SaddleSore

My poor, poor lawn. It was so nice and green at one time. Then we got play equipment.

Now there are huge, bare, brown patches on it where the sun doesn't reach. Poor lawn, I feel sorry for it.

Do you move your stuff ever to stop this, or just suck it up?

Estelle

I feel your pain, we have large dead spots too. Once the kids are grown up and the stuff is got rid of, we'll just seed the area and start again. It's no big deal.

Aintree

I was reading today about the wonders of fake turf! Not such a new concept, I know, but apparently the design-flaws of the stuff that was originally used in the 80s has been refined. They bought out fake turf for football clubs etc so that the players no longer had to worry about playing on muddy pitches - bless - but the fake turf proved a little troublesome because the man-made fiber of the turf was notorious for causing burns on players going in for slide tackles.

Now the low-maintenance turf is becoming very popular with ordinary households so you no longer need a lawn mower - just a hoover!

In the UK, this man-made turf starts at around £12.50 ($24) per square meter whilst the most expensive is about £35 ($70)

Just imagine the luxury of not having to wade through the long grass every summer - just a quick hoover and it's done!

dappledear

We normally aim to buy a nice high traffic seed and put some down late fall and again early summer and keep the kids out of the way while it seeds itself. It may not cover perfectly, but it does help. We have moved the equipment a couple times, but not usually as its a pain.

SaddleSore

What a wonderful idea Aintree-thank you, I would not have thought of faking it around the play stuff. I will check into pricing and how realistic the stuff is, as come summer time and the normal drought I don't want patches of green in a sea of brown!

flatback_frannie

We've resigned to the fact that our lawn just looks bad, but hey, at least the neighbors know we aren't using chemicals or breaking the watering ban!

I don't like the fake turf. That stuff is wicked when you fall on it, like Aintree said. And what good is soccer with no mud! That's half the fun.

Estelle

Well honestly the sun baked mud is pretty evil too. It's like concrete here in the middle of summer and I wouldn't like the idea of falling hard on it, on a knee or noggin

SaddleSore

It's the same here-we don't have any grass to speak of beyond about mid June. When there is a rain storm, suddenly we'll have a week or so of green, and then it's dead again.

bitsandbridles

I feel your pain! Sometimes I get out my son's inflatable pool and put it on the grass. My husband gets all irritated if it stays on the grass more than a couple days because the grass starts dying.

maro

I don't have anything that will cause dead spots unless you count my dogs pen area. He can roam free during most all times but when there is company over for a BBQ or anything we need to pen him up so he doesnt trample over the little kids.