You’ve made the decision, chosen your artificial grass, and had your faux lawn laid. It looks beautiful and fresh now, but how do you keep it looking in top condition for years to come? It’s easy. Although artificial grass isn’t a no maintenance solution, it is low maintenance. So all you have to do is follow this simple guide then sit back and enjoy your beautiful garden.

Brush the Lawn

If you don’t look after your lawn, over time the grass will start to look trampled and flattened, especially in areas you regularly use. To prevent this and to keep your grass upright and looking natural, we recommend regularly (every week or two) brushing your lawn. Use a stiff (but not sharp), natural bristle broom and brush your lawn in a range of directions to fluff up your faux grass, creating that fresh and real grass look.

Hose the Lawn

As well as flattening of the grass, another issue that can arise if you don’t properly care for your lawn is that your grass can get dirty. Over time, especially throughout the summer when you’re using your lawn more often, surface level dirt can build up making your lawn look old and unkempt. Hosing down your lawn every 3-4 weeks will help to remove this dirt, restoring the natural colour and fresh look of your lawn.

Remove Weeds

Although artificial grass is made to prevent weeds, it can’t prevent 100% of weeds. Whether a strong weed pops up through your artificial lawn or whether weeds grow from airborne seeds that have landed on your lawn, weed killer can be used to deal with those unwanted plants. However, it is important to only use water based weed killer on your lawn, preferably a weed killer that is specifically for artificial grass. If you risk a non water based weed killer, you are risking permanently damaging the grass material.

But you don’t have to wait for weeds to pop up before treating the problem. Protect your lawn from weeds before they become an issue by doing a full cover of your artificial grass with water based weed killer twice a year. Ensure you follow the packaging instructions on the weed killer and are careful when using the product in an area used by pets or children.

Remove Fallen Debris

One of the main causes of damage to artificial lawns is fallen debris. This is usually fallen leaves but can include fallen fruit and branches. Leaving this debris on your lawn can encourage weeds to grow and can prevent the drainage system from working correctly. It’s easy to avoid this issue by keeping on top of clearing debris from your grass. Although this can sound time-consuming, if you’ve got the right tools, it can be really quick and easy. Handheld or long handled leaf grabbers are one option for easily clearing debris. But if you want something even easier, we recommend using a leaf blower or leaf vacuum. It’d also be useful to keep trees and bushes trimmed to prevent fallen debris in the first place.

Stain Removal

Unlike real grass which will grow out, if you drop something on your artificial lawn, it can leave a stain. But not to worry, we’re all a bit clumsy sometimes and artificial grass is usually easy to clean. All you need is some warm water, some soap (like washing up liquid), and a sponge, cloth, or brush. This should remove most marks on your grass. But if you have a more stubborn stain that needs something a bit stronger, you can purchase products specifically for removing stains on artificial grass. An old toothbrush can also be used to help brush away stubborn stains.

Pets

When you have a pet, installing an artificial lawn can be of great benefit. No more muddy paws traipsing dirt around your house, no more grass discoloration from dog urine, and no more holes dotted around your lawn dug up by your mutt. But how do you manage artificial grass in relation to pet waste?

Artificial grass is permeable to allow liquids to drain through the grass and into the ground underneath. This includes any liquids from rain and water from a water fight on a summer's day to melting snow and pet urine. Like pet urine, dog mess also isn’t a problem for artificial grass. Simply pick up the mess as soon as possible and wash down the area.

In pet households, we also recommend hosing your lawn more regularly to stop odours from developing and to keep the grass as fresh as possible.

Snow

It’s likely that at some point throughout the winter months your faux lawn is going to come into contact with ice and snow. When dealt with properly, ice and snow shouldn’t cause any damage to your lawn. So what is the best way to deal with this weather? The best thing you can do is nothing. Let the ice and snow melt naturally and the water drain through your artificial grass. We know it can be tempting to go out and shovel the snow off your lawn but this can cause permanent damage to the grass material. If you really need to remove the snow from your lawn, use a snow shovel to gently remove the top layer of snow, leaving a thin layer of snow on the turf which can then be gently brushed off.

Heat

If artificial grass comes into contact with high temperatures, your lawn can melt, causing permanent damage and ultimately ruining your garden. To avoid any accidents or any stray sparks or hot particles falling onto your grass, you shouldn’t use barbecues, fire pits, bonfires, or fireworks near your faux lawn. Smoking should also be avoided near your grass as hot cigarettes can also melt holes in your lawn.

Other heat sources to avoid as they can also cause heat damage to your grass is recently used, hot machinery. Motorised tools like chainsaws and hedge trimmers often heat up with long use. The heat from placing these tools down on your lawn can cause the grass below the machine to melt.

Things to Avoid

• Don’t allow sharp objects (like stilettos, studded football boots, and broken glass) on the grass. These objects can cause holes and rip the artificial grass.
• Be careful when using garden mirrors or other reflective surfaces around your lawn. The reflection of the sun rays on these surfaces can cause holes to be burnt into your grass.
• Although picking blades of grass is fun for children and usually harmless, letting your little ones pick blades of artificial grass will leave your lawn looking bare as the grass will not grow back.
• Ideally you’d prefer to have no spills on your lawn, but some things should be avoided more than others. For example, sticky spills like dropping chewing gum on your grass is harder to clean.