Artificial lawn for front garden?

onewhoasks

Hi

Can anyone share any experiences of having artificial lawn - and what to expect to pay for having it installed?

We have an area of lawn in the front which is about 4.5m square and never looks good. There is an adjacent narrow driveway and we always end up walking on the grass after getting out of the car and it gets a bit churned up in wet weather. In the summer the grass gets a bit dry and patchy.

Advice appreciated. Thanks.

Jnelhams

Really, you want to be the laughing stock of the town? Plastic grass, will look awful. Go for bark chippings laid about 6 inches deep over a weed proof membrane, and if you fancy plant through it, but don't put plastic grass down, it will fade, and the local cats will tear it to pieces when they decide to use it for a litter tray.

sobie

there are some excellent astroturfs available if you base on about £50 per square meter thats a good guide for a basic astroturf. (some can cost £400+ per square meter :eek: )

arbroath_lass

onewhoasks wrote: »

Hi

Can anyone share any experiences of having artificial lawn - and what to expect to pay for having it installed?

We have an area of lawn in the front which is about 4.5m square and never looks good. There is an adjacent narrow driveway and we always end up walking on the grass after getting out of the car and it gets a bit churned up in wet weather. In the summer the grass gets a bit dry and patchy.

Advice appreciated. Thanks.

Sorry I can't help but just wanted to say we are planning on doing the same. There are some fantastic fake grasses about now. Most places will send you a sample so you can see what you are getting. We also saw it in situ at a garden show - I couldn't tell the difference between that and real grass.


I do know from experience cats adore bark. It is their favourite toilet!

andrewf75

its not just about the look though surely?

The whole point of a garden is that its a little piece of nature isn't it? fake grass however realistic just seems wrong.

sobie

andrewf75 wrote: »

its not just about the look though surely?

The whole point of a garden is that its a little piece of nature isn't it? fake grass however realistic just seems wrong.

Personally I hate anything fake in the garden. There is a *fashion* round here atm for artifical plants in hanging baskets - YUK!

BUT i can see why people in our area turn to astroturf (even if its something I wouldn't do or like). we're I live our soil is pure sand and riddled with Chafer beetle and leatherjackets (which there is no treatment for except nematodes) Our lawns end up patchy and dead from dryness in the summer. So I can see that for a minority of people astroturf is a good solution eg elderly that can't get out and constantly maintain a lawn.

Well maintained lawns support little in the way of wildlife. So the effect on nature is negiable in terms of replacing a maintained small lawn with astroturf.

arbroath_lass

andrewf75 wrote: »

its not just about the look though surely?

The whole point of a garden is that its a little piece of nature isn't it? fake grass however realistic just seems wrong.

That's the point of your garden but not everyone's I suppose. My back garden is for growing veggies, hanging out washing, sitting/relaxing etc. All I want from the front garden (for the moment, anyway) is for it to look neat and tidy. Our front garden is quite shaded so we're replaceing the grass (moss!) with artificial turf. And, TBH, out of all the gardening jobs I do by far the most hated is cutting grass.

Lifes_Grand_Plan

arbroath_lass wrote: »

That's the point of your garden but not everyone's I suppose. My back garden is for growing veggies, hanging out washing, sitting/relaxing etc. All I want from the front garden (for the moment, anyway) is for it to look neat and tidy. Our front garden is quite shaded so we're replaceing the grass (moss!) with artificial turf. And, TBH, out of all the gardening jobs I do by far the most hated is cutting grass.

Got to agree with this - I have medium sized grassed lawns front and back and they are a bit of a PITA to be honest, full of moss, look rubbish in winter, grow like a ***** in summer so need mowing every couple of weeks or more often.....

Strangely though I could never imagine getting rid of them though. We have a (nearly) two year old so I am looking forward to her being able to play on them when the nice weather gets here. I just need to get mowing, scarifying, "weed, feed and moss killer(ing)" and overseeding now to get it back to some sort of healthy state before we can use it.

lolly3

We're getting samples from https://www.grass-direct.co.uk & looking to lay over a patio for the kids. My friend had hers done & I was impressed by the quality. There prices seem quite reasonable. HTH

I_have_spoken

I had some samples, those under £18/sq.m looked terrible, plus maybe £6/sq.m on top for removal of lawn and laying.

TBH I'd go for removing lawn, then lay 10-20mm gravel over fabric. A gravel like Solent Gold always looks bright and 10-20mm is too big for cats. That's what I did for a silly bit of lawn in my last house.

Boo!



Hurrah!

foxwales

Instead of mowing the lawn, you will be hoovering it, to keep it looking tidy. :T