Topic: Lawn cuttings as a mulch

[seebee]

Have just moved into a house with a big garden - plums, greengages, damsons, pears ,apples and a fruit cage. Also have 3 veg patches. Am growing a few things at the moment but as the soil is clay, need to dig in lots of compost. Can I use Lawn clippings straight onto the soil and then wait for a few days and then dig them in? I have got a compost heap and it is growing by the day with weeds being added.

[saddad]

Yes... next year use them to earth up potatoes, you can get a good thatch along the ridge which keeps in moisture and keeps out light!
 ;D

[SnooziSuzi]

Was watching re-runs (or would they be reused??) GW programmes on Sky a few weeks ago and they said to put down some wet newspaper first and then the grass.  I've yet to do it but it sounds plausible.

One of the old guys on the allotments said to me that he never puts grass into his composter because it was too sharp...  Not really sure what he meant by that though and I still put it in mine along with every thing else!

[ACE]

Make sure the lawn wasn't treated with feed and weed.  I pile fresh cuttings around the base of the trees in my orchard. I have also in the past dug it in fresh on a new bed, but I did not plant it for a month, no problems as long as it is short grass with no seed heads.

[louise stella]

As my plot was new to me this year - I had to use whatever I could get hold of to improve the soil.  I used copius amounts of lawn clippings and horse pooh to mulch my beans and courgettes etc....  I cleared away the beans yesterday and the soil is fantastic! 

The chap next to me is a brilliant old guy = a professional gardener by trade (retired) but his plot is totally devoid of any mulch or compost - he either burns it or takes it to the dump!!!!  What a waste!  Oh! - and he digs for England - wheras mine is no dig - other than the flipping couch grass which still pops up here and there.

All my mulching has kept the water in and the nutrients are getting returned to the soil.  I can't wait till the compost heap is ready to spread!!

Louise

[Barnowl]

If you have a shredder it's worth mixing the paper shreds in with your lawn cuttings in the compost - helps aerate the cuttings and stops them getting slimy. Also meant to achieve some sort of chemical balance but can't remember what!

[SnooziSuzi]

Also meant to achieve some sort of chemical balance but can't remember what!

Good tip!  I believe that the paper would help to neutralise the nitrogen in the grass clippings; it's classed as 'brown' waste for the compo bin so would probably serve a similar purpose as mulch.

[Clayhithe]

Also meant to achieve some sort of chemical balance but can't remember what!

Good tip!  I believe that the paper would help to neutralise the nitrogen in the grass clippings; it's classed as 'brown' waste for the compo bin so would probably serve a similar purpose as mulch.

Grass contains lots of nitrogen (and water)
paper contains lots of carbon (and no water)

The bugs that compost the paper and grass need carbon,  nitrogen and water.

If you don't provide carbon the grass goes slimy and anaerobic (ugh)
If you don't provide nitrogen the paper remains uncomposted for ages until the nitrogen-fixing Azotobacter start to grow (yawn)
Nothing composts without water.

Sorry,  I just happened to know that

[Barnowl]

Thanks Clayhithe - 'tis as I should have remembered  :)