Cut grass leaves the mower already shredded to size, loaded with nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, and free for the taking at the end of your own garden. Spread over flower beds or the vegetable patch it hinders weeds and locks moisture into the soil, provided the layer never exceeds half an inch.
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Though it’s only made from usually a single type of plant, lawn grass nonetheless contains a host of useful nutrients.
On top of this, lawn grass has a few other benefits over other organic mulch materials! Indeed, it’s the ultimate local resource, so no energy to expend transporting it. It only costs a little effort to collect (meaning you still have to mow the lawn) and it’s already cut to size by the mower, so no need for shredding or chipping machines.
The same barrow of clippings can go to three different places, and each one asks for a different quantity. Here is what each method gives back.
| Method | Where the clippings go | How much at a time | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Into the compost | The composter, alongside kitchen scraps | The first load or two off the mower | Helps the heap digest kitchen waste faster |
| Mulch on beds | Flower beds, shrub beds and the vegetable patch | Half an inch (2 cm) thick at the very most | Releases nitrogen, hinders weeds, locks in moisture |
| Topdressing the lawn | Left on the lawn itself, chopped by the mower | A thin layer only, so mow at least twice a week | Feeds the turf so it grows lush and dense |
Best of all, alternate between them from one mowing session to the next.
Mulch is one of the best ways to maximize all the great organic matter that cut lawn grass represents.
First of all, always try to add the first few load or two of the mower to your composter. The extra “brown matter” grass clippings represent will help the compost digest kitchen scraps and the like faster.
After that, spread it atop the soil in your flower and shrub beds, and, of course, in the vegetable patch.
Mulching is indeed nature’s own way of transforming garden waste into healthy organic nutrients, and this works for the lawn itself, too. A thin layer of chopped up lawn grass will quickly break down and, in doing so, converts decaying matter into nutritious elements lawn grass needs to grow lush and dense.
Watch out, though: if you plan on exclusively using the “mulch” position of your lawn mower to deal with lawn trimmings, you’ll have to mow the lawn at least twice a week. Mowing more than a half-inch of grass at a time is going to smother the grass growing beneath.
In the end, variety is the way to go: apply each of these methods in turn. From time to time, use the hamper to lug grass clippings to the compost, and then the next mowing session, mulch to leave shredded clippings on the lawn itself.
