Dad used to mulch the lanes in the garden to keep the weeds out. Then he'd ad it in the beds in the fall after harvest. Weeds have loads of nutrients. Put them back in the dirt
As I've long joked (particularly to lawn owners), 'Grass is the only crop we plant, water, fertilize, propagate, harvest...and then throw in the garbage.
That's because in the past, having a lawn was a sign of wealth enjoyed only by royalty and large landowners who did not need to use the land for agriculture. That mindset has been passed down to us today even though people don't understand where it came from.
Greetings from Transylvania ( North of Romania ). We do the same with moved grass . It is very nice to see how people who have the same passions find the same solutions, no matter where they live! All the best and good health !
@@robertkat Vampire stories are just legends from Europe's medieval past. Today they are speculated by those who have businesses in tourism and are served to tourists . All the best for you , bye Robert !
Greetings from Australia Vasile, composter in place, and passionate gardener here too. It is interesting to see how people do this all around the world. I think people are benefiting tremendously from permaculture principles. One of which is ,always cover and protect your soil.
All good advice. I'll add mine: Of you have chickens, throw a bag or two of clippings in their enclosure too - my chickens love grass clippings. They enjoy scratching through the pile, and whatever they eat provides vitamins and nutrients almost for free.
Gardening and yardwork are the therapy that helps to ease each day's stresses. Happy to see someone else advocating grass-mulch!! One seasonal task I enjoy doing is allowing most of the autumn leaves to remain on the ground. I will pick up some because I keep an area for making leaf mulch to use throughout the year, but the rest of the leaves stay on the ground. Once the end of winter comes and the grass starts growing through the leaves, I cut/bag all of it together to use as my initial mulch layer in the gardens for the new year. It's a great nitrogen/carbon mix that takes minimal work, and it breaks down beautifully in the garden beds. The excess mulch, I use to start a new compost pile for the year, and the cycle continues!
Please don't forget the wild bees. They live deep in the earth and are killed by cutted grass that is too thick. They fertilize so many more flowers than honey bees.
I used to collect so many fresh grass clippings from just one neighbor that I always had enough to mulch the garden weekly, with plenty left over for composting. In the fall, this neighbor gave me enough leaves to fill two large leaf bins, 4'x4'x6', deeply mulch the garden, and top off the compost pile for the season. All that mulching, plus the liberal us of compost, really improved the garden soil. Love working with free resources!
In Albuqueque, I used grass clippings to mulch the hard, sandy soil outside my apartment. After a couple of years the soil improved tremendously. I could take a steel rod 3 feet long and easily push it all the way into the ground.
I've been doing this for years; and, I agree, it's been one of the best things for keeping moisture in the soil and for creating excellent soil for the future. Great video for those that maybe had never thought to do this. I also add my grass/plant clippings to my potted plants.
Yes, maybe as long as there's no grass, or weed seeds from the lawn. And clippings aren't around the base of garden plants and to thick, as some plants may suffer. 👍
I started adding the grass clippings to all my flower beds last year and this year I have ZERO weeds in my flower beds. Definitely try it!!! Also, pull up your dandelions (the yellow) flower and make dandelion tea. its very healthy!!!❤️
Be aware of what types of fertilizers/pesticides you, your lawn people, or the previous owners have used in the grass. You can test the soil your grass grows in if you are concerned with residual chemicals. Just send a sample to a lab you find online.
I take care of my lawn just as much as my garden... To me mowing my lawn is not a chore, I actually enjoy it!! Having a nice looking lawn, and garden for that matter, increases the curb appeal of your home...
I’ve been covering my garden in grass clippings for years. It really helps me keep up with the weeds. If some grass or weeds are poking through, I just get the weed whacker and cut them down, then cover with more clippings. After a few weeks, my garden has a nice little blanket on it to protect it from the hot west tennessee sun.
I have been using grass mulch heavily in my garden since 1969... People argue with me saying I am crazy. But I don't care since I enjoy ten times more veggies every year than them. :) I never fertilize and if I should get any weeds, they pull out easily. Thanks for sharing. Everyone should use grass clippings...
This is a good idea. As for the grass in the compost pile, it doesn't clump up nearly as much when it is mixed properly with the right amount of carbon material.
@@consi1801 Hi, I use wood chips in the compost as browns to react with the Greens grass. Mine are finely ground from chipping tree branches, but a 2cf bag of pine bark is inexpensive and breaks down quickly. John Koler (growing your greens) talks about using pine bedding, cardboard and other stuff to make compost in a tumbler.
Yes, that is the best method and one that I use here in the UK especially as the rain has disappeared over May. By doing this I am keeping the moisture in the soil and in turn also adding richness to the soil. I 'farm' on sandy loam and it does not take long for the soil to dry out here.
You can also dig a trench in your vegetable garden, and line the bottom with a layer of grass. Then use a garden rake to cover the grass with a half inch to an inch of soil, then a layer of grass over that. Repeat the layers until you’ve used up the grass and soil. Earthworms seem to love this lasagna method, and will make short work of the grass.
@@jazradcliffe2286 There's a lot to be learned from the traditional ways of gardening, too many are being lost due to the ease of modern chemicals. One I've always used in the greenhouse is ladybugs, they eat the greenfly and their larva (evil looking little sods but harmless) can quite happily much on the fly, black, white, or green, they don't care.
I have been using my grass clipping in this way on all my cared for yard areas. Around my plants, and Lilac bushes. I have been doing this for 30 years. It keeps down weeds, feeds the plants and the soil that was mostly clay is now a home to earthworms and is healthy soil. It keeps moisture in the soil as well. I even use leaves in the fall to cover these areas over the winter
Good to see this. I bag and have used grass clippings for years in a 300'x80' garden. One thing I watch for is later in the growing season when grass and other broadleaf weeds start to mature and have mature seed heads I skip using those clippings for mulch in the garden to prevent adding weed seeds to garden. All my fall leaves along with grass clippings are spread, with a final tilling in late October. With a full canopy of plants, along with clippings I have no weeds, even on my large pumpkin, squash, and watermelons.
I've been doing this for years and it works fantastic! You will be pleased. When I first tried it on recommendation of an old time gardener, I was hesitant thinking I would be introducing a lot of unwanted seeds into my garden.. That didn't seem to be an issue and my garden stays manicured and easy to keep. Good luck with your garden this year!
My uncle used to do that over 46yrs ago. I'm 56 & he died when I was 10. I remember him doing the compost both ways. His yard was over an acre. I bought a lawn sweep 2 days ago hoping my neighbor would allow me collect the dried grass. She calls me up when I was about to leave home depot w the sweep. She asked if I had anything to pick up the grass. I laughed out loud. Had to explain why I was laughing. Perfect timing. 5 55g bags of dried clippings & I didn't do the whole yard. It went directly on the garden. I was tickled & she was too less strain on her mower.
Living here in east hawaii (big island), we have unique problems when trying to grow food & manage grass for lawns & grazing. I really appreciate this posting & comments by subscribers. Keep up the good work.
I use most of my grass clippings around my tomatoes. We have an awful problem with blight here, and a nice thick covering of grass clippings on the soil prevents the dirt from splashing up on my plants, giving me a big reduction in blight on my plants. When my toms are happy I'm happy.
We mulched around our raspberry canes with grass clippings. In time a fungus attacked the growing layer at the base of the canes and they withered and died. So take care not to let the mulch have too much contact with plant stems.
@@johnp7158 think about the type of environment that your plants cone from in their natural form. With strawberries, currants, and cane berries, they are more from a understorey, with rotted leaf litter. So plan accordingly, I use both straw mulches (or grass clippings) for nitrogen and rotted woodchip or a mixture of woodchip and compost.
Mulch plantings every year. Btw. After one applies the grass clippings , if your plantings are in a wind prone area. Water it light spray till thurrily moist It kinds acts like glue to hold it together in the wind
I love this method, and do it every growing season. The grass forms a moisturizing barrier. The ground stays warm, but not hot. If weeds come up, it seems they are a bit easier to pull, as the soil is not compacted, and dry. I don't mind raking, as it gives me time to think. Lately, my brain is too full of things That are stressful, thanks to our present government. The garden is definitely the best place to be.
One of the best things I ever bought was a yard sweeper that I drag behind my riding mower. No bagging or raking. I can dump the load of grass clippings and in the fall leaves, directly into my garden beds. This saves so much work and time.
