Fake grass ?

My daughter moved into a house with the whole back garden lawn done in fake grass. She hated the way it looked and was worried about the baby crawling on it as it does get hot. In the end they decided to take it up and replace with real grass. She was shocked to see that there were no worms or anything living underneath it! Anyway they love their new lawn..yes it needs looking after but it feels so lovely under your feet after the fake grass. And I have been told that fake grass gets smelly if you have pets.
She ended up selling it on to somebody who wanted to replace their real grass.
I found that a bit sad.

No - just no! Everything about it is awful.

It is bad for wildlife, inhibits drainage, gets stinky.

There is nothing at all wrong with your grass - it looks much as mine does in the year of drought and heatwave.

A lawn does not have to be a tennis court type perfect grass - mine is a mixture of grass (of many varieties) dandelions, buttercups, moss and many other species of plants - it is essentially a green space - and wildlife friendly.

I also have a section that is low-growing creeping thyme and blue star creeper - you can mow it and walk on it and it is beautiful.

Artificial grass is plastic! - we need less not more!

We need to get away from this idea that a perfect and uniform green lawn is a desirable thing.

My lawn and I use the word loosely is the same. I mowed the weeds today as they were getting seedy. Apart from the bit nearest the house I plan to plant up with plants more suitable for hot weather.
My reason behind this is mostly because I don’t like mowing and under normal conditions you have to wait for the dew or rain on it to dry.
With plants I will be able to go out and potter.

Mazgg

I have had fake grass for 9 years and it still looks perfect. For the first 7 years I had a Labrador and a Jack Russel, sadly no longer with us. I now have a dachshund who I have had from being 8 weeks. My dogs have all enjoyed it and it has never been too hot to walk on. It was expensive and expertly laid by a company who suggested the best type taking the dogs into account. There are very good fake grass cleaners available.
Prior to the artificial grass there was real grass which turned into a mud patch after rain and dogs running in and out.
I have absolutely no regrets.

Interesting.

Will be following this thread.

Smileless2012

Oooh he's lovely MartavTaurus. We have a 12 week old toy poodle puppy and are using fake grass on our decking while we get him toilet trained.

Thanks.
How's it going? The toilet training?

Do you lift the fake grass and wash underneath, that sounds preferable?

I have had fake grass for 9 years and it still looks perfect. For the first 7 years I had a Labrador and a Jack Russel, sadly no longer with us. I now have a dachshund who I have had from being 8 weeks. My dogs have all enjoyed it and it has never been too hot to walk on. It was expensive and expertly laid by a company who suggested the best type taking the dogs into account. There are very good fake grass cleaners available.
Prior to the artificial grass there was real grass which turned into a mud patch after rain and dogs running in and out.
I have absolutely no regrets.

Oooh he's lovely MartavTaurus. We have a 12 week old toy poodle puppy and are using fake grass on our decking while we get him toilet trained.

New puppy arrived here today. He's finding the dry brown grass rather prickly underfoot, but seeing as he will grow to 35 kilos and produce a lot of wee and poo I wouldn't consider artificial grass.

'Nothing ventured, nothing gained' Shinamae and if your gardener's suggested it s/he probably knows which would be the best to invest in.

MawsRosie

No, no and no
Lethal for pets (gets way too hot), lethal for wild life, imagine a little bird pecking at fake grass hoping for food, let’s face it, it’s plastic in whatever form, so not biodegradable when it’s past its best, and frankly who wants emerald green «carpet»
I imagine you would have to hose it down, especially with a dog or it would get very smelly and that’s a no-no with a hosepipe ban.
Enough reasons?

I agree. Please don't go down the fake grass route.
It's not good for anything and really bad for the environment, for drainage, for insects etc.
To my eyes your garden with it's slightly brown grass looks played on, inviting and an altogether useful part of your garden.

Gwyllt

Don’t know meaning of lawn I have grass and weed. Sorry wild flowers.looks pretty and environmentally friendly

Our small back ‘lawn’ is overshadowed to a fair extent by one (protected) mature beech tree, and we don’t get a huge amount of sun anyway.

TBH despite repeated efforts with ‘shade loving’ grass. It’s invariably largely moss and weeds - however I like to call it our ‘wildflower meadow’.
When it’s buttercup season - a couple of nice patches of them - dh has strict instructions not to mow that bit!

