What Tools Do I Need to Maintain My Artificial Lawn?
One of the biggest advantages of artificial grass is that it is exceptionally low maintenance compared to natural lawn, but low maintenance doesn’t necessarily mean no maintenance.
There are several items and tools that you should have on hand to keep your lawn looking its absolute best all year round. Luckily, most of these essentials can already be found in your home, and if not, they are exceptionally cheap to pick up compared to items like a lawnmower or a strimmer, which will be needed to maintain real grass.
So, without further ado, here is a brief list of what you will need to look after your artificial grass and keep it looking pristine for years to come.
A Lawn Rake
Regardless of the season, you will probably always find some natural debris making its way onto your lawn; however, unlike a natural lawn, you can’t just leave it to the natural process of decomposition to clear things up.
Keeping a lawn rake handy will be very useful to brush away the excess leaves, twigs, and any other plant-based detritus that lands atop your artificial lawn. As a general rule, you shouldn’t need to sweep the lawn clear of this kind of debris more than once a month at most, but it will depend on how many plants you have surrounding your artificial lawn and how often they shed. Naturally, autumn will see more leafy debris than winter when there are little to no leaves on the foliage, but there may well be other debris like twigs that need to be cleared up with a rake. If your lawn has a lot of surrounding foliage, then a leaf blower could also be a great investment for you!
It is worth keeping in mind that not all rakes are suitable for artificial grass. Do not use one with steel or metal tines, as this could potentially damage the synthetic fibres of the grass. Instead, wooden or plastic options are much more advisable.
A Broom
If your artificial lawn and outdoor space regularly see a lot of foot traffic, you might find the grass could start to look a little flat and tired. The fibres do have a degree of natural spring back and tensile pressure to push them back up again, but even carefully chosen synthetic polymers do have a bending point.
If you want to keep your artificial lawn looking its absolute best, a brush can help. Take a wooden broom (again, like the earlier rake suggestion, metal options could cause more problems than they solve) and sweep in the opposite direction to the artificial grass’ natural grain. The blades will be standing upright again in no time at all. We’d recommend doing this on a monthly basis, but it really depends on how much footfall your lawn sees.
If you’re placing heavy furniture on your artificial grass, it’s worth moving it out and changing its position every now and again so that the blades underneath the furniture can spring back to their natural shape.
A Garden Hose
Although your artificial lawn doesn’t need water to keep it lush and green, this doesn’t mean that it won’t benefit from a thorough clean every once in a while. A rake will get rid of larger debris, but smaller things like dust and pollen from nearby plants will slowly accumulate. To keep the grass as nice and fresh as possible, a gentle spray of water from the hose is ideal. Try to do this once a week for the best results, but you may not need to do it so much in the wet winter weather.
These are just four simple essentials for your artificial lawn that you most likely already have to hand. For more information, please read our guide on cleaning fake grass.
Other Artificial Lawn Tools
Other than the tools listed above, you won’t need to worry about much more when it comes to your new artificial lawn unless you’re planning on installing it. If you’re considering artificial grass and want to install it yourself, you might be wondering ‘what tools do I need to lay artificial grass?’ We have a comprehensive guide on how to install artificial grass yourself which contains all the information you’ll need to complete the installation process.
For more help with artificial grass and the extras you might need, read our complete guide on artificial grass, or contact us today and we’ll be more than happy to share our expert knowledge with you.