I was told about using grass for garden couple yrs ago. I love this! Does great job controlling weeds and at end of summer when I clear the garden I still add grass clippings until no longer mowing and it helps to make the garden soil very rich for thr next yr.
I do this around my roses. I keep the mulch pulled back from the base of the rosebush as the clippings can heat up as they decompose. I thought it might cause weeds in the lawn to sprout in the garden, but that hasn’t happened. I found it increases earth worms in the garden that can attract animals like possums to dig for them, but that’s OK. We are in drought conditions and are not looking forward to a long, hot summer, but mulching will help retain water. Thanks for the nice video and for encouraging others to do this.
I like the way you think, I have wood chips in my gardens and the weeds break through them in time and don’t hold moisture for that long, so I’ll try adding lawn clippings on top water and layer them both and see how it goes hopping the wood chips will break down faster as well.
I’ve been using grass clippings for several years in the garden. It’s great for holding moisture and weed suppression. I’m glad you’re sharing it with everyone. Thank you!
Other great grass tip... The final mow in autumn before cold winters (where it freezes) when ya usually cut lower than usual.. don't just put into garden for mulch... Dig it all under into the garden before winter freeze hits - tried it and garden soil this yr has more worms than I've ever seen in soil!! Gotta imagine the nitrogen released from the green clippings into soil over composting winter within soil helps too - so far so good and will do it every year!
I am not a gardener despite I am a floral designer but, I cut the grass in my little patio since I purchased a weed trimmer. Now I know what to do with the cut grass....thank you SO MUCH!
I’m glad this works for a lot of you. For me, the grass prevents rain from getting through, and layers of dry powdery white stiff developed. Also the grass heats up to very high temps! We use a mulching blade. I compost all yard and kitchen waste & wish I had 10 times the amounts we have.
We have a huge spare lot, which is now a combination of raised beds for organic vegetables and other areas for hardy NYS perennial flowers. Some spaces have a combination of annuals, dahlias, broomcorn, Mexican sunflowers, typical sunflowers, geraniums, nasturtiums, and much much more. If I wanted to have it all "perfect", I would have to live in the yard. I can't wait for my husband to mow the grass every week, because I am always "desperate" for the clippings for all the reasons you mentioned. I could never keep up with the weeding, keep our soil loose, receptive to the rain and fight the "clay" without those valuable clippings. I also get untreated grass from some lawn care friends. I found your video by accident. You did an excellent job; I hope many gardeners learn from you. I love picking stone, organically enriching my soil, finding sources for composted cow manure and so on as much as enjoying the harvest and giving away flowers, vegetables and herbs. There is nothing more satisfying than hearing my own reasons for loving grass clippings validated by someone who expressed my own thoughts much better than I ever could have done. I hope the multitudes listen, because their gardens will thank them and so will their backs and knees....and also those valuable worms. I will subscribe to your channel, of course. Thanks 1,000,000 for your efforts.
Thanks SO MUCH Sue! Sounds like you have a GREAT garden. I've also used straw a lot too. Check out the local farmers to see if they have excess bales that they want to sell. If you buy a lot you can get a discount sometimes. I've used straw for mulching many times and it can last 2-3 years before it gets incorporated into the soil. Thanks for supporting my channel! Paul
Nice video of a certain perspective on composting. I no longer grow vegetables due to too many problems with insects and leaf blight. I use a lot of weed killer on my grass and so never used my compost for my vegetable gardening. I compost in bins made from pallets so the area of each 4 bins is 4 x 4 feet. It takes four bins about a calendar year to produce a full bin of finished compost depending on how often I turn it and how much grass I add each time I turn it. The grass matting in the grass pile is a hassle but when adding to a pile you can spread the layers apart and spray them with a hose and they will com apart. The heating of the grass and the compost piles is evidence that the plant material is breaking down. It is a normal process. However you don't want it to get too hot. Much over 140 and you start to kill the bugs, worms and beneficial bacteria that help break down the plant matter. If your temp gets too hot turn the pile. When you turn a pile you want the inside if the pile to be on the outer side of the new pile and the outer part of the old pile to be inside the new pile. If when turning a and it has a sweet earthy smell it is doing good. If it stinks like mold or some other foul smell it's too wet. in this case add some leaves or wood chips or more grass through the pile but don't add water. When building a compost pile you need green material, brown material and water. Green material is not necessarily the color of the thing. leaves wood chips are brown. Grass clippings and kitchen waste are green. If the grass clippings are brown and dry or have turned black because they have started to decompose they are still green. What matters is the contents of what they are made of. You can easily find charts of what is good for composting and what is not. Coffee grounds and egg shell are great and easy for most. Coffee shops are often willing to save you their used coffee grounds. Starbucks is a good source as they are environmentally conscious. You want equal amounts of green and brown and only enough water to wet the plant matter. Turning the compost often to re-introduce air help oxygenate the pile and speeds decomposition. I have a large amount of leaves that I compost along with mine and my neighbors grass clippings. I produce about 16 square feet a year of compost that starts as three or four times that. I use a chipper/mulcher to break down my leaves twigs and small branches. layer by layer of green, water, brown water, repeat to build a pile. I use a 12 inch kitchen thermometer to keep track of the temp of my piles. I know this rambles. Sorry, trying to get everything in.
I used to have 3 pallet bins like you for composting. They were open on the ends so would add boards as needed. They just slid into place and the compost would hold them in place. I just put a board onto the end of the pallet leaving it stick out an inch or so to hold the slide in boards. The 2 middle pallets I just put a wider board to catch both sides. in the spring I would shovel the piles to the next bin. I would start by emptying the third bin with beautiful compost and then shovel the second bin into it and add water as needed. Then the first bin would be shoveled into the second bin and again add water as needed. Then the first bin I would start over with new compost again. It took 3 years from start to finish to get compost but after that you have a steady supply of compost. Throughout the year if the piles seemed to be dry I would add water to them but otherwise did nothing after that. The first pile was always the most shoveling and about half for the second one and half again for the third composted pile. I was always very happy with the compost. By leaving the compost out over winter the freezing breaks down the cellular structure of anything in the pile and makes it compost a lot easier. I lined the inside of the pallets with chicken wire and that helped a lot with the compost to come out easy and not build up in the pallets. If there was some I just left it and it always seemed to work out good. Dale in Canada.
I should also mention that sometimes the flys would be attracted to the open compost so I would sprinkle on enough material to cover to keep them away. I used either dirt or rotted black manure or wood ashes. It also helped with the composting. Hope this helps someone. Dale in Canada.
This was so informative. I’ve been piling my mowed grass, and what a waste it’s been. Thank you for sharing your practical advice. I’m definitely going to change how I manage my mowed grass in future
Maybe for u cos u changing the PH of the soil, green grass clippings contain way too much Nitrogen, so actually u injecting ammonia into the soil. Just check the PH and u will see. So it's not better then composting, more effective? Perhaps, but I think not, actually u harming ur plants as well: www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs142p2_040876.pdf And with the Heat production u plants can burn out, they have enough problems in summer with the heat (depends on climate). Usually u do composting in place in the begining of winter or late fall, just mimic nature when the trees drop they leaves, thats the best time to prepare the growing area.
@@adamcsillag6058 no, my Ph Is about 7....( The same as 5 Yeats ago) In case of acidity you can spread ashes....Anyway, in my climate (60 km south from Milan) i had no problems at all with this method.
@@paolomaggi8188 Ok, plz read the article, u don't have to reinvent the wheel. There is much more to it, if u don't see it doesn't mean it's good. It's all written down, no shortcuts necessary. Imagine doing it correctly...
@@adamcsillag6058 thank you very much Adam for tour advice! the article Is very good!...but i don't want to make compost.(even though It might give me better results) The method of grass clipping mulch Is far more simple and give me good results..
@@paolomaggi8188 Yeah I tried to help but this way the plants have to compete for carbon. If you read it you already know it. About time - yes that is a big issue and u right nobody has it :D, u can put some brown material under it however, that will make the trick - in that thickness it's not gonna be a hot compost, but still can keep the moisture in - best of both worlds. But it DEPENDS, like always - no holy grail. If ur soil lacks nitrogen then... and this goes on and on... experiment, that's the best I can say, truly. I'm happy that u find the article useful, that's the best i found so far - no bla bla just the facts, and still I come to realize we as humans know nothing about nature, best if we mimic it as good as we can - we are just students in the Garden of Eden. In my country (Hungary) we used to call the garden: life. Where God and You creating a new world hand in hand.
