Mulching with Lawn Clippings
This gardener’s plot at the newest community garden off Siren’s Road and Flynn Lane is lookin’ fineeee! (Insert heart-eye emoji here). I’m loving the look of the lawn clipping mulch! Also, did you know that it has more to offer than just a nice, farm-y finish? Learn more about the benefits (and cautions) of using grass clippings in your garden below.
What is mulch?
Basically, a mulch is anything you use to cover soil. Mulching is divided into two categories: organic and inorganic. In this case, organic refers to anything from nature, as opposed to inorganic (man-made) things like plastic coverings. Though the two categories overlap in some benefits, in this blog I’ll be focusing on and referring to organic mulches. A few common materials used as organic mulches are straw, shredded leaves, wood chips, and lawn clippings.
Why mulch?
Mulching has three major benefits
Suppressing weeds
Maintaining soil moisture
Regulating soil temperature
But mulching also does a bit more..
Reduces soil erosion
Feeds the soil as the mulch breaks down (composting itself back into the soil)
Prevents soil from splashing onto leaves when watering—something that may help prevent diseases
Season extension—the regulation of the soil temperature is especially handy in the spring and fall.
Creates a spiffy look—clearly!
Why lawn clippings?
Availability and Price
If you’ve got a lawn to mow, you’ve got the stuff for this mulch! This is really nice benefit considering straw, perhaps the most common type of mulch, can be hard to come by and cost money. Straw is grown every summer and then harvested in the fall, so bought out of season, it is kind of expensive. (We provide a half bale of straw per plot for community gardeners in the fall, but our supplier sells only in bulk).
Slug Protection
Slugs don’t like the feel of the fine grass clippings, which helps deter them from your plants. That means you can keep that beer in your fridge, and not in slug traps.
Nutrient Source
Fresh grass clippings are high in nitrogen, which adds to the soil as it breaks down, and because they are small and fine, they break down pretty quickly - usually within a month after applying. Grass clippings are somewhat unusual in providing nitrogen to the soil, as most other organic mulches (straw and wood chips) are high in carbon.
be cautious though…
Be very chemical aware! Use only grass clippings you can be sure aren’t sprayed with any pesticides or herbicides you don’t want in your garden. (Besides not wanting to ingest chemicals, many broad leaf herbicides used on lawns will kill vegetable crops).
To prevent rotting grass smell, spread out an even layer a couple inches thick or consider drying out your grass clippings before application in the garden.
Don’t over mulch—1-2 inches is best.
Keep your grass clipping mulch off of your salad mix. Speaking from personal experience, it is really difficult to sort and wash off your other small greens.
Never mulch to the trunk of trees. Leave a little donut so the trunk has room to breathe.
Avoid using grass clippings if you’ve got a lot of weed pressure in your lawn, as this may introduce them to your vegetable garden.
Generally keep in mind, that mulching is not a magical cure for not weeding or watering your garden, and can be misused. Often mulch can hide noxious weeds that spread rhizomatously.
Final thoughts:
Lawns are a sleepy place for soil microbes. Consider leaving your lawn clippings to compost in place every now and then to give back to your lawn’s soil.
If you’re a community gardener, only bring as many lawn clippings as you’re willing to add to your plot. The community gardens are not dump sites, and we haul away all waste and weed piles by hand, so please don’t add any debris from your own yard to those piles.
Happy gardening!