The green, green, grass of home

Janice Anderssen

Over the past few months my little patch of green has had to suffer extreme heat, torrential rains and poor drainage that has resulted in the grass being almost obliterated! And that’s not to mention the fact that my garden has a lot of shade and I have battled to findagrassthatwillgrow-I’veeventriedall the different types of grass without success.

Artificial grass has been around for a long time and ongoing development has resulted in a product of outstanding quality and durability. The new synthetic lawn can not even be compared to the product of yesterday. Assured of a quality guarantee and an outstanding product here’s how to transform any garden into a garden that is green all year round, does not require sun, shade or water, and is virtually maintenance free!

 Installing GardenGrass as a DIY project is a simple process and is easily tackled in a weekend.

1. Preparing the site
A level site is required for installation and you need to remove all existing grass, plants and stones from the area. Turn the top layer of soil with a garden fork to loosen any stones and then level with a garden rake, removing small stones in the process. To finishoff,thislayerneedstobecompacted, preferably with a vibration plate that you can hire for the day.

2. Laying the subsoil
According to the installation instructions on the www.GardenGrass.co.za website, the subsoil has to be flat,stable,well condensed and preferably porous. As a rule, suitable road-metal, lava stone or sand, concrete tiles and/or stones are very good materials. For this project we used building sand, which is readily available and affordable. Spread the sand evenly over the entire area.

3. Putting down GardenGrass
Position the roll of GardenGrass at one end of the lawn and slowly unroll. You will need an extra pair of hands with this step to ensure that the GardenGrass is unrolled evenly. Leave the grass to settle for approximately an hour. As the GardenGrass settles the grass will spring up and the carpet settle nicely on top of the sand.

Note: If the area is wider than the width of a single roll, joining is done by means of carpet tape and adhesive (both supplied) and a sharp Stanley or craft knife. Full installation instructions are supplied on the www.GardenGrass.co.za website.

4. Cutting to fit
You can use a Stanley or craft knife to cut the GardenGrass to fi tin with existing areas.

You can view the entire project in the May issue of www.Home-Dzine-Online.co.za