What You Need to Know Before You Go for Artificial Grass

A beautiful green lawn accentuates the beauty of the house. It is the pride of every homeowner. A lot of people do not spare any effort to make their lawn perfect. Sadly, everyone does not have the appropriate conditions to maintain a perfect lawn. 

Also, it is not something that is very simple to maintain. Having a beautiful green lawn in your yard looks nice but it takes a lot of time and effort to maintain it. So, if you know it is something you cannot handle, there is an alternative for you. 

Highly durable, beautiful, and easy to maintain, faux or artificial grass is an effective way to considerably reduce your hassle. It is used both indoors and outdoors. With the advent of production technology and the development in the types of material used, faux grass has successfully imitated natural grass with the perfect combination of the color and thickness of the fibers. It is a great solution for your lawn or terrace. 

So, in case you plan to get artificial grass for your house, here are some things you should know. 

Base and Drainage

Faux grass does not simply lay out on the floor like a rug. Generally, the ground is dug about 5 inches before it is laid out on the ground. After excavation, pipe drains are fitted that are designed specifically for your property to ensure that any water over the area is drained consistently and prevent any bacterial problems. 

A 2-3 inch of crushed rock and fine aggregate makes a thick base layer covering the drainage area. It is leveled to form a robust, water-permeable layer that is the foundation for the top grass layer. This combination of small and large rocks keeps faux grass stable. And not just that, it increases the life of the artificial grass and helps it remain composed during high foot traffic. 

Maintenance

While it is a lot less hassle to maintain faux grass than the real one, it does not mean that it is totally maintenance-free. Yes, you do not have to worry about weeding, mowing, or watering, but you cannot simply live your life ignoring its existence. 

You have to deal with a lot of things when it comes to artificial grass like stains if and when they occur. A spilled beverage is cumbersome but not a lot of trouble. The maintenance is not limited to spillage. Leaves can be a lot of trouble as well. If not taken care of, they can grind into the turf and in time can become really difficult to remove. Essentially, you need to work a little to ensure that your lawn or terrace looks great. 

Pricier But Cost-Effective

Faux grass does not come cheap. It costs about $10-14 per foot which when compared to about $0.50 per foot for sod seems quite expensive. In a nutshell, if you want to cover a 500 square foot yard, you will have to spend around $6000 and only about $200 for real grass. While it seems like a lot right now, down the road it will not be so much. 

You will be able to recoup the investment over time. If you get sow grass, you will end up spending a huge amount of money over time on maintenance. You will save on fertilizers, lawn services, water, and in about 7-8 years you will even out. To put things into perspective, you are paying more upfront but then you won’t have to worry about any regular costly maintenance year after year. 

Environment-Friendly

It is absolutely normal to believe that fake grass will not be good for the environment when compared to natural grass. Well, this is not exactly true. In reality, the natural grass in your lawns isn’t as green as you tend to assure it is. To maintain natural grass, you use a lot of water and chemicals to ensure its proper care. And we all know that it is not exactly going green when you are using so much water and chemicals. 

And not just that, the growing interest in faux grass has led to huge investments in this sector. This has further led to investment in sustainable materials such as sand, coconut fiber, and cork. So, if you want to think about the environment, having a natural garden is not exactly the right foot forward. 

Conclusion

Once you’ve understood the pros and cons of getting artificial grass for your property, take note of the aforementioned points about faux grass that you must learn. While it is not a simple answer to choose between natural and fake grass. This depends on various factors like budget and requirements. Especially, if you are living in areas that have adverse climate conditions for your grass like an arid and hot state, it is only wise to give your outdoors a makeover with artificial grass. 

To put things into perspective, if you do not have time and energy to maintain your lawn, you should go for artificial grass. It will give your house the aesthetic appeal you are looking for without having to go through any hassle. While this is all good, it does not mean that real grass does not have any benefits. Having real grass in your yard is ofcourse a luxury. It is just that faux grass is much better for people who do not like to be at the end of regular maintenance. 

Ultimately, it is upon you to decide whether you want real grass or artificial grass. We hope the aforementioned points helped you decide better. Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below. 

7 Things To Do After The Renovation Of Your Garden

So, you’ve just renovated your garden and you’re thinking what should I do next? Luckily, there are many things to do after you have renovated your garden. From choosing which plants to grow to creating a nice comfort zone, the options are endless. We’ve put together a list of interesting things you can do to make your new garden look great.

Cleaning up the Mess after Renovation

Renovating a garden is not an easy task and there will surely be a lot of mess after the renovation. Before you start working on your new garden, all of this mess and trash needs to be taken care of. There are several options for cleaning up the mess after the renovation of your garden. You can try doing it alone, but it will take you a couple of days to do this all by yourself. There is also an option of asking your friends, family, or neighbors to come and help with the cleaning. The third option is to hire a rubbish removal service to deal with this.

