Anyone for Croquet?

17 Mar Anyone for Croquet?

Play Garden Games All Year Round With An Artificial Lawn

Low maintenance, durable and weather resistant, artificial lawns provide the perfect surface for playing games throughout the year.

Summer is just around the corner and we can all start looking forward to spending more time in the garden. Garden games such as croquet, boules or rounders offer a great opportunity to have fun outdoors with your friends and family, and a grass lawn is the perfect surface on which to enjoy these kinds of activities.

However, garden games can spell trouble for your lawn, leading to ‘bald spots’, divots and patches of dead grass. What’s more, lawns tend to get waterlogged and muddy during periods of wet weather, making them unusable for large parts of the year. If this sounds like a familiar conundrum, then an artificial lawn could be the answer to your problems.

You may associate artificial grass with fake, plastic-looking lawns, or with childhood sports pitches that delivered a nasty burn. However, things have moved on a lot in the artificial grass world.

Today’s products are made of durable plastic polymers and provide a strong, stable and practical surface that stays soft and green, and gives a really natural finish that can be almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

Why Choose An Artificial Lawn

One of the key advantages of an artificial lawn is that it needs very little maintenance to stay looking at its best. Real lawns need a lot of love and attention, with many weekend hours spent mowing or weeding. And even then there is no guarantee that it will grow properly – particularly if it is used frequently for outdoor games. In comparison, all an artificial lawn needs is the removal of leaves and debris and an occasional brushing with a stiff brush, and it’s good to go. It’s also really durable, meaning that it can withstand being used as a playing surface for numerous activities

Unlike a natural lawn, artificial grass is also weather proof – it won’t dry out in the sun, or get waterlogged and muddy in wet weather – so you’ll be able to play all year round. Today’s grasses also have the advantage of being made from soft polyethylene fibres, so there is no danger of grazed skin should your game-playing get a little over-exuberant!

The one area where artificial lawns may seem to lose out to natural lawns is on price. Purchasing and installing an artificial lawn can seem expensive in comparison to natural grass. However, once it is installed it should need no further maintenance or outlay, unlike real grass, so you can look at it as an investment which will save you both money and time in the longer term.

Choosing Your Lawn

Artificial lawns come in a huge variety of shades, styles and heights with many designed for specific purposes, such as sports pitches and roof gardens. The lawn you choose should be dictated by its intended use – for example, a taller pile offers a softer surface, whereas a shorter pile is perfect for ball games.

If you’re unsure about the finish you want, take a look at some show lawns and ask to see samples before you make a final decision.

Installing Your Lawn

Installing artificial grass is quick and convenient and can be done in a day. While it is possible to lay an artificial lawn yourself, it’s not something we would recommend. There are a number of factors to take into consideration and it’s easy to get wrong if you don’t know what you’re doing – so it’s always best to get it installed professionally.

Installed and looked after properly, your artificial lawn could last more than 20 years. And with its year-round durability and low maintenance properties, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to enjoy garden games with your family and friends.

Photo by Neil Rickards, CC License.