Fall is a turbulent time for a lawn with large swings in temperature and highly variable weather conditions, depending on where you live. It can also be a period that requires frequently lawn cutting due to increased rainfall and more moderate temperatures.

Fall Is An Onslaught For Natural Grass

The accumulation of leaves and other debris during the fall can be destructive to natural grass. If you have deciduous trees on your property, the leaves can pile up quickly this time of year covering your lawn. Grass needs sunlight to survive and if leaves cover it, it will die.

A dead lawn can be a real eye sore. With synthetic grass, you will have a beautiful, perfectly green lawn 365 days a year. Today’s surfaces have all the look and feel of a well-manicured natural lawn. They also drain quickly usually not allowing puddles to form.

A Huge Time Saver

Imagine the amount of time you will save. Having an artificial lawn will allow more time to enjoy football games, fall foliage trips, visits to the pumpkin patch, Halloween festivities, Thanksgiving, Christmas shopping, Christmas decorating, and all your other favorite activities this fall.

When you have artificial grass, you no longer have to worry about cutting, trimming, edging, weeding, fertilizing, or aerating your lawn. A quality product and installation will allow the surface to need minimal maintenance and be durable lasting for more than a decade.

An Investment For Your Home

Having the look of a perfectly manicured lawn can add up to 20% to a home’s value so buying synthetic grass can also make sense financially. You can have artificial grass installed around your trees and shrubs. It blends in with vegetation very well and looks more realistic than ever before.

So fall is a great time to buy synthetic grass. Some artificial grass companies offer homeowners free estimates so there is no obligation.

Below are 8 ways to save money on lawn maintenance costs:

1. Use a rain barrel to capture water coming out of your gutter downspouts. This can save you a significant amount of money on water costs as you can reuse the captured water to hydrate your lawn, flowers, and shrubs. But beware as in some states this is not legal due to water rights. Check the laws in your local jurisdiction to ensure you are in compliance with the laws.

2. Be proactive and tend to your lawn. Eliminate weeds, moss, and fungus from your lawn quickly before they takeover. This can save you a lot of time, headache, and expense down the road. Also be sure not to cut your grass too short as this can damage it and make it susceptible to sun damage to the roots.

3. Keep top soil and grass seeds on hand to fill in dead areas. This can allow you to have grass regrow more quickly rather than having something you don’t want take over.

4. If you mow your own lawn, keep your tools and equipment sharp, maintained, lubricated, and in good working order. In this way, they will last longer and you will get more value for your money.

5. Aerate your lawn. Aerating helps loosen up the soil and allows fertilizers to get into the roots more easily and help them grow. This can keep your lawn healthier.

6. Don’t leave objects lying on the grass. Whether it is potted plants, hoses, chairs, trailers, cars, or any other object, all will kill your grass as it will not receive any sunlight in the unexposed areas.

7. Rent or buy your own tools and equipment and do not use lawn care service businesses. By hiring a company to perform lawn services, you will likely be spending hundreds, if not thousands of dollars each year.

8. Consider having a synthetic lawn. Despite the upfront costs, today’s technologies allow artificial grass to have the near look and feel of a beautiful, perfectly manicured green lawn and should last for more than a decade.

Synthetic lawns can be self-installed and can make a lot of sense, especially for smaller areas where you want grass but don’t want to have to maintain it all the time. Wholesale club stores such as Costco and Sam’s Club sell high quality products at a relatively affordable price or you can have it professionally installed. When you factor in maintenance time and costs, tool and equipment costs, and watering costs, artificial grass can save you money over time and provide you with more time for activities you enjoy doing.

Pregra is a synthetic lawn manufacturer that raises the bar in terms of the look and feel and quality of these products. The Pregra Multi Blade System Series has dual color Monofilament blades combined with others to give each blade a slight variation in color, dimension, and texture. With its lush, dark green color, Pregra’s products look so real that it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell its artificial grass.