Great tip mate, I got issues with my iris growing in winter here lol flowering , they are small and not growing into a good size they should be. I’ll try your method ,fingers crossed they do ok
This is the great vid on working wisely in the garden to save time/energy. Time for me to compost in place. Got my clippings, scraps, and my cam. It is a mulching and composting type of day. ⛏🧑🏾🌾
LOVE THIS!!! I recently started using the bag on my mower to collect the clippings for my compost pile. Using the clippings in my flower bed will be an even better use for them! I'm going to set my blade lower and re-mow my lawn to get started right away.
Thank you for this. I like to mulch as much as I can with the materials I get from my yard. I look forward to watching your other videos. My hit on thistle: it's a good decoy plant - it attracts bugs that like to eat nutrient-dense plants, no matter how they taste. The thistle in my strawberry patch draws all the leaf-eating bugs to it and spares my strawberry plants from being consumed by those bugs. Same thing for grape plants. So this year, I've been appreciating the thistle in my garden.
God bless you for that, once upon a time o threw it in the green bin and the council took it, then I composted it but to do it this way will be my heaven on earth so thank you so much
It's been fun & challenging to find ways to use yard debris/cut grass in my small yard area in an apartment community. Instead of raking it to the curb for removal, that is. I used cut grass as mulch, as a budget decision. Good to know its benefits. It's definitely a win-win!
3 роки тому+12
This method is sometimes called the Ruth Stout method. She highlighted it in her garden books about 50 years ago. It wasn’t jus lawn clippings she used. Sometimes it was straw .
Green mulch benefits bacteria, and Brown mulch benefits fungi in the root zone. Controlling the populations of either or both can provide much needed support for the plants. Some plants benefit from a bacterial dominance, some from fungal dominance. Some like an even mix, or will benefit more from one in vegetative growth and the other when it is fruiting or going to seed. The microbes are present no matter, knowing which and when to feed them is the hard part.
@@shanahaines7182 I do not find any imbalance as I amend my soil with compost in between seasons. I usually use about a 1 inch layer of pine needles under "mature" plants.
@@stevecookson3201 Thank you. I have so many pine needles in my yard, but I've been told not to use them as mulch. Having this as an option is going to save money. Thank you.
Grateful still....to hear about this. Sometimes I need......repetition. But/And we mostly dump grass clippings in the flower beds....that we want/require to be....flat/not producing weeds. We have south walls that we can dump clippings...that can rot along over winter time. Emotional life here...confusing our efforts briefly. Now....the South wall is the growing place over the winter.....of course!!! I am planning to obtain a small greenhouse....for cold weather plants. Growing things.....gives me great pleasure. Thk you for your videos!!! Ahna USA
Wow I did the same and I'm not proud of it my lawn has been completely overrun with wild violets 2 or 3 different clovers and a few other weeds there's a little grass in there as well lol. I do actually leave a few good size areas of the violets for the bees tho they love it
Love this idea as I have to mow 3 1/2 acres weekly, if we aren’t having a drought season here in MO. I didn’t realize I could be using it fresh cut grass.
I have a completely diverse lawn as well. And one great thing about them is that they always look great just after you cut them....when all the weeds are at the same height! ...hahaha Thanks for watching @CCC ! Paul
Mulch keeps weeds down. Weeds steal nutrients from the target plants. But also mulch keeps soil healthy. Constant breaking down of organic materials keeps soil healthy
I dont have many weeds. We cut lawn at 3.5 inches high and that keeps most weed seeds from germinating. We use a hand weeding tool also. Dont need diversity or chemicals.
The issue with grass clippings is grass seed, i already have a hard time to eliminate the weed from my garden beds and containers, but i agree this is the best fertilizer, results are amazing!
@@AppletonPermaculture Not true! It all depends of the variety and specification, anyway 99% of the gardeners i know lawn casual grass in their garden!
@@AppletonPermaculture What do you know about gardening? Not that much i suppose, i am a commercial farmers since 5 years and i can tell you two things! 1- Hybrid varieties aren't producing infertile seed ( Hybrid is just cross breeding) 2- I have never meet and infertile variety or seen commercial seeds with infertile fruit seeds or flower seeds characteristic, tough it might exist! Please know your subject before doubling up a nonsense because of a lack of knowledge!
Grass clippings are also great when planting garlic in the fall. I first put my bulbs in and cover the whole area with 2” of clippings that I save or from the very last cutting. It stays there over winter protecting it from cold and well into spring time by which time garlic starts to poke right through with no problem whatsoever.
I did that but first I put layers of newspaper down then covered it with grass from the yard being mowed. It was great for weed control plus it kept the ground from drying out. The other added benefit is that it composted in the garden plus the earthworms put their castings back in the soil. It was a win win solution.
I go the extra step of laying down a single layer of newspaper at the beginning of the season before putting down the first layer of grass. This really almost completely stops weeds from germinating and growing in my garden. By the end of the season it has completely broken down and can be tilled right back into the soil.
@@gulfstream7235 Newsagents regularly have piles of unsold newspapers they they put out for trash and are happy to have you take some off their hands. Libraries offer them as well.
Best compost my wife and I used is (1) one large container 10 gallon is good .sealable (2) one large container of Greek live yoghurt . (3) half a can of molasses . (4) left over veg / grass cutting / fruit peel / leaves or anything you can get your hands on . (5) fill container with water . (6) after a few days - crack the seal the let the gasses out and repeat every few days . (7) after 3 weeks ( depending on ambient temp ) you can use the fertilizer - dilute ten parts fertilizer and one part water . We also grind up eggshells and bury them a few inches down .
Kind of was forced to this because we live in a very dry area and I don't have access to the standard materials people use as mulch. Unfortunately I usually have to decide whether to use my green grass to heat up my compost pile or to use it as a mulch. The other thing I use the grass for is as a mulch between my beds as I don't have access to wood chips/dust, although I do use some card box sheets below it to stop some of the harder weeds from coming through.
Good idea, I will try that, I normally mix the grass cutting with the compost bin from the house waste, leave it for a month and turn it over, plenty of wildlife is in there! The other method I do is about two weeks before the start of the season I dig about six inches of one part of the allotment and fill the ditch with fresh grass cuttings, return the soil and leave it, you can see the mound slowly dropping, just before planting I turn this over and it is alive with worms and such and it produces lovely vegs.
With your dandelion, it's important to keep in mind, they bring calcium up from deeper soil...so it may be beneficial to chop and drop them rather than removing them totally.
I have a few big dandelions that I let grow in a bed which I prune every so often and sprinkle around the garden. They grow deep into the soil and the trimmings are really beneficial.
I'm definitely am going to be doing this tomorrow for my green beans since they have already had popped out of the ground! This definitely looks a lot easier to deal with instead of chopping up all of the dead tree leaves that I have collected from fall time! Really hopeful that it's really nice tomorrow because I have been wanting to do a lot of gardening this year and it's killing me that I have to wait for sooo long!!
Great video man, I've always use my grass clips as mulching and building my soil. Been telling my friends and neighbour's but some dont believe that I do that or they just can't be bothered to do. But it's not hard work at all
I am totally agree with you my friend nothing better than grass mulching.I been doing for 40 years I am gaining lots of benefits. Grass mulching for ever .regards
I mulch 5 inch thick fresh cut grass and shreaded (with a lawn mower) maple leaves. I do this every year and my soil is now like 50% organic materials and works great
I am the guy your neighbors call the crazy guy, I told my 1 neighbor that when it comes to my yard, I have decided 1 thing If I grow on it ,I don't have to mow it, no matter what I grow. I'm currently expanding my garden, right now My 1st mow may be today, or tomorrow. If I can reduce my "Lawn Farm" space by another 30%, I can actually look forward to" not mow" but Harvesting Mulch.
AMEN! I just ran out of woodchips and 'hilled' my potatoes with grass clippings. I'm a deep mulch gardener as I'm blessed with heavy wet clay soil *ugh* love law cuttings, woodchips, leaves, staw/hay (no seed) ! yay
The grass clippings provide 70% of the yearly nutrition your lawn needs. Collecting them will require you to fertilize the lawn with more chemicals than by just leaving them where they fall, even if they don't get mulched. The white stuff making clumps inside your mulch piles is mycelium and it's the fungus that is breaking it down.
