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Hi all does anyone have artificial grass and what are the cons?
I'm thinking of getting grass for my backyard but don't want real grass coz sh does not now grass regularly and I know the grass will turn into a weed garden
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
it is amazingly stupidly HOT unless it's under shade.
it's bad for the environment.
I never thought about it being hot Helle! I have no experience with it myself but there's a house on our street that has it, including on the verge, and while walking past yesterday I noticed a WHOLE heap of grass runners shooting out the sides of the fake stuff (like up to 0.5m long!). So I guess if you previously had real grass you have to make sure it's dead and gone first!!
Hot to walk on in summer and it's not pet friendly IMO.
We had it down the side of our house where our clothes line was and our dog used it to do his business on. In no time at all it stunk!! They have really good drainage but it just isn't designed for animal wees and poos!! When I phoned to make a complaint (as we had told them our dog would be 'using' it before we signed up and they said it was fine) they claimed they had never had a complaint about it before BUT then proceeded to tell me about some special spray to spray on it to help get rid of the smell! WTF??? How did they know what would help if I was the first customer to complain about it?! They also told me to 'shampoo' it every so often and hose it off once a week :o We bought it as it was (supposed to be) low maintenance, drought friendly and pet friendly. Massive fail IMO and never again.
In saying all that, we'd maybe use it for a front lawn, or one that wasn't going to be used by the family (as it gets hot) but we definitely wouldn't have it where our dog could use it.
If you don't want grass there are other options besides plastic. You can grow herb lawns, corsican mint and penny royal both work. Or some big shade trees will reduce the length that the grass can grow.
Lawn is pretty bad for the environment and fake lawn isn't much better so a lawn free garden is great from an eco perspective. You can have lots of trees with paths, rock gardens, ponds...
ETA - check out the Australian Native Plants Society for some idea about what you could do without using lawn.
Our school has artificial grass and has just flooded..no drainage.
It is also very hot and not pet friendly.
Have a look at garden/landscape websites or type in lawn free backyard and see what other ideas you get.
My DS1 went to a birthday party recently and the back yard was amazing, no grass at all. Just a kids play area, and the rest features, little gardens and all different sorts of rocks.
ahh thanks ladies!! always great to be educated here lol. I think im going to stick to the cement we have, no maintenance! i just thought a bit of grass would look good so that DD could roll around it in, but if it;ll get too hot, no thank you! dont want to burn her tahts for sure
:( I wanted it for a play area for DS... sounds like it'd be a bad idea. Any alternatives??
Sorry to hijack Mum2one... you musta read my mind :lol:
Doh :doh: Onyx.. I opened up this thread a few hours ago before you posted! will check out your link - thanks!
You can still make a playful garden without lawn.
Think garden paths, trees to hide behind, fairy gardens, tree houses
...... a play gym thingy with a shade cloth over it and sand under would be better than a patch of lawn (although cats like to use sand so you need a tarp for it),
a little kitchen garden is lots of fun for children
Why is real lawn bad for the environment? - I am just curious, not having a go!:
Yanno I've been meaning to start a thread for ages about lawn....
I can't afford to buy 'equipment' but I just wanted somewhere to put a small slippery dip and a wading pool.. which is why I was considering the fake turf..
we've already got heaps of areas he likes to play in with rocks, plants and a veggie patch!
There are alot cons of artificial grass im also using it in house in the different places like lawn besides the swimming pool and some portion of the roof to some cons are given below:
Artificial turf can be a solution when the environment is particularly hostile to natural grass.
Artificial turf can withstand more use than natural grass.
Low maintenance.
Suitable for roof gardens and swimming pool surrounds (chemicals and high heat wont damage the turf).
Some artificial turf systems allow for the integration of fiber-optic fibres into the turf. This would allow for lighting or advertisements to be directly embedded in a playing surface.
Artificial Grass