I have artificial grass in current house. The rear garden, very small square shaped. We live in an area with 3 storey houses in almost a square facing our rear. We get very limited rear sunlight to what was the grassed area of the garden. It was constant moss.
We replaced the top soil, removed all of the bricks, wires and general rubbish the builders called top soil. Put new turf down. This was regularly cut and raked. We did have a trampoline and a see-saw in the garden, plus the kids used it regularly for playing, we also have a dog who used it for his pre-bed time business.
The turf lasted one spring until the following spring. The same area that didn't see much sunlight remained a bog with moss.
We replaced it artificial grass, looks good. Both me and wife managed to install it ourselves. Loads more topsoil and sand needed to level it out as much as possible. We have potted plants around the outside of the house, a small front area of plants /(no lawn) and hanging baskets with flowers around the rear. We've just bought a new house and expecting to move in at the end of June. Have already paid for this to be turfed.
The major downside of artificial lawn for me is having a dog who uses it as his place for doggie doodles. When we had the lawn this was fine, but as he was used to doing his business outside we carried on the same. I have to clean the lawn every two or three days. Most days with just soapy water and a wire broom, but every couple of weeks it needs a thorough clean with chemicals.
During the warm weather it can still get an acrid smell. Both the wife and I are paranoid about this so do clean it as often as possible.
@Kayla, funny that you appeared to think that was specifically aimed at you, I hadn't even read your stance when i posted. Despite the tone of your posts and the fact they are off topic I admire your stance, I really do. Unfortunately it's too late for the small changes to impact the direction of climate change. I work in an industry that gets hammered for it, single use plastics as an example, single use plastics are not the problem, people are the problem. Until we get leaders in place who are strong enough to make the big changes and punish individuals & industries who don't make wholesale changes to their behaviors, we are screwed anyway. Imagine if nobody littered and waste was managed correctly, you would never have seen an episode of Blue Planet which ignited the debate. Plastic doesn't get up and wander into the sea, humans put it there, we could do so much with waste plastic but nobody will make money so nobody cares to do it. Due to your passion on the sunject I am sure you are aware of the work done by Terracycle, if not, just have a quick squizz at their website to see what can be recycled, upcycled, reused etc.etc.etc. Anyway, back on topic, artificial lawns are ace if you want a usable space all year round and your current garden is a fetid bog.
So unless we live our lives in an entirely sustainable and environmentally friendly way, we aren’t allowed to have opinions on making small changes to reduce our impact?
Not at all but going as far as calling people dicks and arseholes who don't do everything they possibly can either is likely to provoke a less than positive response.
@Kayla, funny that you appeared to think that was specifically aimed at you
Just cos (I think) I was the only one calling people a dick is all.
Also @FuzzyWuzzy, why shouldn't people do everything they can? Give me [u]one[/u] good reason, I double dare you. FYI, financial cost or lack of time are not good reasons.
How big’s your garden? Pump track?
I wish. It’s only about four or five square meters (if that). Plopped a trampoline down on it. Which has reduced some of the space. I’d upload a photo, but I’m not that brave considering the state of it 😀
financial cost or lack of time
Might not be issues for you. They certainly are for loads of other folk.
Might not be issues for you. They certainly are for loads of other folk.
Not good reasons though. Excuses, maybe.
I work in an industry that gets hammered for it, single use plastics as an example, single use plastics are not the problem, people are the problem.
Quite right: people make and sell single use plastics.
Might not be issues for you. They certainly are for loads of other folk.
Not good reasons though. Excuses, maybe.
Time I agree on, but there isn’t much folk can do about their financial situation to be fair.
I’ll show my stunning level of naivety here. If single use plastics, plastic bags and fake grass are such an issue just either make it prohibitively expensive to produce them or outright ban them. Tough shit for those that want them, if our planet is ****ed. Until those in power crack down on the waste it’s never going to stop regardless of what individuals do.
