An artificial lawn can transform the landscape around your property into a truly luxurious, and evergreen beauty. Trees are also an excellent landscape feature with so many benefits outside of just adding to the aesthetics.
Can you have the best of both, or does the fact that you have trees in your garden mean that you cannot install an artificial lawn? Will the artificial grass have any detrimental effect or kill your tree?
These are only among some of the questions frequently asked by property owners with trees in their garden looking to install artificial grass. Some untruths and myths, have no doubt, been going around, but forget all that, here is the real and unadulterated truth.
Artificial Grass Can Be Installed Around Trees
Most people worry about whether or not an artificial lawn is for them if they have a tree (s) in their yard. Will the trees have to go first before you can lay out your synthetic lawn?
A firm no is the simple answer to this question. You will not have to chop down that tree that you have spent so many years taking care of, so that you can install your artificial lawn.
A professional artificial grass installer will know exactly how to go about laying the turf around your tree. With this particular installation project, you may want to avoid going the DIY way.
Among the best practices while at it is ensuring that the turf is not laid up to the trunk. As the tree grows, the trunk may expand, and you wouldn’t want to have to adjust the turf every now and again. The installer will, instead, create a well around the trunk using some mulch or gravel. You can plant some drought-resistant plants in the well that will not take up too much water to add a great contrast against the green of the artificial grass.
The Installation Will Not Kill Your Trees
Artificial grass, unlike its natural turf counterpart, does not need watering. What this means is that your artificial lawn will not be competing with the trees in your garden for water.
The turf has excellent drainage properties, and rainwater will drain through the grass and straight to the tree roots. Your tree will be getting water and nutrients all year round, encouraging healthy growth.
The Artificial Lawn Will Not Cause Your Tree Roots To Overheat
This is a concern for those scorching hot summers. It is, however, not something that you should worry about too much, for two reasons.
First, thanks to advances in the production processes and technology, the artificial grass available in the market today does not get that hot. Secondly, you can always hose down your artificial lawn to cool it off.
Again, if the tree provides enough shade cover for its roots, then you are all covered and don’t have to give a second thought to roots overheating.
It’s Easy To Clean Up The Tree Leaves From Your Artificial Lawn
Trees shed off their leaves, and there is nothing you can do to prevent that. All that you can do is ensure that you clean up after the fact. Leave the leaves lying around and your artificial lawn will look untidy, and people will fault you for not taking better care of it. You should also know that if you let the leaves pile up, they can provide the perfect base for weeds to grow on, which will only go towards making your lawn look not well taken care of and untidy.
That said, cleaning up the leaves that drop on your artificial lawn is quite easy. You can use a rake or leaf blower for this job. You will not need to pay any special attention or do anything out of the ordinary while at it. In autumn, when your trees are shedding off their leaves, you may want to consider doing the raking or blowing every couple of days. Rest assured that it is a quick task that will not take too much out of your time, and you can get on with your plans for the day.
A well-manicured lawn lined with trees and perfectly laid out artificial turf is truly something beautiful to look at and will do a lot to add to your property value. As highlighted, you really can have the best of both worlds. The bottom line is that you should forget the myths you may have heard and keep in mind that there is a place in your lawn for both your natural trees and artificial grass.