This must not apply to my yard. The grass is still there , and green. We don't even water the grass. I find it wasteful to water it. When the water needs to go to the garden instead. It also rain a lot, year round.
My garden beds are made from soil chickens make from my composting board waste sit slightly uphill from my yard. My yard has gotten thicker healthier because of compost tea action when it rains... No chemical lawn fertilizer. Work with natural cycles.
I have been using both grass and garden clippings for the past 20 years, never throw them away. Grass clippings is the best because it had been cut down into tiny pieces of grass, hence it will decompose faster. After a few years you will notice your soil become tender and soft.
@@common-sense99 Nobody said it was rhizobium. I said it was mycelium. Rhizobium lives in root nodules. Mycelium is just mold decaying the organic matter.
I use as many grass clippings as I can. I wish people would give me theirs too! I layer them with other materials like leaves, food scraps and plant scraps. I put them around my veggies and flowers. I cant get enough of them!!
rain was coming in. my grandparent's farm-neighbor had to choose between putting up the yield of partially dried hay or leaving it to get rained on. their silo "spontaneously" combusted because the hay was wet.
When putting the grass around plants, I would try and leave an inch or two clear around the stem. The grass is very wet when cut and pressed against the stem it can promote mould or rot to set in. The wetter ground under the grass will also encourage birds and other animals into the garden who will take great delight in eating other bugs that are on or around your plants like caterpillars or slugs.
I started mulching with clippings two seasons ago but found many of the plants showing nutrient deficiencies. Did you experience anything similar? A general purpose liquid feed soon fixed it but it was something I was very wary of last year.
I have a large rural yard, and use a riding mower. I cut in the perimeter of my yard with the discharge going towards the center, which culminates in a pile of clippings. The next day, I go around and gather those piles for my compost area. So far I've filled 3 raised beds with compost made from these clippings along with leaves and kitchen scraps. My plants are doing great. It is like getting free soil. For me all the fussing around is good exercise and rewarding. I also mulch my plants with the clippings and do the Ruth Stout method for my potatoes. I can go out to the garden any time in the summer, part the mulch and pick a couple of potatoes right off the ground for supper. Just like picking tomatoes. No digging needed.
This method works well when you don't have snails and slugs around. Otherwise one will give them a perfect hiding ground with the grass mulch. For pest ridden areas it would be better to compost the grass with cardboard, paper or wood chips mixed in and then use the compost to mulch. Compost does not attract slugs as much.
I have this slug and inchworm problem where I live in the Northern Midwest. So we use little containers of near-beer to attract and drown the slugs. Diatomaceous Earth works against the inchworms.
Well, sorry, but I prefer to drink the beer myself 😉 But I found out that putting some lavender or peppermit around my seedlings helps keeping the slugs away from my young seedlings. Everything else actually failed, even the slug poison.
We usually get two bags of grass clipping and one goes to garden for mulching and one goes into the chicken yard. Every six weeks or so, I clean it out and put the dried grass and droppings into the compost pile. Even a neighbor gives me his grass clippings. We planted sweet potatoes and okra today and placed a two inch layer of grass clippings on top. It looked great. #PressOnRegardless.
I will try this. Yesterday I mowed the lawn and threw away an entire trash can full. Though I will say it must not be very windy where you live. Where I live they say if its not snowing, its blowing. The grass clippings fly quickly. But ill still try it :) thanks for the tips!
Dad used to mulch the lanes in the garden to keep the weeds out. Then he'd ad it in the beds in the fall after harvest. Weeds have loads of nutrients. Put them back in the dirt
I discovered this method from a Lituanian woman at my Allotments I used to cut the grass and dump it . That has now changed.
🇮🇪🇪🇺
I've been using grass clippings as a mulch for 25 years. It works perfectly and also reduces weed germination.
But how do you cope with the slugs. The grass clippings promote more slugs.
Do i need to dry them first?
@@tati9381 By keeping an army of Ducks
I have always used my grass clippings for mulch.
Beer in (rinsed out) tuna fish can. Slugs love it.
As I've long joked (particularly to lawn owners), 'Grass is the only crop we plant, water, fertilize, propagate, harvest...and then throw in the garbage.
Well, if you're raising kids it's got value, they can learn soccer on it
Yeah, and throw out the leaves and prunings, and buy in mulch
That's because in the past, having a lawn was a sign of wealth enjoyed only by royalty and large landowners who did not need to use the land for agriculture. That mindset has been passed down to us today even though people don't understand where it came from.
@@billclinton6040 Well pointed out, Mr. President
@@billclinton6040 'Your home is your castle.'
Greetings from Transylvania ( North of Romania ).
We do the same with moved grass .
It is very nice to see how people who have the same passions find the same solutions, no matter where they live! All the best and good health !
Thanks very much for taking a look at my channel Vasile!
...and Good luck on your garden this year.
Paul
I watched all the Vampire movies, including Blackula with Richard Roundtree. Do you have any Vampires left there?
@@robertkat Vampire stories are just legends from Europe's medieval past. Today they are speculated by those who have businesses in tourism and are served to tourists . All the best for you , bye Robert !
Greetings from Australia Vasile, composter in place, and passionate gardener here too. It is interesting to see how people do this all around the world. I think people are benefiting tremendously from permaculture principles. One of which is ,always cover and protect your soil.
All good advice. I'll add mine: Of you have chickens, throw a bag or two of clippings in their enclosure too - my chickens love grass clippings. They enjoy scratching through the pile, and whatever they eat provides vitamins and nutrients almost for free.
Chicken books say avoid feeding mowed grass cuttings due to oil contamination. Just a thought.
I do this too. Battery mower, so oil contamination not likely
Gardening and yardwork are the therapy that helps to ease each day's stresses. Happy to see someone else advocating grass-mulch!! One seasonal task I enjoy doing is allowing most of the autumn leaves to remain on the ground. I will pick up some because I keep an area for making leaf mulch to use throughout the year, but the rest of the leaves stay on the ground. Once the end of winter comes and the grass starts growing through the leaves, I cut/bag all of it together to use as my initial mulch layer in the gardens for the new year. It's a great nitrogen/carbon mix that takes minimal work, and it breaks down beautifully in the garden beds. The excess mulch, I use to start a new compost pile for the year, and the cycle continues!
Thanks for your comments @Sandra!
It's always a good feeling to know you're wasting nothing and recycling everything in the garden.
Paul
Please don't forget the wild bees. They live deep in the earth and are killed by cutted grass that is too thick. They fertilize so many more flowers than honey bees.
I used to collect so many fresh grass clippings from just one neighbor that I always had enough to mulch the garden weekly, with plenty left over for composting. In the fall, this neighbor gave me enough leaves to fill two large leaf bins, 4'x4'x6', deeply mulch the garden, and top off the compost pile for the season. All that mulching, plus the liberal us of compost, really improved the garden soil. Love working with free resources!
In Albuqueque, I used grass clippings to mulch the hard, sandy soil outside my apartment. After a couple of years the soil improved tremendously. I could take a steel rod 3 feet long and easily push it all the way into the ground.
I made forest floor pathways with my grass waste, instead of a pile, I dumped it in a trail, and it kept the path all summer
I'd like to see the end result of this
@@robharrison1191 cool, I’ll go make a video in a moment
@@amandathurston2720 that's what I'm talking about!! Quick response and even making a video. Right on!!
I've been doing this for years; and, I agree, it's been one of the best things for keeping moisture in the soil and for creating excellent soil for the future. Great video for those that maybe had never thought to do this. I also add my grass/plant clippings to my potted plants.
Same.
Yes, maybe as long as there's no grass, or weed seeds from the lawn. And clippings aren't around the base of garden plants and to thick, as some plants may suffer. 👍
What about weeds spreading which came from grass weeds
@@javaInter compost it first. It kills the seeds
Dr
I started adding the grass clippings to all my flower beds last year and this year I have ZERO weeds in my flower beds. Definitely try it!!! Also, pull up your dandelions (the yellow) flower and make dandelion tea. its very healthy!!!❤️
That's great @SCJ Johnson!
I'm glad it's working out for you! Thanks very much for watching.
Paul
Careful with dandelion tea. It used in Chinese medicine and can cause diarrhea in somepeople.
@@sunhannah2937 not to mention dog piss on it.