I’m not saying don’t do your bit, far from it. But if the manufacturing isn’t stopped it all looks rather ****ing pointless really.
Might not be issues for you. They certainly are for loads of other folk.
Not good reasons though. Excuses, maybe.
It must be lovely not to have any financial or time pressures Please excuse the rest of us.
Ownership of a garden is a privilege. Working to maintain a garden is rewarding and helps to de-stress from our digitalised lives, the increasing levels of poor mental health are a symptom of the way we're living our toxic lives. It's healthy to go analogue. Gardening has been proven to be good for one’s well-being.
Our back garden is not insignificant, the lawn has weeds, honey fungus, and is certainly not a monoculture of a single type of grass. Who cares? It's green. It's low maintenance since I just give it a quick mow once every two weeks. I work, I live, I'm not bored but I make time as it's a privilege to own that patch of land.
Next door neighbour has plastic grass, same size garden as mine. I don't like it personally, thinks it's a fad, expensive to lay too. They have kids, a dog and around the plastic grass they're laying beds with plastic sheeting to stop the weeds from growing through. Literally the entire plot of land is covered in plastic. Just 60 years ago this whole area used to be an orchard. Now it's got a motorway and housing estate on it. Quite sad really.
We all play our bit. Look to the future. I think people with plots of land that cover it in plastic should live in flats (ultimate low maintenance) with a park nearby where kids can play football, cricket and just hang out. Funny that, how kids manage to play football on real grass pitches during the winter. Oh wait a minute. Mud on the carpet, it's a pain to clean up. Mud on clothes and shoes. The inconvenience of it.
Next door’s dog even gets taken on walks by a dog walking company. Why have a dog? Taking it for walks is one of the pleasures of owning a dog. Some people are lazy. Plastic grass, and frequent hiring of a dog walking firm are both manifestations of that.
Next door doesn't get the blackbirds hopping about their lawn like we do. They don't get the squirrel jumping about during the autumn as it buries nuts whilst the magpies inquisitively follow them about getting tips on what to do with their lumps of bread we leave out for them. My niece and nephew love watching the variety of birds we get. Sterile next door doesn't get that. Oh wait, it's not sterile...the dog pisses on it, birds shit on it as they fly overhead to our garden. Bet it smells nice with all that piss and shit on it. Even their child scratches himself as he falls playing footie. Makes me wonder how we survived when we were kids.
Our next door neighbours may like their plastic grass now but what if it’s just a fad? Will they still like it in 20 years time? Doubt they’ll still be living there in 20 years time and, when our next door neighbours move out, as eventually everyone does, the next occupants will get rid of that plastic grass as they make their stamp on their new property. Landfill will become its new home. That will be our neighbours legacy.
Our parents had an opportunity to prevent the free fall into the increasing levels of waste that has been consigned to landfill. They failed. That waste will still be there for hundreds of years. Our generation is no better it seems even with access to vast amounts of knowledge at the touch of a button. What are we doing in our lives to help just that little bit? Make the right decisions, think of our legacy, not just our families but others too. We can’t exist thinking we are all distinct beings that have no effect on other’s lives, all of our lives are intertwined. Our actions will one day do a barrel roll and impact us in unimaginable ways. Just little things that’s all it takes. I just think plastic grass is such an unnecessary thing to cover a back garden in and to me represents a person that just simply feels powerless and has given up.
It must be lovely not to have any financial or time pressures Please excuse the rest of us.
Sigh.
It's a choice (most of the time, there are exceptions obviously) to have those time and financial pressures. We're sold the idea that the latest and greatest is best, and that, why yes, you can have it now, just sign here please. That'll be £xxx for the next y years please.
