Homeowner sparks backlash after sharing photos of questionable landscaping project: 'That's a double thumbs down'

A Redditor was feeling pretty good about their yard upgrade until they shared it with the community at r/landscaping and got an earful in the comments. 

"Is artificial grass cheating?" the original poster wrote. "I'm pretty happy with the results. First time having artificial grass and the no mess around the pool is nice."

Plastic turf isn't so much cheating as it is a headache in the long haul. For starters, artificial lawns get unbelievably hot in direct sun. That heat can accelerate the breakdown of the material, releasing "forever chemicals" into soil and groundwater. 

Fake lawns are even worse for pet owners, as the smell of animal waste clings to the plastic. 

Many homeowners hope these fake lawns will prevent the need to deal with weeds. Tragically, weeds easily break through artificial turf and become challenging to remove when entangled with the plastic. 

Upgrading your yard properly entails a little bit of work but produces much better results than trying to roll plastic carpet over your property. Native ground cover is a proven alternative to grass, for example. These species evolved for the local climate, which makes them drought-resistant. That translates into less time spent maintaining the yard and less money spent on monthly water bills. 

Supporting an all-natural yard has the added benefit of promoting local biodiversity. This is especially important for pollinators, which need all the help they can get if they're going to keep propping up human food supply systems. 

The Reddit community was quick to iterate all of the above to the original poster. 

"It's plastic, so that's a double thumbs down. Yuck," one commenter wrote. 

"It's not for me and I would never want that much plastic that will forever contaminate my property," another replied.

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