Here’s How to Grow Your Own Real Grass Daybed
Attention all you city dwellers who long for a little patch of lawn to call your own: landscape gardening guru Jason Hodges, from the Australian TV show Better Homes & Gardens, has come up with an clever way to create a gorgeous grass daybed that’s ideal for greening up a courtyard, patio, or even a rooftop retreat.
Hodges’ daybed has a spread of real green grass and a headboard that doubles as a planter, to bring even more lushness to a barren space. And he claims that if you build it right, maintenance will be minimal.
For detailed, step-by-step instructiions, see the video from InHabitat.com, as posted above. The basics are as follows:
Hodges suggests using repurposed wood products - even pallets will do. The beauty of your grass daybed is that you can build it to fit your own space, without having to worry about traditional bed dimensions that will accommodate standard mattresses and sheets. Your only limitation is the color of the spread.
You can purchase pine boards and slats as Hodges did, or you can easily use wood pallets and other repurposed wood, if that suits you. He built a base that seems fit for a futon, and then created a large planter box for the “headboard.” After that, he built a top frame to contain the soil and turf.
The next step was to stain the wood and finish the headboard and frame.
Hodges followed that up by lining the box with a special fabric that will allow excess water to escape, while containing the soil. Then he added the soil and treated it with special water crystals that retain moisture.
Rather than trying to grow the grass from scratch, Hodges used rolls of sod to top it off. That way growth is even and easy. He then added a few plants to the headboard, some contrasting indoor—outdoor pillows, and voila! All that’s missing is the lemonade.
