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How tacky is that?

I've been thinking about getting an articial lawn. (Yes, astroturf) I have a paved patio area with some kind of "composite" paving stones. They aren't very nice to walk on -especially barefoot and I'm not crazy about the way they look.

I had been thinking about getting some slate, real slate as paving instead. It's very expensive, but really lovely. But then on television news one day, I saw a feature on artificial lawns. They're still pretty expensive, but they look pretty real (at least on tv). Growing a real lawn here would be difficult because:

1. It's quite shady at the back
2. It's a small area that we're always using
3. They greedy water companies are unlikely to lift the hose pipe ban anytime soon so in dry summers it would be difficult to keep it watered.
4. In rainy wet winters, it would be difficult to keep the area from getting a bit waterlogged.

The Vol-in-Law is not keen about the idea. I think he thinks it might be a little trashy. Being British, he's a little class conscious. So I ask you, is an artificial lawn tacky? Is the Royal Horticultural Society going to break down my door in a dawn raid and forcibly repossess my membership card?

My garden could look like this: Image from the evergreensuk artificial lawn website.

or here's a mock-up of my garden: Posted by Vol Abroad at 10/01/2006 02:37:00 pm 

genderist said...

The Hater, tacky-pointer-extraordinaire, says that an astroturf yard would not be tacky if there was a water ban. He clarifies to say that if it was tacky, it would only be slightly tacky, but not as tacky as banning water to keep a pretty yard.

01 October, 2006 19:45 
Sorry I think it's tacky. My suggestion fwiw: get rid of the composite and go for york (not that expensive for a small area), with gaps for planting if you like, plus gravel for the less travelled areas. Even if the idea of astroturf wasn't tacky, the actualite disappoints - it gets dirty, fades, SMELLS (sometimes) and generally ends up looking less and less natural as time goes by...

02 October, 2006 12:50 St. Caffeine said...

If you have to ask, "Is this tacky?", I think you already know the answer. Still, I'm a big fan of tacky self expression. That's why I refuse to join the local historic district. They frown on such behavior.

02 October, 2006 14:00 
Have you thought of moss for the green and slate for the traffic areas?

I think you really need to pay attention to the bit about becoming less and less realistic as time goes on. I have seen this stuff used on garden shows in the US for putting greens. It had about two tons of sand on it to keep in in place and to give it a more "natural look". I have never seen any up close and personal.
Always keep in mind that UT gave up on astroturf (was that in my day before your time???)

02 October, 2006 15:15 "John Galt" said...

I misread the link to the fake grass as "evergeen suk".

02 October, 2006 18:29 
say no to the astro turf. Have as many gnomes and pink flamigos as your little heart desires but you must say no to this. It is evil, ugly stuff.

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