AIBU. Public flogging for garden taste misdemeanors

I have also noticed that outdoor rugs are also popular at the moment on sites like Wayfair.

Big plastic things.

With big plastic garden sofas on them.

Whats wrong with the outside looking like the outside?

We went to a village local to us yesterday, and they were obviously preparing for something like 'Best Kept Village'.

The majority of the flowers around the place had been handmade by the local Artificial Flower-making Society. Mostly sunflowers. A lot of plastic involved.

Not at all sure about that. Although it did look very pretty, and the 'flowers' were well made.

When you put chemicals into the soil (organic chemicals are still chemicals) it has an effect that reaches beyond the borders of your property.

So you cant expect others to not have an opinion on it.

Mossfar do you live next to one of our AC.....they have all you describe along with a hot tub and large inflatable swimming pool for the GC ???

We bought a specially recommended kind of organic disinfectant that is used to clean it once a month that causes no harm to the environment or indeed the baby.

You know thats an oxymoron right?
Just because its organic and not harmful to larger animals doesnt mean it doesnt destroy good soil bacteria (which encourages bad resistant ones to take over), and you cannot have a heathy eco system without that. It leaves insects and animals prone to nasty colonisations & disease. Encouraging birds and insects in other ways wont make up for the fact that without a key part of the ecosystem: healthy soil bacteria, super bugd and disease can spread within any insect/bird colonies you encourage and spreading it on to wider communities.

The fact that you say that there is no neighbouring soil makes it even worse.

No one is stopping you from doing what you want. But you cannot seriously believe that adding plastic and disinfectant to the outdoors isnt hatming the ecosystem!

Correction …..I don't know that the old Astro turf stuff gets hot, but I suspect it could.

Well my DD's artificial lawn definitely doesn't get hot although I know that the old Astro-Turf stuff possibly does. There are many different grades available now ranging from the very cheap and nasty to quite expensive and very real looking. My DD's was quite expensive as we need it to last a VERY long time. It's very soft and looks like real grass with a day or twos growth. It even has dead bits sewn into it.

I can't actually sit directly on my own (real) grass as I am terribly allergic to it and come out in a horrible rash.

We passed a semi with a large front garden covered in the badly fitted stuff yesterday including a slope in the front. It looked like a carpet. Dreadful.

Oh that reminds me, outdoor carpet (plastic stuff that looks kinda-ish like carpet) is now a trend.

Eugh

We admit to a fake sheep. He's white with black extremities and lights up at night... One day I saw a magpie trying to befriend it, presumably as it had the same 'plumage'.

I read that astro turf can be problematic in the extreme heat we've had lately. Apparently it can reach temperatures of 62C underfoot . No good for animals. Whereas the real thing remains cool in most temperatures.

downtoearth

assorted ironmongery what, like old machinery, washing machines and/or four candles/forkandles?

I am with you on more time for a glass of gin.?

Start packing now downtoearth

Something I never considered is how hot plastic grass gets .Personally I hate the stuff and would can't help thinking- as we're waking up to the insidious problem of micro plastics -as it's trodden on and degrades surely tiny particles must enter the soil and then our water systems ?But last week on a broiling hot day I got up barefooted from my chair and was shocked how hot our patio was,then stepped down onto our lawn.Instant relief.I spread a throw out and read under a tree with real grass tickling my feet.Bliss.
Then a friend who has fake grass as she runs a dog day care centre told me how shocked she was at how hot the artificial turf got -something she had never considered.

Shall I resign immediately,before I am excommunicated for GN
I have green plastic balls masquerading as some sort of foliage.

Iam in process of laying some articial grass under my 5feet by 5feet to keep the patch free of weeds so as to look smart and tidy,giving me more time to go the pub and drink gin with my friends.

I have decking...just a small amount outside my kitchen window,and grey slate under my bedroom window,also guilty of windchimes just small ones though.

As you can see I am trying to fit in as I am leaving two spaces between paragraphs does that count in my favour,and I do have lots of tubs with real plants planned to attract wildlife..hopefully no rats...I do feed birds and have assorted ironmongery dotted about.

I only have small area as our garden is communal and I live in ground floor flat and tastefully done.

Please dont ban the gran

We passed a semi with a large front garden covered in the badly fitted stuff yesterday including a slope in the front. It looked like a carpet. Dreadful.

They have it in the nursery garden which is practical I suppose, though it is thick in sand. It is useful with a dog ,maybe, in small amounts as some of you say.

I really don't think it's snobbery to object to it.

My DH is a bit obsessive when it comes to cutting our lawn. So much so that I wish I could buy him a sky hook so he can be suspended over it when he trims the edges.

I have a metal fox too dragonfly he guards my back door . I also have a tall bronze/metal “thingy” that spins in the breeze. I don’t think either of these will be recyclable or organic mind you.

My Best Buy was a robot lawn mower. It means I keep the grass a bit longer as I set it high and I can sit in me garden chair and watch it go.
I also have a metal fox and owl and a large whirligig. No lights, wind chimes leylandii although our neighbour has awild cherry tree which I have to cut back.

Who on earth bleaches their garden ? I’ve never heard anything like it?

Whhoooaaa. Can we take a step backwards here. “bleach their gardens” notanan2. BLEACH THIER GARDENS???

I’m laughing reading some of these posts about neighbouring soil etc. Where my DD lives (as well as where I live) there is very little neighbouring soil at all. Everything is completely paved over . The artificial grass we have installed is fully permeable letting water pass through into the drainage system that DH has installed underneath it. My DD uses a hard brush to brush the leaves and other matter from the lawn (she still has a fair bit of planting and a large tree at the bottom) and We bought a specially recommended kind of organic disinfectant that is used to clean it once a month that causes no harm to the environment or indeed the baby.

I hope those who are complaining about the environment have everything in their home that is recyclable. That should obviously include soft furnishings, furniture, carpets, white goods and everything else. As I’m sure they are changed more often than this small artificial lawn will be .

No snobbery? Don’t make me laugh.

One word.....

Gnomes

I have been living in a rental property since I emigrated six years ago, so I have limitations on what I can do both inside and outside the house, as well as rules about what I can't do. The garden, which is larger than any garden I have previously owned, was established but consisted mostly of trees and shrubs. I have worked very hard on it and spent quite a lot of money on new plants. The lawns, however were not laid flat to begin with and are so wavy Davey that some parts are hugely difficult to mow properly. Also when it rains – and when it rains here, it absolutely tanks – those parts turn into lakes.

notanan2, there's an awful lot of clover in one of my lawns and the bees are all over it.

I keep it longer (set the mower higher, about 3 inches) and have to dash out and cut it early, before the bees arrive.

There's buttercups (butterflies love them) and daisies in it too and I really like them!

What I’d like to know about artificial grass is how you clean it?

People vacum them and A LOT of people use household cleaning chemicals on them too (which runs into neighbouring soil)

I do think there is a huge amount of snobbery regarding artificial lawns. oh dear no! My taste in gardebs could NEVER be described as "snobby"

That is not why I think artificial lawns are a travesty.

Having an artificial lawn doesnt just affect your garden. It affects neighbouring soil bacteria too.

It is by no means the only alternative lawn to "proper grass". Clover lawns look great, need less care, and "take" in darker areas.

But like I said: there is no lawn police... yet. .