Fake grass

So, these last few days we have been house hunting. One of the houses which we all love (well, possibly my second favourite, but I'm outnumbered as it was DH and DD's favourite) has fake grass in the garden. The lady said she put it down after trying unsuccessfully to grow grass there. Now, I'm all for natural grass, for obvious reasons, but I do recognise that there is a place for fake grass.


DD has it in her playground at school and doesn't like it because she said it gets very wet in the rain (well, so would real grass...) but that it also gets very hot in the sun and so they don't like rolling down the school hills when it is so hot!


Do any of you have fake grass? Pros and cons? Is it childminder friendly? Obviously this won't be the deciding factor on whether or not we put in an offer, but I do like to hear your opinions! x

Dislike it, but purely from an environmental perspective, so bad in so many ways.

Big environmental issues as plants convert carbon dioxide into oxygen.
Green spaces have been shown to improve wellness and reduce stress.
Silver ions can show up in your artificial grass, not good.
Mown grass always has a better look about it.
Insects can live in the real thing, not in artificial.
Really hot in the sun, we once holidayed in a good quality artificial grass garden and you couldn’t walk on it in bare feet in the sunshine.
Needs replacing ever 7/8 years.
It’s rough, not a natural feel.

On the other hand :

some are made of recycled bottles.
You don’t spend half your weekend mowing. ( but you also don’t get that freshly mown grass smell - which you might hate if you suffer from hay fever) - you don’t need mower, edger etc... to care for it.
No bald patches from dogs/ shade/ use.
Easy to use in poor weather without damaging it.
You can buy very realistic stuff these days

In the end Maza it is personal choice. There are as many fors as against.
Personally I wouldn’t because the environmental side gains more weighted points for me, but equally someone else might have convenience because of their lifestyle as a priority!

You can always re lay a natural lawn.

Sometimes when the weather is so bad and my garden is unusable again i think we need artificial grass. The children vould practise their rugby and football in all weathers. The dogs wouldnt be ruining it nor putting the tent etc up.

However the long term effects are yet to be determined. So many injuries from playing on it there is no natural bounce.

Also its a big no no from me because of the environmental aspect. Though never mowing again sometimes is very appealing as im a hayfever sufferer.

I have half and half

The top of my garden is AstroTurf- it doesn’t stay wet as long as the drainage is ok , in fact it dries much quicker than the real stuff, it does feel nice and warm to sit on but never hot. It’s brill for the mindees especially with water and messy play , it doesn’t get muddy and trash the grass and the mindees stay cleaner and can use it year round too. It brushes or hoovers if needed .

The real grass needs much more attention but I do love that mown grass smell....just not the bare and shabby bits caused by several little feet!!