Which is the Best Turf for a Front Garden?

Helping you to decide which type of turf is best for your project. This week we look at front gardens.

Make Sure Your Front Garden Creates the Right Impression

The header image for this blog features Paul Welford’s show garden at Sandringham Flower Show 2017. We love the car turntable that allows room for parking and planting.

Your front garden says a lot about your family. It’s the first thing guests see when they arrive at your home – and first impressions last a long time. The front garden also plays a big part in what estate agents term “Kerb Appeal”. Kerb appeal is that intangible something that attracts a potential buyer or tenant to a property. I’m told by my Estate Agent friend that it can speed up a sale and bump up the sale price, and I believe he’s telling the truth.

So what impression do you want your front garden to make?

Retirement home for white goods, plastic toys and not-so-classic cars? I doubt it – you wouldn’t be reading this if that was your goal.

Pristine, tidy and plastic? I do understand the appeal of artificial turf, I really do, but I prefer a garden where nature is invited in providing she’s on her best behaviour.

A place to park the car and stash the wheelie bin? Well yes, of course you want to be practical and car parking space is a great selling point. But is a car park really a hospitable place? Does it scream “welcome home”?

I like a front garden to look homely and to say “someone loves living here”. I like to see green. It’s a feel-good colour for me. For that you need natural grass – or maybe some sort of alternative lawn.

Let’s examine the options.

Would you like a grass lawn or a living alternative?

So you’ve looked at other possibilities for landscaping products and you’ve settled on having at least part of your front garden occupied by natural plants. Good for you. You’re helping wildlife, easing the pressure on drainage systems AND creating kerb appeal.

Now I’m guessing you’re thinking about the workload of caring for your garden.

Caring for the lawn in your front garden needn’t be a pain

If you choose the right turf to start with, a traditional grass lawn really isn’t difficult to look after. And, compared with other landscaping products, it’s really quite affordable.

You will need to mow once a week from late February until about mid-October every year. With the right mower, that’s quite a pleasant task. If the lawn isn’t walked on much, you can get away with aerating and scarifying every other year – unless of course you are a hardened lawn lover and want to achieve the pinnacle of perfection. Feeding is important, but it only takes a few minutes every 6 weeks or so. Honestly, in a barely used front garden, lawn care is a doddle.

What about alternative lawns?

A neatly mown grass lawn isn’t the only option these days. Save time on maintenance by choosing a sedum lawn instead. Or perhaps you want to create a wildlife haven with wild flower turf. Either of these two options are incredibly low maintenance and a lot more interesting than a grass monoculture.

I’ll post a link to more information at the end of this blogpost.

Which turf will suit your front garden best?

Have you started to research turf types yet? There are several options. Some of the variations reflect little more than branding. Hopefully this article will help you see past that.

In principal there are three types of lawn turf. One of them will be right for you

Turf with ryegrass

Hard wearing, easy going and surprisingly fine-leaved. Modern grass species are quite flexible in their maintenance needs. They will tolerate quite close mowing but look equally good when maintained at around 3-4cm long. Kept slightly longer they are more disease and drought resistant and have a deeper green colour.

The likes of Jubilee Turf from Turfonline will even tolerate being used as an occasional car park. By occasional I mean a few times a year – not every weekend.

Shade tolerant turf

A truly specialist turf that does cost a little more to buy in the first instance but will thrive in moderate shade. If your front garden is on the shady side of your home or if some of the light is blocked by fences, hedges or trees, Shadesman Turf is the one for you.

Turf without ryegrass

Ryegrass free turf, or, as we refer to it in the trade, Fine turf is the personification of the perfect lawn. It can be mown really short and when healthy it looks immaculate. It does however, need a lot of TLC. If you choose fine turf be prepared to mow every other day, feed regularly, scarify, aerate and keep on top of diseases. I think of it as being high maintenance but worth it.

Take a look at Royal Greens Turf

Budget quality turf

Nothing wrong with wanting to keep costs down. More often than not budget turf has been downgraded because of poor roll strength which just means it’s fiddlier to work with. However, it might also contain weed grasses (they appear as lighter coloured spots on the established lawn).

It’s always worth checking though why it’s a budget grade. A good way to do that is ask to see a TGA certificate for the turf. It’s unlikely to meet TGA standard but at least you’ll know why the grower has classed it as budget grade rather than premium.

The TGA Standard for Turf

Get some advice

The team at Turfonline are always happy to discuss your turf options with you and help you find the perfect turf for your front garden. If you have any questions at all, drop us an email or call us on
03300 296466

More reading….

Comparing types of turf – a short video to help you pick the best turf for your project

Garden design ideas that include parking and plants

Using Sedum matting as an alternative lawn

Using wild flowers in your garden

Save