AIBU. Public flogging for garden taste misdemeanors

I would love a Camomile lawn. No idea how to go about it and couldn't tackle it myself now.

Plastic grass and flowers can look ok here and there. I however cannot abide artificial sounds enforced on me, wind chimes, water features! (A real stream would be lovely, but not tap water running via a pump PLEASE NO!)

Hm999 plastic flowers yikes, ?

notanan I had neighbours once who had a decking that the barbecued and ate on...I once watched a fat rat walk across my garden to get through my fence to their decking.

Plastic grass is not the answer, aren't we all meant to be cutting down or out plastic? What do you do with it when its life has ended or you just plain fed up with, throw it away to landfill.

My garden has grass, longish with clover and some wild flowers, patches of mud and yes a bamboo wind chime. We have two hedgehogs, a frog and even found some slowworms amongst a pile of rocks. A fig tree provides shelter from the sun when we need it Plenty of birds and I feel we have a lovely natural environment for a garden.

The reason for the chime is I like the calming sound it makes, so much better than the children one side shouting and screaming and the adults on the other side having a BBQ.

It really does depend on the quality of the artificial grass in my opinion.

However, I cringe at the sight of cheap plastic flowers in hanging baskets etc and those nasty plastic topiary balls that hang out all year!

Non grass natural lawn alternatives need much less watering (if any) and biodynamic gardening prevents the need for artificial fertilisers too.

There really is no way to greenwash plastic grass. It is a BAD choice from an ecosystem point of view. Nobody choses it for environmental reasons.

Once again, the alternatives to a high maintenance grass lawn to not begin and end at plastic grass! There are LOTS of eco friendly alternatives. Plastic grass is not one of them

And since so many people vacum theirs (and even chuck disinfectant through it to the soil) it is not preventing the impact that regular mowing has

Although I don't have any I think fake grass could be quite environmentally friendly in that it doesn't require much maintenance (lawnmowers etc.) that use energy or chemicals to fertilise it plus water to keep it hydrated. Also I thought it helped prevent flooding as it drains through to the water table rather than running off (as in paving). I still prefer my real lawn though - weeds and all!

I have plastic bay trees by my front door ? The sun never reaches there and that’s why I put plastic there. Real plants everywhere else though.

I wouldn't ever have artificial grass as the real thing is so much better and natural. So many of our neighbours have paved their front gardens but I still have grass, a beech hedge and a small area unmown. Wildlife needs all the help it can get these days.

Here's another problem with it: when you move to a house with artificial grass, there is no good way to restore the garden!

It can't be recycled. It wont break down like wood decking will (although plastic decking is more and more popular, suppose at least plastic decking is often made out of recycled plastic so thats something). There is no real second hand market for artificial grass like there is for paving.

You have to landfill it! Knowing it will still be there in hundreds of years.

It's like the asbestos of gardens.

Sorry, last post interrupted by small grandson wanting to play football on the artificial lawn. I was going to say that I don't feel the need to clean it any more than I would a natural lawn.

I am in shock that this is still a socially acceptable thing to do

I didnt think people would not only admit to disinfecting gardens, but defend it too

Wow, that turned nasty quickly. Only went out to have my roots done and its pistols at dawn stuff. Maybe I misunderstood but I thought this was a light-hearted thread. I didn't realise the OP really meant to have people flogged!

Harmful invasive species and diseases thrive when you remive vital parts of the chain. And the poster whos Dd had it installed and chucks disinfectant on it to boot admitted that there arent "natural" gardens in the ajoining gardens either!!

I have wide borders around my artificial lawn full of plants and weeds and insects. I have never felt the need rd

And people think "oh Im just one person, its just my garden... but there are STREETS of the stuff!

Yes you are being unreasonable. What other people do or do not do with or in their gardens is not your business, is it?

Unless they live in a self contained biodome then this trend of people "disinfecting" the soil affects all of us. I dont care much what people do with their gardens asthetically. But when they are causing disease and pollution to be spread throughout the ecosystem, then I do care. Everyone should.

My neighbour's have plastic grass and the weeds are always sprouting through it.
It was expensive but you can tell at once that it's fake. No other plants at all, another reason for their two cats to escape into my garden to dig and hide amongst my shrubs. Grrrr!
As we're supposed to be cutting back on our use of plastic shouldn't this horrible stuff be banned?

Aren't we trying to reduce the use of plastic?

Apparently not. And its "spiteful" to be angry and dismayed that trends are going towards MORE plastics and chemical pollution, not less..

Yes you are being unreasonable. What other people do or do not do with or in their gardens is not your business, is it?

I am at a loss to understand why it is increasingly being considered all right to comment on people's gardens.

Would you criticise their choice of wallpaper or flooring in their house?

I am sorry to offend you, but I really think you are out of line here and suggesting public flogging even as a joke is offensive too.

people who leave their outside lights on all night.

Light pollution really mucks up insects anf birds life cycles and breeding patterns

I understand that in SOME layouts (like when the front door is down the sids of the house) it is a necessary security feature. But some people think they are lighting a football pitch with their back lights

We're all entitled to our opinions, but some of the above responses appear rather spiteful. Me, i would love artificial grass, but DH, who's the family gardener, loves mowing - so he wins the turf war.

Aren't we trying to reduce the use of plastic?