Example of a Synthetic Lawn

Pregra’s synthetic grass has a 100% polyethylene fiber system that is nylon free and made in the U.S. Pregra offers artificial grass in varying quality grades and pre-cut as dog runs. The product is durable and will last for years in all conditions – rain, snow, and sun. Artificial grass can be professionally installed or self-installed with sand and rubber typically being used as infill.

Like all synthetic lawns, one of the great benefits is virtually no maintenance. There is no mowing, trimming, fertilizing, pesticides, or watering needed. If you live in an area with drought, high water bills, have difficult growing conditions, or you just do not want to maintain your lawn on a regular basis, having an artificial lawn makes a lot of sense. Your kids and pets will love it, and you will too.

Costco sells the product in many of its stores seasonally and online at Costco.com. Costco sells some Pregra products exclusively. Costco’s website has all the specific product information and user reviews. Its website requires a 150 square foot minimum purchase for many of the Pregra products. Tutorials on installation and more product information can be found at the Pregra.com Web site.

According to the Observer – Reporter local newspaper, a new baseball field in Western Pennsylvania has no dirt.  Instead, it uses artificial dirt.  At Consol Energy Park, a product called ProGrass Synthetic Turf was installed.

Many school, college, and professional sports fields use synthetic grass for their baseball field playing surfaces (although some may only use it for the infield. But dirt is still typically used around home plate and other areas of the infield between the bases and the pitcher’s mound.  Well-groomed dirt is great for sliding but can become a muddy mess when wet, leading to rain outs and cancellations.

The “dirt” used at Consol Energy Park is pellet-based field turf with dirt-brown color.  It has a different consistency than artificial grass and is designed to replicate the look and feel of real dirt. 

There are many benefits to artificial dirt. It is designed to drain quickly without puddles and there is no mud.  When you have a field with both artificial grass and artificial dirt, there would likely only be cancellations or delays in play during heavy rainstorms.

Another benefit is that the batter’s box and base lines do not have to chalked as the turf has built in white field turf for these areas.  Thus, it never needs rechalking and there is no question whether or not a batter is in the batter box. 

Artificial dirt fields may also be safer as combined with artificial grass, players will have no need for metal spiked cleats and can use safer plastic cleats instead.

Artificial turf has made significant technological advances in its use over the past decade expanding to a variety of different types of surfaces.  Could this new artificial dirt be the next big trend?  We will have to wait and see how it performs and how players receive it.  Based on the largely positive response to new synthetic turf fields, it is likely the response will be favorable.

Spring is a time of year when rapid growth occurs.  Some lawns can literally grow inches in a week with optimal conditions.  This makes keeping up with your lawn difficult and time consuming.  Literally hours every week can be spent mowing, trimming, and edging your lawn.  Fertilizing may also be done to have it get off to a strong start and keep it healthy. 

A Home With Artificial Grass

For this reason and others, spring is a great time to buy artificial grass.  Imagine all the time that can be saved, allowing you to enjoy this wonderful time of year without having to dedicate hours of your week to your lawn.  Instead of mowing your lawn, you could be out playing sports, hiking, going to baseball games, shopping, or barbecuing. 

With artificial grass, you can have a beautiful, green, perfectly manicured lawn 365 days a year without spending any time maintaining it.  You can still get all the beauty and enjoyment of a well-kept natural grass lawn such as being able to kick the ball, play catch, take the dog out, and feeling the comfort of it on your bare feet, without sacrificing aesthetics or usefulness.  The realism of today’s artificial lawns literally need to been seen to be believed.  Having a synthetic lawn is also a huge time saver and you can save big on maintenance and water costs. 

Spring is a great time to buy artificial grass.  Prices may be lower than you might think.  You can get a head start on your lawn’s rapid growth and free up time for fun activities this spring and summer.  Then you can truly enjoy the beauty of spring! 

The synthetic grass installation process clears all existing vegetation you’re your lawn area so you will never have to worry about moss, weeds, dead spots, or animals digging through your lawn ever again.  For more information, see our article comparing artificial grass vs. natural grass.