Don’t know meaning of lawn I have grass and weed. Sorry wild flowers.looks pretty and environmentally friendly

Nothing against fake grass for what ever reason But it is growing puppy into the mix. An frien has a small courtyard garden with fake grass as she has nowhere to keep a mower. Add small dog into the mix and she runs in and out with a scoop and a watering can. No it does not smell bu would not like to be the one to lift it. What size dog are you talking about. Could you make a gravel garden as an alternative. Would let the ground breath

I too thought necessary have fake grass. Before, anyone condems me, (and I don't work for a Artificial Grass company) after many years of, re - turfing, seeding, making our garden small by adding more flower beds, adding underground drainage. We gave up and got in professionals to redesigning the whole garden by extending the patio, adding decking for a second dining area, shingle down the area to the side of the house, which I don't like as it's like a shingle beach.
Our problem was due to the garden being under mature Oak trees, and they grown, so about every 3 years we had to apply to the local council for permission to have them trimmed.

Since having the grass we have never had any issues with our Pets, or Grandchildren in bare feet finding too hot, we also live in the South of England.

Over the years we spent a considerable amount of money in the garden just on trying to grass.

We still get loads of Birds, Hedgehogs, Moles (in the flower beds) Bats so the wild life is still active.

No no no the most awful stuff ever made just more plastic crxx

You will get a lot of severe disapproval on here. But IMO it certainly circs it can be a sensible choice.

We had some best quality fake grass put down in the tiny back garden of a rental maisonette. Some years previously I had paid quite a lot to have the garden transformed from a very badly neglected jungle - with a very small real grass lawn. Sadly the otherwise good tenants didn’t look after it and eventually it was beyond redemption.
Hence the ‘fake’. Neither they nor we wanted hard paving or gravel.

However all tenants have been very pleased with it, and we do have borders for the blackbirds etc, to scratch around in.

MawsRosie

No, no and no
Lethal for pets (gets way too hot), lethal for wild life, imagine a little bird pecking at fake grass hoping for food, let’s face it, it’s plastic in whatever form, so not biodegradable when it’s past its best, and frankly who wants emerald green «carpet»
I imagine you would have to hose it down, especially with a dog or it would get very smelly and that’s a no-no with a hosepipe ban.
Enough reasons?

Also if you get fed up with it, then landfill is the only way to dispose of it, it will never decompose.
Personally I would never buy a house that had artificial grass.

MT62

You have to go expensive if you want it look, plus adequate drainage needs installing.
Ours will be designed to irrigate our trees & plants.
I don’t like those that look like it’s being fitted by a carpet installer.

Good I mean.

You have to go expensive if you want it look, plus adequate drainage needs installing.
Ours will be designed to irrigate our trees & plants.
I don’t like those that look like it’s being fitted by a carpet installer.

No, no and no
Lethal for pets (gets way too hot), lethal for wild life, imagine a little bird pecking at fake grass hoping for food, let’s face it, it’s plastic in whatever form, so not biodegradable when it’s past its best, and frankly who wants emerald green «carpet»
I imagine you would have to hose it down, especially with a dog or it would get very smelly and that’s a no-no with a hosepipe ban.
Enough reasons?

I wouldn’t do it unless you never let your dog into the garden, because ammonia crystals get trapped in the structure of the fake grass, and when it gets warm it smells awful.

I don’t like fake grass but then we only have a back yard, no lawn, so who am I to say?
When we did have a lawn there was fake grass around but I loved walking barefoot on real grass and the smell of it after mowing.
One of our DDs has a fake lawn and it does look pretty good though, no puppy but a GC who did make a bit of a mess with it with play doh.

It will get very hot in the sunshine- not good if you want your puppy out there. Or if you want to sit outside in the cool, it stores heat.

(It will also contribute to the global warming that has turned your present grass brown and patchy!)

If your puppy wees out there (or worse) you will have to wash it down or it discolours and smells. I know this from living in a previous house where there was artificial grass and a dog. Buy lots of Jeyes fluid😬

We have real grass in our front garden and fake grass in our back garden.Entirely due to the awful drainage that we,ve spent thousands of pounds and still grew reeds instead of turf.
Our cats love the fake grass ,they happily lie on it on hot days.I brush it in the morning so it looks good all day.
We do have lots of bushes and a couple of trees and we have a good variety of birds a hedgehog and the odd visiting deer .
I know it’s not ideal but sometimes it’s the best choice

Could try & older some samples.
Verde grass is one company.
Grass looks so real.