@@420somewhere4 most people clean their food before eating
Be aware of what types of fertilizers/pesticides you, your lawn people, or the previous owners have used in the grass. You can test the soil your grass grows in if you are concerned with residual chemicals. Just send a sample to a lab you find online.
I have been mulching it directly on my plants since my high school days. Thanks for my Agriculture practical class back in the 1980s.
I take care of my lawn just as much as my garden... To me mowing my lawn is not a chore, I actually enjoy it!! Having a nice looking lawn, and garden for that matter, increases the curb appeal of your home...
I’ve been covering my garden in grass clippings for years. It really helps me keep up with the weeds. If some grass or weeds are poking through, I just get the weed whacker and cut them down, then cover with more clippings. After a few weeks, my garden has a nice little blanket on it to protect it from the hot west tennessee sun.
I have been using grass mulch heavily in my garden since 1969... People argue with me saying I am crazy. But I don't care since I enjoy ten times more veggies every year than them. :) I never fertilize and if I should get any weeds, they pull out easily. Thanks for sharing. Everyone should use grass clippings...
That's fantastic @Cherokee Rose! I'm glad it's worked out so well for you all this time.
Thanks for watching!
Paul
This is a good idea. As for the grass in the compost pile, it doesn't clump up nearly as much when it is mixed properly with the right amount of carbon material.
Without enough carbon it won't even compost at all but just turn into mush.
@@christopherstein2024 rather like silage
What sort of carbon material, please?
@AZ-zn9lgpretty sure used coffee grounds are “greens” even though they are brown in colour, due to their high nitrogen content.
@@consi1801 Hi, I use wood chips in the compost as browns to react with the Greens grass. Mine are finely ground from chipping tree branches, but a 2cf bag of pine bark is inexpensive and breaks down quickly. John Koler (growing your greens) talks about using pine bedding, cardboard and other stuff to make compost in a tumbler.
Cardboard makes a great mulch/weed barrier. Dump clippings on top and the cardboard serves as the "brown" material for mulch.
I do this when I make raised beds that sit on the ground. Cardboard kills off the weeds and gets the composting process started.
Yeah but depending on what you use it may contain bad chemicals
How do you water through cardboard? It blocks water.
@@tdestroyer4780 the cardboard breaks down rather quickly. The worms love it!
I do this… caution… if the grass is too think and it rains that grass is extremely slippery. I have taken three offs from this this year.
Yes, that is the best method and one that I use here in the UK especially as the rain has disappeared over May. By doing this I am keeping the moisture in the soil and in turn also adding richness to the soil. I 'farm' on sandy loam and it does not take long for the soil to dry out here.
I didn’t know about us using cut grass in my garden. I was putting it in my compost. Thank you so much!!!
You can also dig a trench in your vegetable garden, and line the bottom with a layer of grass. Then use a garden rake to cover the grass with a half inch to an inch of soil, then a layer of grass over that. Repeat the layers until you’ve used up the grass and soil. Earthworms seem to love this lasagna method, and will make short work of the grass.
I put a circulal depression around each plant fill it with grass clippings. Then water that area works like a sponge and you get a deep water.
I do this with my grow pots. Layer freshly cut grass with compost. The fresh grass breaks down while your vegies grow. Win, win.....😊
Thanks for the tip!, I have to try this
I've been doing that for years. My mother told me this 30 odd years ago.
@@jazradcliffe2286 There's a lot to be learned from the traditional ways of gardening, too many are being lost due to the ease of modern chemicals. One I've always used in the greenhouse is ladybugs, they eat the greenfly and their larva (evil looking little sods but harmless) can quite happily much on the fly, black, white, or green, they don't care.
I have been using my grass clipping in this way on all my cared for yard areas. Around my plants, and Lilac bushes. I have been doing this for 30 years. It keeps down weeds, feeds the plants and the soil that was mostly clay is now a home to earthworms and is healthy soil. It keeps moisture in the soil as well. I even use leaves in the fall to cover these areas over the winter
Just a question. Do you find by using grass as a mulch it gives slugs & snails access to the plants?
@@lesliegardner2692 I have never had issues with slugs or snails ... I also do not put any chemicals on my yard
@@dorothymartin8557 This may be true ... my yard is welcome to all creatures
Instead of raking the leaves I run the lawn mower over and collect the chopped up leaves and grass clippings together to spread on the gardens
I’m in!!!
Good to see this. I bag and have used grass clippings for years in a 300'x80' garden. One thing I watch for is later in the growing season when grass and other broadleaf weeds start to mature and have mature seed heads I skip using those clippings for mulch in the garden to prevent adding weed seeds to garden.
All my fall leaves along with grass clippings are spread, with a final tilling in late October.
With a full canopy of plants, along with clippings I have no weeds, even on my large pumpkin, squash, and watermelons.
Thank you! Years of grass clipping around my mom's house wasted to no use. So now I'm will use this method.. Thanks again..
I have never heard a more Midwestern accent in my life lol. Great video.
I thought it was canadian
I think he sounds almost like Rick Steves and he is a west coaster. California and Washington
Composted grass is pure gold for any garden.
After 50yrs of gardening I will try this at first time this spring.
I've been doing this for years and it works fantastic! You will be pleased. When I first tried it on recommendation of an old time gardener, I was hesitant thinking I would be introducing a lot of unwanted seeds into my garden.. That didn't seem to be an issue and my garden stays manicured and easy to keep. Good luck with your garden this year!
I do it every year.my I can walk barefoot in my garden and it feels like a carpet and no weeds.and my vegetables are great tasting.
I've been doing this instinctively, but am so happy to hear all the details that I didn't know. Thank you so much!
My uncle used to do that over 46yrs ago. I'm 56 & he died when I was 10. I remember him doing the compost both ways. His yard was over an acre. I bought a lawn sweep 2 days ago hoping my neighbor would allow me collect the dried grass. She calls me up when I was about to leave home depot w the sweep. She asked if I had anything to pick up the grass. I laughed out loud. Had to explain why I was laughing. Perfect timing. 5 55g bags of dried clippings & I didn't do the whole yard. It went directly on the garden. I was tickled & she was too less strain on her mower.
Living here in east hawaii (big island), we have unique problems when trying to grow food & manage grass for lawns & grazing. I really appreciate this posting & comments by subscribers. Keep up the good work.
I use most of my grass clippings around my tomatoes. We have an awful problem with blight here, and a nice thick covering of grass clippings on the soil prevents the dirt from splashing up on my plants, giving me a big reduction in blight on my plants. When my toms are happy I'm happy.
I use this method for many years, and is indeed the best!!!
Man of the earth. Does not hesitates to use his bare hands. Very endearing😊
Maybe, but it's also how you get infections 😬
We mulched around our raspberry canes with grass clippings. In time a fungus attacked the growing layer at the base of the canes and they withered and died. So take care not to let the mulch have too much contact with plant stems.
Great tip.
Thanks.
hmmm, i mulch with woodchips and pine needles around raspberries... wonder if grass just doesnt work well with forest type berries?
@@johnp7158 think about the type of environment that your plants cone from in their natural form.
With strawberries, currants, and cane berries, they are more from a understorey, with rotted leaf litter. So plan accordingly, I use both straw mulches (or grass clippings) for nitrogen and rotted woodchip or a mixture of woodchip and compost.
@@johnp7158 could it be too much nitrogen from the fresh grass clippings being absorbed by the tree?
Dandelion & thistles are highly nutritious! Throw them in your smoothie, I’ve done this for years 🍀
Mulch plantings every year. Btw. After one applies the grass clippings , if your plantings are in a wind prone area. Water it light spray till thurrily moist
It kinds acts like glue to hold it together in the wind
Been doing this for years. It's a wonderful way to maintain soil moisture and block weeds.
I love this method, and do it every growing season. The grass forms a moisturizing barrier. The ground stays warm, but not hot. If weeds come up, it seems they are a bit easier to pull, as the soil is not compacted, and dry. I don't mind raking, as it gives me time to think. Lately, my brain is too full of things That are stressful, thanks to our present government. The garden is definitely the best place to be.
Lovely talk
Is the global government . At the moment it seems that people don’t care about peace and prosperity
One of the best things I ever bought was a yard sweeper that I drag behind my riding mower. No bagging or raking. I can dump the load of grass clippings and in the fall leaves, directly into my garden beds. This saves so much work and time.
