Newbie ground cover suggestions? ReadyGrass?

I've used green felt teased to different "grass" lengths,  combined synthetic green shag "animal fur" from the craft store cut down to different heights to lend diversity to different grass areas on my layout. 

I picked up brown, green and white felt on sale at Ben Franklins for the same reason.

Super cheap ground cover that you can easily add to/upgrade later.

The White was quick and easy Christmas ground.

Before I used muted-green tight-pile carpeting, I tried the "grass" mat. Forget it! It would not lie flat, and looked awful, although "it seemed like a good idea at the time". Go to a place that sells carpeting off of big rolls and have them cut it. Carpeting in a package results in lot of grief getting the fold-marks out (I know from personal experience).

That seems ideal, but I'd think the color choices might be very limited. Worth looking into.

I am using the Woodland Scenics Ready Grass and so far like it. Instead of the 'mat glue' Woodland Scenics advertises I use double sides tape to hold it down. I tape one end then as I unroll the mat I add more tape along the way making sure I pull the mat as tight as possible. It does not lie absolutely flat as Joe Hohmann points out but it's good enough for me. since I am adding additional ground cover like bushes etc the little bumps actually add some nice contour. 

The advantages of the Woodland Scenics grass mat I find are that it has a thick vinyl backing so is not flimsy like that old paper backed mats. There next to no shedding and if one wants to add more ground cover the mat takes scenic glue with no hassles at all. If you have any depressions like a stream or pond you can use a heat gun to contour the mat down into depression. If you don't want the grass then simply scrape it off and paint the vinyl.  

The mat really comes in handy on elevated portions of the layout where I can can lay it over grounded aluminum foil I use to stop TMCC / Legacy signal cross-talk with track running underneath.

The big downside however is the cost. They ain't cheap!

DoubleDAZ - Woodland Scenics is comping out with a desert mat (light tan) you may be interested in. I am going to try this on an elevated portion where my turn table is going.

Joe

The Layout in my Video, I used Home depot AstroTurf.  It was perfect for the kids.  There is a lot you can do.  I screwed the track though the turf to the plywood.  drilled holes through it for the trees and wiring for the lights.  I got MDF white moulding for around the sides.  This one was temporary and it all sat on 5 gallon home depot buckets. This was 6x10.

We used these home made sifters to get rocks and sand.