wonder what do with skunk clippings after you cut down ? Here ’s how to use them to improve your garden .
If mowing , collecting , and discarding press clipping is your routine , it ’s metre to change your lawn forethought practices . What to do with grass press cutting rather ? snip from level-headed turf grass are stretch with nutrients that areuseful in vegetable gardensandperennial borders , a compost pile , and even the lawn itself . Here are three light way of life to use grass press clipping to give your lawn and garden a boost .
capecodphoto / Getty Images
Credit:capecodphoto / Getty Images
1. Leave Clippings on the Lawn
The easiest solution for what do with grass cutting is to just leave behind them where they fall . They ’ll filtrate into the turf and fall in down in a few weeks , adding nitrogen and other nutrients to the soilin the procedure .
When exchange from bagging clippings to " grasscycling " them on your lawn , you ’ll find that you ’ll demand to add less fertilizer . inquiry has discover that leaving cutting on your lawn can provide nutrients tantamount to a exclusive treatment of formal lawn fertilizer . Overfertilization can burn grassand get other turf problem , so design to reduce fertilizer rates consequently if you leave the clippings on your lawn .
Lawn - friendly newspaper clipping are short ; clipping that are 1 inch long or less decompose well in the Gunter Wilhelm Grass and soil visibility . Cut your lawn regularlyto produce consistently short clippings . Mow when the Mary Jane is ironic to prevent the snip from clunking on top of the grass . Piles of wet grass clippings take longer to break down , which may harm the grass growing below them .
if yourlawn has disease publication , such as leaf spot , rust fungus , or dollar point , leaving clippings is not a proficient idea . rather , bag them for yard waste product pick up or accumulate . Or you could bury the pathologic clippings in an out - of - the - path billet in the landscape painting , where they will decompose , and any disease spores on the foliage wo nt be capable to cause new infections .
2. Use Grass Clippings as Mulch
Another affair you’re able to do with supergrass clipping is employ them as mulch that will help reduce weeds , conserve soil moisture , and restrained soil temperature . Grass clippingsmake excellent mulcharound all types of plants . They break down chop-chop , better the nutrient content and social structure of the soil as they decompose . Because they break down so tight , be disposed to spread another layer of green goddess - clipping mulch about eight weeks after the first covering to provide continued sens stifling .
Vegetable gardensare capital space to habituate grass clippings as mulch . The fine mulch is easy to spread around young , tender seedling . It breaks down throughout the time of year , improve the soil body structure and creating an excellent seedbed for next yr ’s vegetable garden .
To apply Mary Jane clippings as mulch , spread up to a 2 - inch - thick layer of dry clippings over the soil airfoil . A thicker layer or matte wet grass can limit body of water and oxygen from cause into the ground around worthy plants .
If your lawn was recently treated with a broadleaf herbicide , do n’t apply the clippings as mulch in planting bed . The herbicide may cease up harming nearby plant life .
3. Add Grass Clippings to Compost
When combined with brown stuff , such as dry leave , stem , and plant life theatrical role , gage clippings turn intonutrient - rich compost . Also love as blackened gold , compost is valuable to lawnsand all over the landscape . Improve ground social structure by commingle a 2 - in - thick layer of compost into garden grime . Suppress weeds by spreading a 2 - inch - thick layer of compost around perennial in springiness . The compost will also add nutrients that help feed your plants through the time of year .
Make asimple compost pileby alternating stratum of green fabric — grass clippings — with layers of brown cloth . To keep a compost pile healthy and productive , aim to add about 3 parts by volume of dark-brown materials to every 1 part green . Speed up decompositionby building the pile in afull sun locationand turn it every week or so . Because most menage compost bins do n’t hit a in high spirits enough temperature to kill pathogens or seeds , do n’t tote up grass snip from a diseased or weedy lawn .
Aim to mop the grass on a regular basis , cutting off just an inch or so of sens to create newspaper clipping that will break down quickly in your compost bin .
Frequently Asked Questions
You canadd locoweed clipping to young raised beds as a filleron the bottom , or you could total a slight layer of clip as a mulch around plants grow in your raise garden .
You may have heard that leaving Mary Jane clippings in place after mowing create a lawn - destructivelayer of thatch . However , this is out of true because pot newspaper clipping decompose too fast to ramp up up on the land control surface . Blackbeard is in reality because of excessive nitrogen fertilization , infrequent mowing , vigorous grass varieties , and insalubrious ground .