Fancy phones on a monthly contract, holidays abroad, new car on PCP, massive house with a mortgage to match, kids, new plastic bike on finance. These are all choices people make and end up having to pay for and me and my OH choose not to go down that path which is why we have less financial pressure (and therefore time pressure) on us. We live in a rented 2 bed end terrace and we're not well off by any stretch of the imagination 😆
Consumer debt that benefits a (relative) few and a craving for 'likes' is driving the destruction of the planet and until it crashes or it's forcibly stopped by legislation I'll continue to be angry about it and so should everyone else.
Kayla - well said and keep that rage!
I have a small garden with plants and trees and borders. It's full of nesting birds and worms and woodlice and bees and flies and slugs and snails and a shed full of spiders.
But I've had a plastic lawn for a number of years because I couldn't grow a proper one (north facing, poor soil and other excuses). It's currently occupied at night by a team of four fox cubs who like it so much that they run around it in circles and they don't choose to shit on it. During the day my kids play on it, something they couldn't / wouldn't do with a big square of moss like it would otherwise be. My cat also likes it and he's the boss of the house.
I expect the horrible piece of plastic to last for at least 10 years but hopefully longer.
I forgot the question, but this is my answer.
All those spouting off up there^^ about how anyone using plastic grass is a dick, will still be jetting off on a plane to sunny climes so their eco stance is not valid.
Hang on. There is a serious logical fallacy here.
It makes no difference how much a dick the person is being, it does not change the facts about environmental damage and over-consumption. You can't use this argument to get out of your own moral obligation.
It's not a personal issue. If tells us we produce too much CO2 whilst they are boarding a plane for a weekend break - they are still right. The fact they are being hypocritical changes nothing.
Re plastic grass = I'd rather have paving than plastic tbh.
If nobody buys them, manufacturers will stop making them.
Just came back to this.Got to say I agree with many of kayla's sentiments and I think we all should aim for ensuring we are contributing to a better world in whatever way we can.Mind you that plastic pitch at Boundary Park sure helped Oldham 😉
kayla1, agree with you and think we should add people buying vans for leisure purposes (just ride your bike or use public transport) and shopping at Wiggle/online to the list too. Dicks.
I’d rather have paving than plastic tbh.
Crikey, don't look at the carbon footprint of concrete production, or even mining of natural stone....
kayla1, agree with you and think we should add people buying vans for leisure purposes (just ride your bike or use public transport)
How do we get to the mountains then?. I agree to an extent, canny be arsed driving to MTB spots these days, but I was talking to a well known Munroist a few weeks back, he's on his 5th round of munros, doing them all at night now.
How do we get to these mountains?. Have we to stop going anywhere there's no public transport?.
What about meat eaters? I believe there's figures published that state that yer average carnivore causes way more environmental damage than business travellers do.
I believe there’s figures published that state that yer average carnivore causes way more environmental damage than business travellers do.
This is why I never fly Cannibal Air
Perchy, in other news, my BM egg poacher is failing, burstin ma yolks man!!!
Is plastic grass water permeable?
if not, what happens when it rains? Do you end up with something like a huge paddling pool?
my BM egg poacher is failing,
Just buy a new one. They're only 30 bob.
Weirdly, I was planning on buying a new one at luchtime today as my previous one for work got broken,
It is a new one, the red addis one, they don't do the cheap transparent ones any more!
It's a sad day when they replace cheap plastic tat for a quid that works with cheap plastic tat for a quid that doesn't.
Standards are falling at B&M so-called "Bargains"
😆
Is plastic grass water permeable?
Amazingly the designers of this grass of mass destruction thought about the rain. It drains far far better than my excuse for a lawn ever did. As per someone else's post earlier, I tried with my lawn. I hired a digger, removed the top, sieved it all to create a good quality top soil, bought some more topsoil mix, laid it all out, levelled it, bought turf, laid the turf, stood back and admired my hard graft. Next winter I had another mud bath in the back yard and the dog trashed the house every time he went out to the garden. When/if I need to replace my plastic in 10+yrs my expectation of the industry is that they will have a mechanism for recycling the old grass, if they don't they have failed in their duty to the environment.
