

HappySad wrote: »

Are they any good low growing ground cover plants that would do the trick?????

Depends how much they're going to get trampled on, there's a perrenial Persicaria that would cover the ground and stand up to a certain amount of footfall, the flowers would suffer most though.

pinkcandyflossprincess

rubber bark chippings may work?

morg_monster

Honestly anything a cat can dig in could well end up being a toilet. Rubber... not sure, maybe the different smell would put them off, but it would be an expensive mistake if they do go there too. Tiles or similar would be the best bet from this respect I reckon.