I LOVE my yard sweeper!! Basically I'm bagging up my own mulch. It is absolutely brilliant
I did this for the first time and i had some awesome fertilizer it looked better than anything I have bought at lowes or HD but my pile was spread out
I was told about using grass for garden couple yrs ago. I love this! Does great job controlling weeds and at end of summer when I clear the garden I still add grass clippings until no longer mowing and it helps to make the garden soil very rich for thr next yr.
I have done this for over 40 years. It works beautifully.
I do this around my roses. I keep the mulch pulled back from the base of the rosebush as the clippings can heat up as they decompose. I thought it might cause weeds in the lawn to sprout in the garden, but that hasn’t happened. I found it increases earth worms in the garden that can attract animals like possums to dig for them, but that’s OK. We are in drought conditions and are not looking forward to a long, hot summer, but mulching will help retain water. Thanks for the nice video and for encouraging others to do this.
I like the way you think, I have wood chips in my gardens and the weeds break through them in time and don’t hold moisture for that long, so I’ll try adding lawn clippings on top water and layer them both and see how it goes hopping the wood chips will break down faster as well.
I’ve been using grass clippings for several years in the garden. It’s great for holding moisture and weed suppression. I’m glad you’re sharing it with everyone. Thank you!
I use grass to hold down weeds too but does anyone realize you are introducing millions of grass seed as you are doing this.
@@ronskancke1489
Ya have to cut it when it’s short, before it goes to seed.
Other great grass tip... The final mow in autumn before cold winters (where it freezes) when ya usually cut lower than usual.. don't just put into garden for mulch... Dig it all under into the garden before winter freeze hits - tried it and garden soil this yr has more worms than I've ever seen in soil!! Gotta imagine the nitrogen released from the green clippings into soil over composting winter within soil helps too - so far so good and will do it every year!
Yes, I've done this too with the same results, loads of worms, great soil texture, and good crop yields... green manure...
Do you mean till the grass clippings into the soil?
I am not a gardener despite I am a floral designer but, I cut the grass in my little patio since I purchased a weed trimmer. Now I know what to do with the cut grass....thank you SO MUCH!
I’m glad this works for a lot of you. For me, the grass prevents rain from getting through, and layers of dry powdery white stiff developed. Also the grass heats up to very high temps! We use a mulching blade. I compost all yard and kitchen waste & wish I had 10 times the amounts we have.
We have a huge spare lot, which is now a combination of raised beds for organic vegetables and other areas for hardy NYS perennial flowers. Some spaces have a combination of annuals, dahlias, broomcorn, Mexican sunflowers, typical sunflowers, geraniums, nasturtiums, and much much more. If I wanted to have it all "perfect", I would have to live in the yard. I can't wait for my husband to mow the grass every week, because I am always "desperate" for the clippings for all the reasons you mentioned. I could never keep up with the weeding, keep our soil loose, receptive to the rain and fight the "clay" without those valuable clippings. I also get untreated grass from some lawn care friends. I found your video by accident. You did an excellent job; I hope many gardeners learn from you. I love picking stone, organically enriching my soil, finding sources for composted cow manure and so on as much as enjoying the harvest and giving away flowers, vegetables and herbs. There is nothing more satisfying than hearing my own reasons for loving grass clippings validated by someone who expressed my own thoughts much better than I ever could have done. I hope the multitudes listen, because their gardens will thank them and so will their backs and knees....and also those valuable worms. I will subscribe to your channel, of course. Thanks 1,000,000 for your efforts.
Thanks SO MUCH Sue! Sounds like you have a GREAT garden. I've also used straw a lot too. Check out the local farmers to see if they have excess bales that they want to sell. If you buy a lot you can get a discount sometimes. I've used straw for mulching many times and it can last 2-3 years before it gets incorporated into the soil.
Thanks for supporting my channel!
Paul
Nice video of a certain perspective on composting. I no longer grow vegetables due to too many problems with insects and leaf blight. I use a lot of weed killer on my grass and so never used my compost for my vegetable gardening. I compost in bins made from pallets so the area of each 4 bins is 4 x 4 feet. It takes four bins about a calendar year to produce a full bin of finished compost depending on how often I turn it and how much grass I add each time I turn it. The grass matting in the grass pile is a hassle but when adding to a pile you can spread the layers apart and spray them with a hose and they will com apart. The heating of the grass and the compost piles is evidence that the plant material is breaking down. It is a normal process. However you don't want it to get too hot. Much over 140 and you start to kill the bugs, worms and beneficial bacteria that help break down the plant matter. If your temp gets too hot turn the pile. When you turn a pile you want the inside if the pile to be on the outer side of the new pile and the outer part of the old pile to be inside the new pile. If when turning a and it has a sweet earthy smell it is doing good. If it stinks like mold or some other foul smell it's too wet. in this case add some leaves or wood chips or more grass through the pile but don't add water. When building a compost pile you need green material, brown material and water. Green material is not necessarily the color of the thing. leaves wood chips are brown. Grass clippings and kitchen waste are green. If the grass clippings are brown and dry or have turned black because they have started to decompose they are still green. What matters is the contents of what they are made of. You can easily find charts of what is good for composting and what is not. Coffee grounds and egg shell are great and easy for most. Coffee shops are often willing to save you their used coffee grounds. Starbucks is a good source as they are environmentally conscious. You want equal amounts of green and brown and only enough water to wet the plant matter. Turning the compost often to re-introduce air help oxygenate the pile and speeds decomposition. I have a large amount of leaves that I compost along with mine and my neighbors grass clippings. I produce about 16 square feet a year of compost that starts as three or four times that. I use a chipper/mulcher to break down my leaves twigs and small branches. layer by layer of green, water, brown water, repeat to build a pile. I use a 12 inch kitchen thermometer to keep track of the temp of my piles. I know this rambles. Sorry, trying to get everything in.
I used to have 3 pallet bins like you for composting. They were open on the ends so would add boards as needed. They just slid into place and the compost would hold them in place. I just put a board onto the end of the pallet leaving it stick out an inch or so to hold the slide in boards. The 2 middle pallets I just put a wider board to catch both sides. in the spring I would shovel the piles to the next bin. I would start by emptying the third bin with beautiful compost and then shovel the second bin into it and add water as needed. Then the first bin would be shoveled into the second bin and again add water as needed. Then the first bin I would start over with new compost again. It took 3 years from start to finish to get compost but after that you have a steady supply of compost. Throughout the year if the piles seemed to be dry I would add water to them but otherwise did nothing after that. The first pile was always the most shoveling and about half for the second one and half again for the third composted pile. I was always very happy with the compost. By leaving the compost out over winter the freezing breaks down the cellular structure of anything in the pile and makes it compost a lot easier. I lined the inside of the pallets with chicken wire and that helped a lot with the compost to come out easy and not build up in the pallets. If there was some I just left it and it always seemed to work out good.
Dale in Canada.
I should also mention that sometimes the flys would be attracted to the open compost so I would sprinkle on enough material to cover to keep them away. I used either dirt or rotted black manure or wood ashes. It also helped with the composting. Hope this helps someone.
Dale in Canada.
This was so informative. I’ve been piling my mowed grass, and what a waste it’s been. Thank you for sharing your practical advice. I’m definitely going to change how I manage my mowed grass in future
without any doubts this method is the best. i tried it for the first time 5 years ago and i 'm fully satisfied! You describe perfectly how to do!!!
Maybe for u cos u changing the PH of the soil, green grass clippings contain way too much Nitrogen, so actually u injecting ammonia into the soil. Just check the PH and u will see. So it's not better then composting, more effective? Perhaps, but I think not, actually u harming ur plants as well:
www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs142p2_040876.pdf
And with the Heat production u plants can burn out, they have enough problems in summer with the heat (depends on climate). Usually u do composting in place in the begining of winter or late fall, just mimic nature when the trees drop they leaves, thats the best time to prepare the growing area.
@@adamcsillag6058 no, my Ph Is about 7....( The same as 5 Yeats ago) In case of acidity you can spread ashes....Anyway, in my climate (60 km south from Milan) i had no problems at all with this method.
@@paolomaggi8188 Ok, plz read the article, u don't have to reinvent the wheel. There is much more to it, if u don't see it doesn't mean it's good. It's all written down, no shortcuts necessary. Imagine doing it correctly...
