Lifestyle 1k
Added by: Shropshire Mums on Wed Aug 11 15:42 2021
Over the past 18 months we have all probably made more use of our gardens more than ever. Not all of us are fortunate to have huge spaces and it can be a very difficult tiring task trying to maintain a lovely lush lawn while the kids are also trying to use it as their play space.
We wanted to try and find a way of creating a lovely lush looking garden that would be usable by the kids in pretty much all weather and wouldn't get churned up leaving bald patches that we seemed to constantly spend a fortune trying to patch over.
We joined forces with Easigrass to take a look at just how easy our ideas would be to put into action as a DIY project and some fantastic garden toys and activities to fill our space with.
As you can see the space allocated had been well used by the children and was already been pretty churned up and trashed.
STAGE 1
The first step was to choose which of the Easigrass range suited our requirements. Easigrass have a good range not too large but large enough to pretty much provide for all requirements. Sample tiles of the range can be sent out free of charge allowing you to get a real feel for the look and feel of the product. In this case we wanted a grass that would match our real lawn just the other side of the path and so we decided on the longer pile, more ornate beautiful , natural looking, child and pet friendly Belgravia which matched in with our existing real lawn niceley. The professional advice is that the shorter pile products are more suited to children's play areas, however we opted for the Belgravia for the purpose of matching the lawn on the opposite side. Once we made our decision, our cut to size top quality Easigrass Belgravia lawn covering was delivered within days.
STEP 2
This is where the hard work starts... preparing the ground. We started by digging out the designated area by aprox the 40mm grass height plus an extra inch roughly all over the space required. We then edged the space with a wooden box frame sitting at 40mm below the grass height required that would be level with the sand infill. We then covered the area with anti weed sheet material again available from Easigrass or any good builders merchants or garden centre and lightly pegged this in place.
STEP 3
We then filled in the box frame area covering the anti weed material with sharp sand level with the box frame. Sharp sand can again be purchased from a local builders merchant.
We compacted the sand down using a whacker plate which we hired from a local tool hire company at a cost of around £35 for the day.
Once we were happy the sand had been compacted and levelled enough to provide a flat sturdy base it was time for the exciting part...... LAYING OUR NEW EASIGRASS SURFACE!
STEP 4
This was the best part, literally rolling out our new lawn like rolling out a new rug!! It literally was as simple as that, position the Easigrass over the prepared surface and cut it roughly to size leaving a small overhang at the sides. We found having a good walk around on the surface and pushing into place helped level and settle the surface into place ready for the final trimming of the edges. We then trimmed the edges to the correct size covering the wooden frame where we then secured the Easigrass to the box frame using decking screws.
STEP 5
We brushed and brushed and brushed our new surface and then brushed some more in order to fluff up the beautiful natural looking pile. The final step was to sprinkle the surface with a good layer of fine silicoln sand which we then brushed into the surface so it settled deep within the base of the surface providing a more natural looking finish and also helping to keep the surface in place and aid with drainage.
VOILA.....
Our beautiful new all weather artificial play space was now ready to accessorise. Whilst we completed this project as a DIY project we should point out professional Easigrass installation services are available throughout the UK should you prefer to have someone do the work for you.
Our beautiful new lawn has been in situ for the past month during which we have encountered every kind of weather you can imagine from a 28 degree heatwave to a horrendous storm being lashed with heavy rainfall, hail, thunder and lightening and the kids have not once been unable to play on the surface. It drains beautifully, dries quickly, never gets muddy and boggy and still looks as beautiful as the day it was laid.
When the kids have been sloshing mud around from the mid kitchen I simply give it a quick hose down and a brush and its lovely and clean in no time.
We originally chose to use the surface on just a section of the garden for the children as we have always maintained we love a natural lawn, however from the moment we laid the Easigrass we all agreed we wished we have covered the entire lawn with the surface. We were amazed at just how beautiful the Easigrass looked and felt and yet it still looked amazingly natural and felt beautifully soft under barefoot.
The best bit.... NO NEED TO MOW IT, WEED IT OR MAINTAIN IT.... More time to enjoy it.
Here at Shropshire Mums we are total Easigrass converts and cannot recommend it highly enough!!!
Check out our Garden accessory and toy reviews below for some great suggestions to add to your child friendly garden...
Read our review on HYDRO CLASH ELITE WATER BATTLE FUN (shropshiremums.com)
