Busy Britons ditch lawns for patios and decking
SO much for the green, green, grass of home. . . the perfectly manicured lawn is going out of fashion.
One in four homes no longer has grass in the garden, a survey has found. The green oases are being replaced by low- maintenance decking or patios.
And the result is bad news for wildlife. It could even lead to more flooding because lawns soak up heavy rain like a sponge.
The survey revealed 67 per cent of adults claim not to have time to maintain a lawn.
It found 57 per cent of us prefer decking, 55 per cent favour patio space and 20 per cent want to build over the grass, putting up sheds or
Daily Express Thursday September 3 2015 summer houses. As a result the area of garden covered by lawns has shrunk nationally by half over the past decade.
The poll, for garden furniture firm Alfresia. co. uk, discovered that one in 10 of us has even replaced traditional lawns with artificial grass such as AstroTurf.
It found that 71 per cent of homeowners believe a lawn is a burden and would prefer not to have one.
Craig Corbett, marketing manager at Alfresia. co. uk, said: “As a time- poor nation, we are constantly looking for ways to maintain our homes and outdoor space, with minimum effort and minimum cost.
“Maintaining a lawn can take a lot of work. There’s mowing, fertilising and not forgetting the task of watering it when it hasn’t rained for a few days.
“This takes up time Britons don’t have.
“For those who don’t have the time but don’t want to miss out on the amount of wildlife a lawn will attract, it is important to feature plenty of low- maintenance varieties of hedges and potted plants as well as other natural plantation.
“They will attract birds, bees, butterflies and more.”
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