Have you been tempted by this artificial grass craze?

You,ve got my backing on that Nigel -100 % . Just imagine that lovely summers day , and you are walking in the countryside , a slight cool breeze blows through the branches of the trees , white clouds pass by in the sky , and, instead of the hum of insects flying by or the tweeting of birds, —complete silence ! and you then lie in a field to feel “one ” with nature and a plastic piece of grass sticks in your leg.

Do you need an artificial lawn-mower to keep it trim? 🙂

Good thinking!

I’m not sure, Ian – I haven’t noticed any routine maintenance of the neighbours’ artificial grass and reckon it must be getting clogged with dirt and debris – perhaps a powerful vacuum cleaner is all that is required.

I am sure he appealed to females Beryl but not to me . Although he stayed with his wife he was certainly not faithful and was well known for his dressing room “exploits ” . She was sanguine about it , I personally have known females I dated ( when young ) as telling me I better not go astray or -whack-bam-wallop ! There are not many women like her .

Duncan I was never a fan of TJ either. I was referring to the content of the song in relation to the topic. Maybe you would prefer the Joan Baez version!

The “green green grass of home” is a totally artificial creation that came about when this country was deforested to make way for agriculture and grazing. I remember it well.

To just buy artificial grass for one of my lawns, without “fitting”, would cost between £4500 and £9000. That’s an awful lot of visits from a man with a lawnmower to save me cutting a proper lawn, if I cannot do it myself.

Never heard the the Joan Baez version of it , but yes Beryl I would take her singing anytime over TJ she was a sorrowfully now long lost product of an era when singers had the guts to stand up for what is right in this world no matter how much her government took offence . Now they wouldnt dare .

I pay someone to cut my grass every two weeks but tend the rest of the garden myself. One thing that artificial grass cannot replicate is the heady aroma of freshly mown grass on a summers afternoon. Heaven!

I’ve often wondered why we seem to listen to the views of singers, actors and other personalities. Do they somehow have a greater knowledge and insight than the rest of us?

I’ve never thought artificial flowers worth having over nature’s own. Sentimentality perhaps. Watching the Billion pound flower market last night shows just how we buy more and more cut flowers, and the resources going into their production – particularly in Holland and Kenya. A puritanical approach might be to question whether the effort might be better devoted to food production, particularly in Africa. But life isn’t like that. Flowers bring a lot of pleasure and consume (in a limited way) CO2 to good effect. i wonder how much real grass benefits CO2? Sprinkling a small bag of grass seed on your earth seems far preferable to producing green plastic in a factory.

And its help with the compost heap, Beryl.

In answer to your first paragraph malcolm think of the German word Zeitgeist . Each era in life has a sense of spirit of that time . I have lived through 50,s Rock,n,Roll even had a pair of crepe soled shoes and 14 inch trousers , loved Buddy Holly . In the 60,s it was the age of the hippy and flower power although I was neither , still a “greasy ” Biker but as we got to the late 60,s the early 70,s there was a big uprising against Vietnam many protest songs came out , millions marched in the US (try doing that now and the US army would mow them down ) many folk singers were also protest singers , they werent more intelligent than others but they were famous and so provided a mouthpiece for the population that helped bring the righteous causes to the American government . You dont get that now due to fear and the fact that BB (music ) would not allow protesting against the government . Think not ? do you know condemning the US government on the Internet is a criminal offence ? John Lennon for all his protest image was not a true revolutionary he blew that image when challenged several times . No the folk music ones from the 60,s were the true protest singers and earlier the negro blues singers who put real life forward in song including a few white folk singers . The only spirit left in the noughties is advertising and commercialism .

I don’t mind artistes expressing feelings through the medium of their art form [even if the lyrics or scripts are written for them], but, as Malcolm queries, I don’t see why people hang on their words so much when not in performing mode. I for one do not accept that “they somehow have a greater knowledge and insight than the rest of us”, and certainly no more than philosophers, politicians and political commentators, scientists, authors and other people who think. I should like to hear more from such people but they never get a look-in with our celebrity-obsessed society.

John I said they werent any more intelligent than others and that they were only echoing loudly the collective spirit of the era , now long dead . Nowadays its government “friendly ” footballers using home spun philosophy to “show ” the public the “right ” way while selling mens perfume etc and being put forward as the the zeitgeist of this era and earning millions on the way from pats on the back for conforming to the wishes of BB and government . The “personality ” era has long been here and in the US , dont rock the boat,conform —and they do , and you know why dont you ? These are your new “social saints ” and the media thrust them forward as “perfect examples ” of conformity , I totally agree with you those with higher learning in all fields should be the ones speaking out and they do—in the US but they are then jailed -yes Professors etc , and I can prove it just because they speak the truth so they are not used greatly unless in diminished intellectual outpourings to conform with US / UK society.

I, for one, would be very interested to hear of any US professor jailed in the US, simply for ‘speaking out, Duncan.

I don’t know what perceptions of American attitudes have to do with the simple point that Malcolm made about life in the UK and on which I elaborated in the light of Duncan’s immediately following comment. I should never have digressed.

I think we have veered off topic but to add perspective to your questions about celebrities, log onto psychology today.com – The other side of fame. This portrays some insight into reasons why the grass is not always greener on the other side.

psychologytoday.com/articles/199505/the-other-side-fame

Perhaps we need as a society to concentrate more on those who have been or are useful. I have always thought the second house of Parliament should be staffed with the elected of the various Royal, and other societies. Just sending more politicians there is a complete travesty.

: ) And to cement the unelected principle let us select 50 people annually randomly to daily attend and even speak. If they are very good the H O L can elect them permanent.

The relevance to the thread of celebrity is I think some politicians are equally addicted to power and wheeling dealing, and limelight.

steve, I suspect biodegradable plastic grass is in the same league as chocolate teapots.

Robert-conditioning the soil takes years and is hard work , the Medlar requires both damp soil and good drainage . To save a lot of time take a look at this website , it has videos as well on the operation of the soil : http://www.gardendesignexposed.com/heavy_clay_soils.html