@@adamcsillag6058 thank you very much Adam for tour advice! the article Is very good!...but i don't want to make compost.(even though It might give me better results) The method of grass clipping mulch Is far more simple and give me good results..
@@paolomaggi8188 Yeah I tried to help but this way the plants have to compete for carbon. If you read it you already know it. About time - yes that is a big issue and u right nobody has it :D, u can put some brown material under it however, that will make the trick - in that thickness it's not gonna be a hot compost, but still can keep the moisture in - best of both worlds. But it DEPENDS, like always - no holy grail. If ur soil lacks nitrogen then... and this goes on and on... experiment, that's the best I can say, truly. I'm happy that u find the article useful, that's the best i found so far - no bla bla just the facts, and still I come to realize we as humans know nothing about nature, best if we mimic it as good as we can - we are just students in the Garden of Eden. In my country (Hungary) we used to call the garden: life. Where God and You creating a new world hand in hand.
Thanks a million for this tip cause the compost heap takes a long time to get ready for use.
I have already been using grass as mulch, and so am so happy to see you taking about this it works great, leaves 🍁 work in fall too
Best video ever on mulching..so genius..no waiting just mulch right away!!!
Thanks for your support Norlina! I'm glad it was helpful.
Paul
For my garden I mix grass clippings with soil, fine cedar mulch, and coffee grinds. Let is sit over winter and wow do my lily and iris's pop
Great tip mate, I got issues with my iris growing in winter here lol flowering , they are small and not growing into a good size they should be. I’ll try your method ,fingers crossed they do ok
This is the great vid on working wisely in the garden to save time/energy. Time for me to compost in place. Got my clippings, scraps, and my cam. It is a mulching and composting type of day. ⛏🧑🏾🌾
LOVE THIS!!!
I recently started using the bag on my mower to collect the clippings for my compost pile. Using the clippings in my flower bed will be an even better use for them!
I'm going to set my blade lower and re-mow my lawn to get started right away.
The lower your lawnmower blade, the more often you have to mow it.
Thank you for this. I like to mulch as much as I can with the materials I get from my yard. I look forward to watching your other videos.
My hit on thistle: it's a good decoy plant - it attracts bugs that like to eat nutrient-dense plants, no matter how they taste. The thistle in my strawberry patch draws all the leaf-eating bugs to it and spares my strawberry plants from being consumed by those bugs. Same thing for grape plants. So this year, I've been appreciating the thistle in my garden.
That's why I compost grass in thinner layers. Besides, if you turn the compost once in a while you prevent the issues mention in this vid as well.
God bless you for that, once upon a time o threw it in the green bin and the council took it, then I composted it but to do it this way will be my heaven on earth so thank you so much
You're welcome Wendy...Glad you saw the video!
Paul
It's been fun & challenging to find ways to use yard debris/cut grass in my small yard area in an apartment community. Instead of raking it to the curb for removal, that is. I used cut grass as mulch, as a budget decision. Good to know its benefits. It's definitely a win-win!
This method is sometimes called the Ruth Stout method. She highlighted it in her garden books about 50 years ago. It wasn’t jus lawn clippings she used. Sometimes it was straw .
Green mulch benefits bacteria, and Brown mulch benefits fungi in the root zone. Controlling the populations of either or both can provide much needed support for the plants. Some plants benefit from a bacterial dominance, some from fungal dominance. Some like an even mix, or will benefit more from one in vegetative growth and the other when it is fruiting or going to seed. The microbes are present no matter, knowing which and when to feed them is the hard part.
Been using grass clippings as mulch in my S.F.G. for years. also use straw (not hay) and used pine needles effectively as well.
Do you mulch the pine needles first? And do you find that it acidifies the soil?
@@shanahaines7182 I do not find any imbalance as I amend my soil with compost in between seasons. I usually use about a 1 inch layer of pine needles under "mature" plants.
@@stevecookson3201 Thank you. I have so many pine needles in my yard, but I've been told not to use them as mulch. Having this as an option is going to save money. Thank you.
Grateful still....to hear about this. Sometimes I need......repetition.
But/And we mostly dump grass clippings in the flower beds....that we want/require to be....flat/not producing weeds. We have south walls that we can dump clippings...that can rot along over winter time. Emotional life here...confusing our efforts briefly. Now....the South wall is the growing place over the winter.....of course!!! I am planning to obtain a small greenhouse....for cold weather plants. Growing things.....gives me great pleasure. Thk you for your videos!!! Ahna USA
Thanks for taking the time to check back again!
Paul
I turned my grass into a clover lawn, it took 3 years with continual seeding but it never looks dead, and I don't have to mow.
Looks like crap, when it goes to flower.
Wow I did the same and I'm not proud of it my lawn has been completely overrun with wild violets 2 or 3 different clovers and a few other weeds there's a little grass in there as well lol. I do actually leave a few good size areas of the violets for the bees tho they love it
Micro clovers have far fewer flowers.
@@JohnSmith-fq7hj Wild Violet leaves are tasty and mild. The flowers are edible too. 🌻
@@ahnstalk6261thanks! didn’t know violet leaves are eatable
Love this idea as I have to mow 3 1/2 acres weekly, if we aren’t having a drought season here in MO. I didn’t realize I could be using it fresh cut grass.
I love my weedy lawn. I love the diversity it brings. I cant believe people douse this earth with petrochemicals to get rid of the diversity.
I have a completely diverse lawn as well. And one great thing about them is that they always look great just after you cut them....when all the weeds are at the same height! ...hahaha
Thanks for watching @CCC !
Paul
I totally agree. Weeds and all in the yard. Never use any chemicals
Mulch keeps weeds down. Weeds steal nutrients from the target plants. But also mulch keeps soil healthy. Constant breaking down of organic materials keeps soil healthy
@@MatanuskaHIGH I keep my garden free of weeds, my lawn on the other hand is very weedy and I love it.
I dont have many weeds. We cut lawn at 3.5 inches high and that keeps most weed seeds from germinating. We use a hand weeding tool also. Dont need diversity or chemicals.
That was plantain being sprayed in the beginning… one of the best medicinal plants there is! I agree about the mulch .
The issue with grass clippings is grass seed, i already have a hard time to eliminate the weed from my garden beds and containers, but i agree this is the best fertilizer, results are amazing!
Commercial grass seed is a hybrid so any seeds the grass produces is infertile.
@@AppletonPermaculture
Not true! It all depends of the variety and specification, anyway 99% of the gardeners i know lawn casual grass in their garden!
@@AppletonPermaculture
What do you know about gardening? Not that much i suppose, i am a commercial farmers since 5 years and i can tell you two things!
1- Hybrid varieties aren't producing infertile seed ( Hybrid is just cross breeding)
2- I have never meet and infertile variety or seen commercial seeds with infertile fruit seeds or flower seeds characteristic, tough it might exist!
Please know your subject before doubling up a nonsense because of a lack of knowledge!
Been doing this for years, and never had a problem with seeds.. My garden stays clean.
I've just heard of this fantastic new invention, where they cut the Grass BEFORE it goes to seed!
I use it on my strawberrys , and potatoes .In containers .
Works for me .
Grass clippings are also great when planting garlic in the fall. I first put my bulbs in and cover the whole area with 2” of clippings that I save or from the very last cutting. It stays there over winter protecting it from cold and well into spring time by which time garlic starts to poke right through with no problem whatsoever.
Thanks for the tip!
Exactly, I am doing this and it is really good in Florida. I think it’s even better then mulch
I did that but first I put layers of newspaper down then covered it with grass from the yard being mowed. It was great for weed control plus it kept the ground from drying out. The other added benefit is that it composted in the garden plus the earthworms put their castings back in the soil. It was a win win solution.
What’s newspaper😂😂😂
Aren’t you concerned about the ink on the newspaper
I did this last year with my broccoli plants to keep them from drying out - worked great
I go the extra step of laying down a single layer of newspaper at the beginning of the season before putting down the first layer of grass. This really almost completely stops weeds from germinating and growing in my garden. By the end of the season it has completely broken down and can be tilled right back into the soil.
nice one
What's a newspaper? Gotten so expensive for 4 sheets of paper, I quit taking it; plus the ads were getting too many.
Need a shit load of newspapers for my lawn, Plus you can be guaranteed it'll be blowing a gale on the day in question...
@@gulfstream7235 Newsagents regularly have piles of unsold newspapers they they put out for trash and are happy to have you take some off their hands. Libraries offer them as well.