Choosing Plants

To create a year-round interest in your garden, it is important to choose a nice selection of shrubs, flowers, and plants. Before you start with the purchase, make sure to read up on your soil in the garden and consider factors like shade, exposure and sun. There are many planting suggestions out there and it all depends on what you wish to achieve. For example, potted plants and flowers are ideal for mobility and they add easy color to the garden. Just make sure to water them regularly and plant them with enough drainage.

Leave Plenty of Space for Guests

I know that plants are important, but it would be a good idea to save some space for your guests. Patios and decks are ideal spots for social gatherings and outdoor entertainment. Make sure you have enough room for dining and choose approximately how many friends you’re likely to host regularly. This is important because 4 square feet of space needs to be saved per guest, which means if you are planning to have dinner with 4 other people, you will need to make 20 square feet of free space. Don’t forget room for the outdoor furniture and a table that is needed for dining.

Keep the Distance between Plants

Many people make the mistake of planting flowers close to the edges of the patio and walkway. This is where math comes in. Plants which are about 33 inches tall have to be located at least 3 feet away from the patio edges. Otherwise, this place will look crowded and messy. If you are planning to have thorny plants like roses and crown imperials, please keep them away from all the traffic areas in the garden. You definitely don’t want your children and family to be in danger.

Creating a Comfort Zone

By choosing the right plants and using them in a proper way, a person can actually create a comfort zone in a garden. For example, broad-leaved evergreens are known to protect gardens from winds. In case you wish to place a tree in your garden, it can provide a shady comfort zone where you can hide from the sun during the summer season.

Create Entertainment for Children

Your children should enjoy the new garden as much as you do, so why not create some entertainment options for your kids. Think in the lines of homemade painted pots, birdseed feeders, tree house, rock plant markers, etc.

Invite the Neighbors Over

After you’ve renovated your garden, it’s time to celebrate and ask the neighbors to come over for tea, coffee, and some snacks. Maybe some of your neighbors are also into gardening and can give you some advice on how to make your garden become even more beautiful than it is now.

 

 

Melanie Saunders is a blogger and content manager at 1300 Rubbish – experts in the field of rubbish and junk removal. Personally, a huge fan of sustainability and green living.

 

Beautiful Multi-Level Thatched Roof Gingerbread House

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What a beautiful home with multiple levels of roof and floors. The artist in this case choose to make a gingerbread house as close to a real house as they could. Pretzels were used for fence, wheaties were use for a thatched roof appearance and decorations were made with icing to resemble the real thing. This is really a great design.

Does Your Garden Need A Lawn?

Knowing full well the kind of care and time it takes to create and maintain a lawn of enough quality that it looks good enough to be worth having, you may be wondering as to whether it is the right thing to have in your home. Whilst larger houses will almost always benefit from a big back or front lawn, there is no loss of pride in deciding that the old style of having a well manicured lawn may not suit your home, and it can often be a massive waste of time to try and procure one, if it is only going to turn out as some patchy scraggle of land. It is much better to try and ensure that you are getting the best out of your outdoor areas in terms of size, shape and the style of building. It is also a good idea to ensure that you have a garden that you find easy and time efficient to keep in check. You don’t want the expert garden maintenance to become such a trial that you end up having to call in the gardening experts every week, so ensure that your garden clear up leaves you with an area that you can enjoy and maintain with ease.

For a start, gardens of a strange or unaccommodating shape can be difficult to make work. This is particularly the case with a lawn. A narrow strip of lawn set amongst the high walls of a terraced home’s back yard will often look a bit flat and oppressive. If you have a garden that slopes drastically, then the use of the lawn will often be difficult, in that you can really play games on it, and putting tables and chairs out will lead to uncomfortable seating! Instead, why not build tiers with old railway sleepers, and plant them with interesting plants or vegetables? This will yield a lot more interesting looking surroundings than fastidious lawn care! You should find that there are a number of ways in which you can break up the levels as well as the angles in your garden, to ensure that you are less at risk of missing the idea of a lawn.

In terms of the shape of the outdoor area, you will need to understand the ways in which the eye moves. You may want to have a conversation with a landscape gardener, as they will have an excellent understanding of this, and a brief introduction into landscape gardening can be all that you need to get things going in terms of planning your dream space. They will likely tell you that curves in the plot as well as obstructions for the eye to move around, will break up the space in a less linear way, leading to more interesting spaces, that feel bigger, or at least more interesting. If you have a long and narrow garden, you can break it up with raised decking at the back, or even an overhanging tree in a corner. If your garden turns a corner, making it difficult to enjoy the space properly, why not turn that extra part in to a vegetable patch, and grow yourself some fresh produce? The use of hard decking or paving in conjunction with large terra cotta pots and large plants will give the place a sophisticated yet still verdant feeling. This is prefect if the soil beneath is not of optimum planting condition, or you simply want a more sturdy place to relax! You should find that landscaping with garden design services yields a great number of ideas!

For some more great information about yard care check out this website: https://www.experteasy.com.au/lawn-mowing-and-lawn-care