Terry Wood almost chortles when he talks about the artificial grass on his front lawn, which he has had for a year. “I got sick and tired of mowing grass even though we probably had one of the best-kept lawns in the area.
Terry Wood almost chortles when he talks about the artificial grass on his front lawn, which he has had for a year.
“I got sick and tired of mowing grass even though we probably had one of the best-kept lawns in the area. Now I smile every time I see the neighbours out with their lawn mowers,” said Wood, who lives in Kingswood.
Wood kept his own mower because he still has to cut the grass on the city-owned front boulevard, but his regular lawn maintenance duties are drastically reduced. Even cleaning up the dropped fruit from an ornamental crab tree or last fall’s leaves didn’t cause any problems.
“There’s nothing to it. I have this little rake-like broom and it does an excellent job,” Wood said.
This spring, one of the first green patches of grass anywhere in St. Albert was the turf in front of St. Albert Place. Touch it and it feels almost real with only a hint of a synthetic quality to it. That patch of phony grass is green now in April when everyone else’s lawn is still brown. No matter how dry the summer is this year that turf will still appear green.
“That turf in front of St. Albert Place was put there because of the farmers’ market. Before they had to change the sod every year because it got so trampled,” said Gary Selanders, owner of Evergreen Turf, the company that installed it, as well as the turf in Wood’s front yard.
Selanders explained that the turf is made of a polyethylene fibre and every fibre has a spine in it.
“It’s that spine in the fibre that makes it spring back. When the snow melts in the spring, the turf bounces back and looks and feels real. I’ve had people drive up and ask me if the grass is real. Even after they touch it, they ask if it’s real,” Selanders said, as he also explained that a layer of sand helps to make the fibres stand upright at the same time as it provides weight and holds the turf in place.
Selanders has artificial turf in front of his own Sherwood Park home and says that because it is slightly warmer than real grass, his yard shows up green before any of his neighbours’ lawns do. It also dries more quickly.
“Before the snow last week, I was out there in my socks,” he said, adding, “There are no puddles. Even after all that snow, there were no puddles because it’s installed on a gravel base so that helps with drainage.”
The green quality of the lawn is an obvious plus, but for many people the biggest attraction is that it no longer requires upkeep.
“Time is the biggest thing. No more applying pesticides or mowing the grass. No more watering,” said Andre de Champlain, whose company Perfect Turf is based out of his St. Albert-area acreage.
De Champlain also believes that people like the turf because it is environmentally friendly.
“It’s made of material that is recyclable. It has a life expectancy of 25 years. You don’t need to fertilize it or kill the weeds or bugs,” De Champlain said.
Wood wonders if there isn’t a flip side that true environmentalists might question.
“Lawn mowers are dirty and emit poisons into the air. On the other hand, without grass, you aren’t putting any of the good things like oxygen back into the air either. I wonder if it isn’t a saw off,” Wood said.
Sports friendly
The artificial turf fibres come in different lengths so they can be left long to resemble a very lush lawn but can also be as short as a putting green.
The artificial grass may butt up against flowerbeds or other real grass lawns. Homeowners may choose to chip off real grass onto their artificial golf green, but they can also chip off the turf because it won’t rip or gouge.
The fibres are available in a range of green shades and many of the new turf varieties have brown thatch in them as well to give a more natural appearance. Depending upon the style and variety, most turfs cost between $8 and $12 a square foot.
“There is no doubt it is more expensive for the initial outlay. But if you take that cost and average it out over 25 years and all the costs of fertilizer, water and mowing, there’s a savings,” Wood said.
The turf is pet friendly and it’s especially friendly towards their owners, because although wastes will always need to be cleaned up, they won’t stain the turf and there are no brown patches after the winter is over.
“The urine will wash off in the drainage system and if need be, you just hose it off to clean it in the spring,” said De Champlain.
