Relative newbie, here. DH just bought a new mower that allows us to collect grass clippings. I have a MOUNTAIN of clippings! I have heard this can be a good fertilizer, but wonder if it might be "hot" or "burn" plants. Does anyone know?
I'm making a new bed in a clayey area and will be tilling in some amendments. Can I till in a few inches of clippings as well, or should I just dump them on the top after tilling?
A related question. We have asparagus spears growing and got a freeze warning for tonight and tomorrow night. Can I just pile up grass clippings right on top of my tender little spears? Should I leave them there or pull it away after the freeze has passed?
Thanks for your insight and experience.
Using grass clippings as mulch?
Grass clippings clump like crazy. Have you got anything to mix 'em with, like leaves?
Hi, PuddlePirate! I have a few leaves, but no where near the amount of clippings I have.
They clump & righteously so. However - they make a great mulch. Spread THINLY.
If you have somewhere dry/protected to lay a tarp, spread them there & let them lose a bit of moisture. This makes them easier to work with, in my opinion.
I use them as a mulch in my veg garden, along with whatever else i can find. No problems, unless i layered them too thick. Slugs/snails like to hide under the moist clumps.
I've never used fresh grass clippings, because I read that they can burn your plants, but once they have dried, they make excellent mulch if not piled on too thickly. I would not turn them into your soil, they will rob nutrients from the ground as they rot. The absolute best thing to do, is mix them with mulched leaves and put them into a compost bin/pile and let them break down into "black gold." When we mow the grass, we always throw a bag or two of leaves down first, so leaves/grass gets done at once. I recently purchased a compost bin, and just putting my hand on the outside I can tell the contents are heating nicely.
You can mulch lightly with them, but one caveat: If the grass was going to seed, you will be spreading grass seed.
The best use of grass clippings is: use a mulching mower, which chops them up fine enough so they can be left on the grass/lawn. That way, you are returning the nitrogen to the lawn, and you'll need to buy less fertilizer.
In our yard, we only use the mower bag attachment when absolutely necessary, e.g. if it rained for a week and the grass is way tall, and the clippings would clot up terribly if left on the grass. Even then i would be more inclined not to bag, and simply walk around with a rake to break up the clumps.
Trying to get a large quantity of grass clippings to decay properly is problematic. They need to be mixed with shredded leaves (or possibly soil) so that you get the proper "aerobic" decay, rather than the stinky "anaerobic" decay.
I must add that I live in Zone 5, where our lawns are bluegrass, fescue, and some perennial rye, and I know nothing about turf grass in your zone. Maybe it's completely different where you live. . .
I don't want to get too far off-topic, but I also prefer to just mulch the lawn and let the grass clippings replenish my lawn since I don't fertilize it in any other fashion. I do use a bag on my mower when I mow the outer edges of my lawn because it keeps some of the mulched grass from ending up in places I don't want it. Then I dump the bagged grass in my compost bin.
I use fresh grass clippings in the walkways and around the tomato and pepper cages. When they dry up I use it within the row against plants. I've never had any problems related to clippings
I've used my grass clippings as mulch in the vegetable garden for more than 20 years, but I only put about 1" or so on at one time. By the time the grass needs to be cut, the previous application has usually dried enough to preclude any messy or soggy clumping. I also mix well shredded dry leaves with my grass clippings when I have them ... the leaves help to prevent the grass from clumping, and the grass seems to help prevent the little leaf particles from blowing away. Large quatities of grass in the compost pile are also problematic; I only add small quantites grass clipping to my compost pile.
I build a new bed on clay using the "lasagna" method, but I cheated and used a layer of cardboard followed by loads of grass clippings from neighbors. I dug holes in it to plant a few plants and am amazed by how full everything is looking this spring. I also added some dry leaves this winter.
Tabitha
Tabitha - I might give your method a try - thanks to all the rain so far this year, we have more grass then we know what to do with!