It's a tough time for homebuyers in the United Kingdom housing market, and artificial turf lawns are making it even harder for some.
"Trying to buy a house with a garden but they're all astro or paved," a Redditor wrote. "That is not a garden, that is what we call [ruined].
"Where have all the lovely actual grass gardens gone, just makes finding a home even more difficult."
The post, from last year, prompted many sympathetic users to give their advice.
"I agree with you," one stated. "I want an actual garden that I can do things with when I finally get to buy, and so many houses are just permanently ruined like this and it really limits your choice. ... It's sad seeing f****** concrete and tarmac 'gardens' which would be extremely difficult and costly to restore."
Another said: "Just keep looking mate!"
This Redditor noted they were house hunting for nine months and found almost nothing but patios, concrete, and plastic grass. Their patience paid off when they found a home with a mature garden, established willow and apple trees, loganberry and wild strawberry plants, a grape vine, nasturtiums, a pond with frogs, a vegetable patch, and even neighbors with an aviary.
"Yes the house needs a bit of work and we could have got somewhere else for cheaper," they noted, "but not cheap enough to make up for us saving on the landscaping it would have taken to get rid of all the abominable concrete or astroturf we were seeing in every other property!"
Other users pointed out turf's negative effects on the environment.
Those downsides include links to cancer. The plastic-based surface leaks forever chemicals and other toxins into the air, soil, and water, and it creates the urban heat island effect.
Another 2022 post in the r/BritishProblems subreddit — which criticized the practice of installing fake grass for its faux perfection — also revealed how many people despise it.
"[A lawn is] better than astroturf or paving but even a clover lawn where you allow the daisies and the dandelions to grow too is better than a purely grass lawn," one user wrote. "It provides more food for pollinators and is better for the soil underneath too.
"Leaving grass to grow long is better than mowing it too."
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