apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

No. I'd rather use another type of ground cover (phlox, clover, ivy, etc.), or gravel, or wood chips. Maybe stone pavers or brick.

My friends just installed it in their new home and it looks great. Gives their kids a place to run around and play and is holding its own against their 3 large breed dogs. They placed wood chips in an adjacent area for the dogs to use.

No gardner. No watering. They just run a shop vac over it every now and then. It's pretty rad.

We just finished a remodel in Huntington Beach and elected to put in a Synthetic Lawn from Your Turf (Liz at Your Turf was the BEST).

The install took about a day and the grass looks great. We also installed it between giant pavers in our driveway and it looks clean and crisp

The only thing we have to do is occasionally sweep the grass with a semi stiff broom to refresh any trampled blades.

Love, Love, Love our lawn

But what is it made of? And how does it help the planet to have more plastic? Even if grass turns brown, so what? It'll grow again.

fake lawn does NOTHING for wildlife- that's a quote from gardenrant. So, even if it doesn't leach toxins, might be permeable (enough?) -it still does not fly with me. To be more carbon neutral about cutting grass: Neuton battery mower, OR use ground covers. OR There are lots of plants, even natives, that grow in sunny or shady dry environments. Study Xeriscaping. You want your kids to have a place to play? let them play between the rows of flowers and vegetables and name the plants and use the little flower heads for puppets. Plant small trees that have berries (like a shad tree or fringe tree) and let them watch the birds. Give your pets some shade too. We need green plants.

someone needs to take a biodegradable chill pill.

grow food...grow food...grow food...grow food...grow food...
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The small outdoor space outside my apartment is mostly cement. I'd love to use this as a "rug" under a table and chairs.

i don't understand where the doggy pee goes.. in real grass, it soaks away, but in fake grass.. what does it do? and wouldn't it start to smell after awhile?

no no no no no.

plant something native to the environment that will flourish naturally and not require excess watering, like grass. Also, look into moss! Look into just about anything that actually grows!

"ouch!", seaside

hm. not a fan. :no:

angxannette,

I am sure all installations are different but with our installation of Your Turf, 4 inches of dirt that was removed and replaced with different grades of gravel. (If you hold up the grass you can see light - its not solid). Once the grass was layed down they sprinkled it with very small rubber shavings to give it some "give" and to help the grass blades stand up.

Soooo....the doggy pee pee soaks away just like regular grass.

Fake grass is so wrong in so many ways...
...Ever hear of Xeriscaping? Wildflowers? Native Grasses?

I'm with greenlight, art and the xeriscapers. If you have kids, try pea gravel. If you have dogs, try another ground cover.

I'm not entirely comfortable with dogs peeing on the fake turf... plastic leaches. the smell is going to stick around.

My neighbor put some in their front yard. It's such a small patch that I have to wonder why they didn't just put in a few low maintenance, low water need plants and call it a day. It's so perfect looking that it doesn't look real next to the real lawns on the street.

Really? People are opting for fake grass in their yards?

It's not April is it?

That reminds me, I'm looking for astroturf in colors other than green for the entryway of my apartment. Figure it'll be good once the weather gets snowy and nasty.

I think next year I might skip green month on AT. Everyone gets so preachy.

I'm not all that green, but this is allegedly a blog/site devoted to good design. Fake grass is good design?

Fake grass, unmade beds, apple trivets--where will it end?

This is all that is evil about suburbia. The idea of lawns are bad enough, fake lawns are even worse.

There are all kinds of reasons why someone might not want to deal with a grass lawn, but there are also all kinds of beautiful and low-maintenance alternatives for your yard and garden that actually involve, you know, plants.

Not a fan.

sandy soil, lots of sun, very energetic run happy dog ~ if you can find me any kind of ground cover to grow there I'll do it but in the meantime I'll be checking out the fake grass.

I have often wondered if I was lucky enough to have a small slice of the outdoors what I would do with it. With the addition of my amazing dog, grass would be have to be included. I have looked into the synthetic option. No mowing, No MOWER, no water- AND you can disinfect it. I would be down with it!

I am suprised this doesn't feel really creepy to everyone else.

^ Yeah, you say that now, but what will you do when your BROWN LAWN falls under the watchful eyes of the homeowners' association?!?

Seriously, this post has got to be a joke. The person two comments up is talking about DISINFECTING her LAWN!! XD

thanks hbmorty, much appreciated!

Thanks for the link!

Obviously, synthetic grass isn't the perfect solution for every situation, but our experimental patch is working really well. There is a sprinkler system and drainage, so any doggie bidness left behind by irresponsible owners is washed away. Most of the dogs can't even tell a difference—although some do prefer natural grass.

I don't think it's creepy, I think it's practical!

^ A sprinkler system. For fake grass.

This is out of control. I changed my mind, it really is creepy.

If we call it a "cleaning" system, is it a little less creepy?

LOL...

Why not fake house plants?
Why not fake trees and fake flowers with fake birds perched around?
Why not a drop ceiling painted azure blue for sunny skies every day?
Plus: fake wood floors and fake wool and fake cotton.
So practical!

You all seem to be missing a point - nowhere on this planet does a "natural" lawn grow in nature. The lawns that carpet the suburbs are man-made, trimmed and manicured. They are also poisoning the planet with fertilizers and pesticides. They consume vast amounts of fresh water. After a lot of research, we replaced our "natural" lawn with artificial turf by Field Turf. It looks, feels and behaves like "real" grass and we believe is environmentally friendly. Friends and neighbors cannot believe it is artificial. Our water bill is now half and we no longer pollute the planet.
There are some products that look like garbage, but this is great stuff - we'd recommend it to anyone...