Best compost my wife and I used is
(1) one large container 10 gallon is good .sealable
(2) one large container of Greek live yoghurt .
(3) half a can of molasses .
(4) left over veg / grass cutting / fruit peel / leaves or anything you can get your hands on .
(5) fill container with water .
(6) after a few days - crack the seal the let the gasses out and repeat every few days .
(7) after 3 weeks ( depending on ambient temp ) you can use the fertilizer - dilute ten parts fertilizer and one part water .
We also grind up eggshells and bury them a few inches down .
Thanks for the tips. Quick question, would mulching crabgrass clippings lead to having more crabgrass next season? Thanks
Kind of was forced to this because we live in a very dry area and I don't have access to the standard materials people use as mulch. Unfortunately I usually have to decide whether to use my green grass to heat up my compost pile or to use it as a mulch. The other thing I use the grass for is as a mulch between my beds as I don't have access to wood chips/dust, although I do use some card box sheets below it to stop some of the harder weeds from coming through.
Good idea, I will try that, I normally mix the grass cutting with the compost bin from the house waste, leave it for a month and turn it over, plenty of wildlife is in there! The other method I do is about two weeks before the start of the season I dig about six inches of one part of the allotment and fill the ditch with fresh grass cuttings, return the soil and leave it, you can see the mound slowly dropping, just before planting I turn this over and it is alive with worms and such and it produces lovely vegs.
With your dandelion, it's important to keep in mind, they bring calcium up from deeper soil...so it may be beneficial to chop and drop them rather than removing them totally.
This man bones !
also the root of the dandelion is very medicinal and the flowers as well as the leaf are nutritious
I have a few big dandelions that I let grow in a bed which I prune every so often and sprinkle around the garden. They grow deep into the soil and the trimmings are really beneficial.
The bunnies keep taking my dandelions! They don't leave any for the guinea pigs. We had to buy them at the grocery store for a Greek recipe.
I'm definitely am going to be doing this tomorrow for my green beans since they have already had popped out of the ground! This definitely looks a lot easier to deal with instead of chopping up all of the dead tree leaves that I have collected from fall time! Really hopeful that it's really nice tomorrow because I have been wanting to do a lot of gardening this year and it's killing me that I have to wait for sooo long!!
That's great Lisa! Glad you found my channel.
Paul
Great video man, I've always use my grass clips as mulching and building my soil. Been telling my friends and neighbour's but some dont believe that I do that or they just can't be bothered to do. But it's not hard work at all
I am totally agree with you my friend nothing better than grass mulching.I been doing for 40 years I am gaining lots of benefits. Grass mulching for ever
.regards
I have been doing this for several years now, and my plants just rejoice. The grass forms a nice barrier, and looks good too.
I mulch 5 inch thick fresh cut grass and shreaded (with a lawn mower) maple leaves. I do this every year and my soil is now like 50% organic materials and works great
I am the guy your neighbors call the crazy guy, I told my 1 neighbor that when it comes to my yard, I have decided 1 thing
If I grow on it ,I don't have to mow it, no matter what I grow. I'm currently expanding my garden, right now
My 1st mow may be today, or tomorrow.
If I can reduce my
"Lawn Farm" space by another 30%, I can actually look forward to" not mow" but Harvesting Mulch.
this is eyes opening!! I just cut a pile of grass today that can feed 3 cows for a couple of days !! I was wondering what to do with it
We were told to save some work cutting grass was to water your lawn with beer. That way the grass comes up half cut.
Hmm. Wouldn’t beer make it grow faster? Beer always makes my desire grow for another beer.
Boom tisssh! 😅
...but if the grass doesn't consent to consume alcohol, isn't this abuse?... Just trying to be politically correct here!😉
@@rcat32 I'm not sure. So are you going to start a Grassroots movement to get to the bottom of this.
AMEN! I just ran out of woodchips and 'hilled' my potatoes with grass clippings. I'm a deep mulch gardener as I'm blessed with heavy wet clay soil *ugh* love law cuttings, woodchips, leaves, staw/hay (no seed) ! yay
The grass clippings provide 70% of the yearly nutrition your lawn needs. Collecting them will require you to fertilize the lawn with more chemicals than by just leaving them where they fall, even if they don't get mulched. The white stuff making clumps inside your mulch piles is mycelium and it's the fungus that is breaking it down.
This must not apply to my yard. The grass is still there , and green. We don't even water the grass. I find it wasteful to water it. When the water needs to go to the garden instead. It also rain a lot, year round.
My garden beds are made from soil chickens make from my composting board waste sit slightly uphill from my yard. My yard has gotten thicker healthier because of compost tea action when it rains... No chemical lawn fertilizer. Work with natural cycles.
I have been using both grass and garden clippings for the past 20 years, never throw them away. Grass clippings is the best because it had been cut down into tiny pieces of grass, hence it will decompose faster. After a few years you will notice your soil become tender and soft.
White is not always rhizobium.
White can be the anaerobic actino mycetes which is very toxic to plants.
@@common-sense99 Nobody said it was rhizobium. I said it was mycelium. Rhizobium lives in root nodules. Mycelium is just mold decaying the organic matter.
I use as many grass clippings as I can. I wish people would give me theirs too! I layer them with other materials like leaves, food scraps and plant scraps. I put them around my veggies and flowers. I cant get enough of them!!
Same here! I layer with horse poo & leaves etc sometimes.my garden thrives!
As in life: everything in moderation. Thin layer prevents most issues.
rain was coming in. my grandparent's farm-neighbor had to choose between putting up the yield of partially dried hay or leaving it to get rained on. their silo "spontaneously" combusted because the hay was wet.
When putting the grass around plants, I would try and leave an inch or two clear around the stem. The grass is very wet when cut and pressed against the stem it can promote mould or rot to set in. The wetter ground under the grass will also encourage birds and other animals into the garden who will take great delight in eating other bugs that are on or around your plants like caterpillars or slugs.
yeah, great tip.
Thank you. I can tell your whole being is in your garden
I always add grass as mulch. Saves money and replaces nutrients to soil.
I started mulching with clippings two seasons ago but found many of the plants showing nutrient deficiencies. Did you experience anything similar?
A general purpose liquid feed soon fixed it but it was something I was very wary of last year.
Who?
@@davebox588 No, I haven't. But will be aware of that factor.
@@davebox588 I have added fish emulsion. It is a little stinky though.
I have a large rural yard, and use a riding mower. I cut in the perimeter of my yard with the discharge going towards the center, which culminates in a pile of clippings. The next day, I go around and gather those piles for my compost area. So far I've filled 3 raised beds with compost made from these clippings along with leaves and kitchen scraps. My plants are doing great. It is like getting free soil. For me all the fussing around is good exercise and rewarding. I also mulch my plants with the clippings and do the Ruth Stout method for my potatoes. I can go out to the garden any time in the summer, part the mulch and pick a couple of potatoes right off the ground for supper. Just like picking tomatoes. No digging needed.
This method works well when you don't have snails and slugs around. Otherwise one will give them a perfect hiding ground with the grass mulch. For pest ridden areas it would be better to compost the grass with cardboard, paper or wood chips mixed in and then use the compost to mulch. Compost does not attract slugs as much.
Yeah, in wetter climates with slugs and such mulch like this is a death sentence.
In the desert where I live I love this grass move.
Qqqqaqqaaaqq
Jup, good ole slugs here in Germany just love grass mulch!
I have this slug and inchworm problem where I live in the Northern Midwest. So we use little containers of near-beer to attract and drown the slugs. Diatomaceous Earth works against the inchworms.
Well, sorry, but I prefer to drink the beer myself 😉
But I found out that putting some lavender or peppermit around my seedlings helps keeping the slugs away from my young seedlings. Everything else actually failed, even the slug poison.
We usually get two bags of grass clipping and one goes to garden for mulching and one goes into the chicken yard. Every six weeks or so, I clean it out and put the dried grass and droppings into the compost pile. Even a neighbor gives me his grass clippings. We planted sweet potatoes and okra today and placed a two inch layer of grass clippings on top. It looked great. #PressOnRegardless.
Hand picking the weeds worked out for me.
I will try this. Yesterday I mowed the lawn and threw away an entire trash can full. Though I will say it must not be very windy where you live. Where I live they say if its not snowing, its blowing. The grass clippings fly quickly. But ill still try it :) thanks for the tips!