Lawns -
I have seen the rise of artificial grass whilst at the same time preparing natural grass sports pitches.
Being qualified to level HNID in amenity horticulture, my main focus at college was the care of football and rugby pitches. A thankless job in the UK! Working initially for Welwyn parish council, I ensured success in the Hertfordshire’s best village competition, most years! Making sure the gardens and grounds were kept tidy and trimmed was par for the course. Feeding the grass and providing stripped lush lawns has always been the key to winning! Its not all roses though as preparing sports pitches that were overused to the point of the grass being just mud on the surface was a downside.
This is why I understood how beneficial synthetic grass could be in certain circumstances.
I never for one second saw them as being used for peoples back gardens though!. Back then the artificial grasses were quite coarse and meant for sports only. Early on I saw potential for them being used for golf greens however. It must have been around 1990 when I chatted to some tennis court installers/ renovators at Welwyn tennis club. As they were pulling up the old ‘astro’ turf they asked if I wanted some. I took some and off the cuff said ill make an artificial putting green from it. They had not heard of it used for this, but said it should work perfectly well. I kept the turf aside in the council garage until eventually the gardener at the cemetery upon viewing it saw it and asked for some. I was only a young lad and obliged. Eventually he took the whole lot to line graves! Still I never forgot and kept this in the memory bank. Years later I worked at Mill green golf course in Welwyn Garden City.
Caring for the Natural grass pitch and putt course gave me an insight into site specific needs.
I enjoyed working on the golf course and got my NVQ level 3 and spraying certificates whilst there. I was being trained to be in line for a Head Greenkeepers job but I always enjoyed moving around, working at different places. And so, From here I went on to work at a private school in St Albans. Whilst working there I became a self employed landscaper, taking on another worker and branching out, doing private work whilst also caring for the schools grounds. At this time I also reignited the fake grass putting green idea. I became we and we done a around ten greens for various customers but it seemed a bit of a tie up with all main golf courses using the same few companies, whilst there didn’t seem enough interest in the private market to make it worthwhile. And so I moved on to do Mini golf which was a bit niche at the time. I was ahead of the curve on the rise of the artificial lawn installations, but generally reluctant to go the whole hog so to speak. You see I’ve always had a love of the natural grass more but can see the the benefit of fake grass . So as I stand now, as I did then, I offer both surfaces and can weigh up the merits depending on the environment and usage.
We have a special focus on Natural vs Artificial so be sure to check that out if you are undecided.
Mob: 07986 563405
Tel: 01707 883245 -
Hertfordshire
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