Garden fakeover
My wife is one of the UK’s 10 million hay fever sufferers and this summer I saw her struggle through what is thought to have been the biggest pollen surge in 50 years. As someone who loves to soak up the sun, she enjoys nothing more than sitting out in the garden but, as 95% of hay fever sufferers are allergic to grass pollen, she spent many hours sitting inside and looking longingly out. I joked about ripping up the lawn and laying down a fake one which on reflection didn’t seem like a silly idea as I am not the world’s keenest gardener anyway. Having done a little bit of research I came across a company in Chichester called LazyLawn who are one of the market leaders in artificial grass. It was LazyLawn that provided the turf for the London 2012 Olympic Village and the garden of the Big Brother house as well as being the first artificial grass brand to ever appear at a Chelsea Flower Show. Their customers also include Amanda Holden, the Cannes Film Festival, Canary Wharf and Rolls Royce so my little patch of Sussex should be no problem at all. Vast improvements to the synthetic materials used for the grass blades and the construction of how segments are weaved together mean artificial grass firms can offer a product that looks as good as natural turf but without the need for heavy maintenance and that sounds good to me. I’m informed that installation in a typical garden just takes a day. They remove the old turf, apply and flatten a layer of aggregate, lay a synthetic layer to restrict weed growth (you don’t want real grass ruining your fake lawn), and then finally put in place the artificial turf. Voila. The green, green grass of home will stay green all year round and won’t need the mower’s attention but best of all it will prevent next summer’s inevitable hay fever sufferance. Presenting this compelling evidence I thought would get a double thumbs up but, despite the pollen, my wife likes grass, real grass (I suspect that she also likes to see me doing garden chores too). She also reminded me that we live in the Sussex countryside, surrounded by fields of pollen-spewing plants and trees so converting our meagre patch would probably make little difference. Even if you don’t have a hay fever sufferer at home you may want to consider giving your garden a fakeover particularly if you have areas that are; often waterlogged, take a heavy pounding from the kids/grandchildren, unable to grow natural grass or if you just hate having to push the mower round every Sunday. For more information go to lazylawn.co.uk By Jason Edge
95% of hay fever sufferers are allergic to grass pollen
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