Green is the grass.

I never thought that the day would come when I would sing the praises of artificial grass. Yet a few short weeks after installing a patch of grass in my tiny front garden, I realise that I should have done this years ago.

After 17 years of struggling to get a decent patch of lawn to grow, to no avail, now I have a gorgeous green carpet to lie upon. The dogs love it, the birds are just as happy eating their kitchen scraps off this lawn and the insects, beetles and butterflies are still abundant in the surrounding garden.

In fact, as soon as you stop thinking of artificial grass as a lawn and start thinking of it as simply another element in the garden, such as a deck or paving or outdoor furniture, then the horror of an artificial medium disappears. Instead of high maintenance grass with low environmental benefit, I simply have a luscious, soft surface to lie upon, while the rest of the real garden pops out in all its glory!

So I wholeheartedly recommend artificial grass. But while you are covering up your old lawn, remember to substitute this with additional plants in your garden. Trees, fruiting or other, are always good, native plants are stunning when used judiciously, in fact, any plant is great!

Of course, if you haven’t got the space, look at your vertical surfaces. These are valuable and under-utilised planting spaces.

So don’t feel bad about a little green carpet in the garden, just remember to pay attention to the bits that matter, your real garden!

Leigh Nicholson