Looking Forward To The Promise Of Summer

According to Ewen McCallum, Chief Meteorologist at the UK's Met Office, a warmer than average summer awaits us here in Britain and rainfall is likely to be near or possibly even below average. In his statement at the end of April Mr. McCallum went on to say:

" We can expect times when temperatures will be above 30 °C, something we hardly saw at all last year."

So it seems that a wet summer as we had to endure last year and the year before here in Britain is not on the cards. Sounds great! If they are right, however, does that really bode well for British gardens?

On the face of it you would think so ... heavy rain can make a mud bath of children's play areas and lawns and seriously restrict the amount of time people are able to spend in their gardens. Fewer barbecues, fewer outdoor parties and celebrations, the list goes on. So a warmer, drier than average summer would appear to be great all round. However, look more deeply and you will find a counter-balance of negatives. If rainfall is lower than average and we get temperatures above 30 °C as the Met Office predicts, then we could face water shortages.

In the past, summer water shortages in Britain have led to hosepipe bans and that is when our gardens and lawns can seriously suffer. A luscious lawn or soft, grassy children's play area becomes hardened, dried out and yellowed - far from ideal when the sun is shining and you and your family want to be outdoors enjoying the garden. The solution? Artificial grass.

With an artificial lawn or artificial play grass area, the colour and texture are consistent come rain or shine so hosepipe bans are immaterial. Moreover, if the Met Office experts get it wrong and it pours with rain this summer, you will be even happier you installed artificial grass because once the sun is out again and everyone else is facing a mud bath when using their lawn, you won't!

So if you have not yet ordered your artificial grass for this summer, think again. It might just be worth working out how much more time you and your family will be able to enjoy the garden, come rain or sunshine!

Useful links for further reading:

The Met Office Summer Forecast for 2009

More about the advantages of artificial grass

Making Artificial Grass - The British Way

How artificial grass is made is something of an enigma to most people and this is where we, as the UK's premier artifical grass manufacturer, can help de-mystify the process.

Our artificial grass factory is the oldest in Britain and our grass products have been used in just about every sphere of activity - from sports applications to people's back gardens and children's play areas to display purposes in supermarkets, grocery stores and trade fairs/exhibitions. So we know the product inside out.

Manufacturing artificial grass involves a number of specially trained staff all of whom have their own specific tasks in the production process. Essentially, manufacturing artificial grass splits into 3 key stages - the tufting operation (weaving of the grass carpet), the backing plant operation and the inspection process. Quality control checks play an important role in our manufacturing and we employ stringent and detailed checks throughout the process, using only top quality yarn, primary backing and latex.

The Tufting Operation
The collector board feeds the yarn through threading bars and yarn detectors down to the needles where it is stitched into the primary backing. As the tufted primary backing comes off the machine (having been checked by factory inspection staff), it goes through a lapping frame to be lap folded into lapping barrows. Lap folding is important as it helps preserve the quality of the tufting - rolling the product up at this stage would risk pile distortion or damage to the backing stitches.

The Backing Plant Operation
The tufted primary backing is transported to the backing plant in rubber wheeled, lapping barrows where it undergoes 'tip to tail sewing'. The latex coating is applied to the finished, tufted material and a special scraping blade (aka doctor blade) scrapes off the latex ensuring the correct weight per square metre. The product then goes into the ovens for curing and, once out of the ovens, is fed into the perforation unit. This is where the draining holes are punched into the material and then the final product goes to the accumulator. This allows the grass carpet to be stored whilst re-rolling and further inspection is carried out.

More detailed information on the manufacturing and inspection procedures we adopt in the manufacture of our artificial grass products can be found here.

We also have our own, specially produced video of how artificial grass is manfuactured.

Boarding Kennels Grass

Britain is known to be a nation of pet lovers and millions of households have a pet dog. Going on holiday and taking one's dog along may be getting easier with dog friendly hotels on the increase, but travelling overseas is another matter. This is when many families who don't have friends and relatives that they can leave their dog with to be looked after whilst they're away, have to turn to boarding kennels. Thankfully, there are many boarding kennels in Britain and the facilities they offer are of a high standard.

One of the most important areas in boarding kennels is the dog exercise area where your dog can be allowed to run and play, enjoying fresh air and crucial exercise. However, British weather being what it is with its regular rainfall, dog runs can be rendered slippy and nothing short of a mud bath. Inevitably, therefore, there are many days in the calendar when boarding kennels simply cannot let the dogs get their exercise.

This is where artificial grass really comes into its own and can offer kennel owners a real solution and the dog owners peace of mind. Our installation team recently installed an artificial grass play area for dogs at boarding kennels in Horsham. The owners were tired of the mud problems they had to endure and as part of their desire to improve the quality of facilities for dogs boarded there, they approached Artificial Grass Ltd to see if we could help. It's been a real success story and you can read more about it on our boarding kennel grass installation page.

Is Artificial Grass As Good As Grass?

Every day our artificial grass sales team deals with enquiries and orders for our artificial grass products. One of the most common questions we are asked is whether artificial grass is as good as grass. So we thought we would dedicate this blog article to the subject and demonstrate how it's not only as good as grass but, in many ways, is much better.

Artificial grass offers a whole range of advantages - here are just a few:

• Saving time that would otherwise be spent on mowing the lawn


• Saving money:
  a) by not having to use pesticides and lawn improvement products
  b) if you're on a water meter, you won't have to water the lawn in hot weather


• Helping the environment:
  a) by using less water in the garden - it has been estimated that in the summer, around 3/4 of the UK's residential water is used on people's lawns
  b) pesticides can be damaging to the environment so best to avoid them
  c) grass cuttings contribute to air pollution - according to Australian scientists, the moment you cut your grass, an antibiotic type gas is released contributing to the hydrocarbons in the surrounding air.
  Read more about "Grass Gas"
  We also have our own page Environmental Benefits Of Artificial Grass
  
• A strong, "all year round green" is offered by artificial grass because, unlike real grass, it does not go yellow and discolour in hot weather, nor does it go brown and muddy after a lot of rain


• Artificial grass is easier to keep clean and maintain where pets are concerned - real grass areas can suffer serious degradation by pets
  

Whatever the application you're considering for your artificial grass - at home for a play area, an artificial lawn, a pathway or as grass carpet around a swimming pool or perhaps in the commercial sector as display grass for an exhibition area - the advantages are considerable. If you don't believe us, read some of our customer testimonials - see our page: "Is Artificial Grass As Good As Grass"

Shock Pad For Artificial Grass Play Areas

Artificial grass is a popular choice for outdoor play areas whether in schools, nurseries or just in the back garden at home. The reason it is popular is quite simple - artificial grass offers many benefits.

Here are the main benefits of artificial or fake grass for play areas:

• the play area will be green all year round
• no risk of muddy patches after a period of rain
• the area will be usable for longer

Considering having a play area means you also have to look at safety aspects. The combination of our Lifestyle® Shock Pad (interlocking foam pads that go underneath the artificial grass) in conjunction with our Lifestyle® Play Grass is what we recommend as the best solution for an artificial grass play area. This will offer a Critical Fall Height of 1.2m which meets BS EN 1177 (British Standards).

At a time when parents and schools are being urged to ensure their children enjoy sufficient physical activity to stay healthy, using artificial grass in this way can be a positive boon. The enquiries we receive for play area grass are certainly on the increase and it's looking like more people than ever before will make this choice during 2008. If you are thinking of such a choice but have some questions, please email us or call our Customer Service Department or on our UK Freephone of 0800 6521281.