Grass Clippings, Mulch, Green Manure
Acer rubrum To Zyzyphus jujuba
Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams
Chronicles of a Footloose Forester
By Dick Pellek
Grass Clippings, Fertilizer, Green Manure
Tis now the season when homeowners around the country get out the lawnmowers, fertilizer spreaders, and weed whackers in their yearly quest to make their lawns more presentable.
Mowing the lawn is usually the first step: a starting point to kill off weeds as well as getting more direct exposure to the surface of the ground that may benefit from fresh grass seed, or a weed & feed product that promises to beautify the lawn while simplifying the process. New grass seed may be desirable in some cases, and weed & feed is a tried and true approach, but we should not ignore the other fundamentals in lawn care that may not get much attention.
It doesn’t matter much what kind of mower is used, the results are the same—cut grass. That assumes of course that their lawns are of grass. Many desert dwellers have lawns but it would be a bit speculative to say that what passes for a lawn is necessarily composed of grass. In any case, the usual lawn maintenance contrivances are usually present; to achieve the expected appearance of a typical lawn. But what to do with the grass clippings? Collect them and put them into trash bags to be hauled away? Or save the clippings to be put into a compost pile? Or allow the clippings to be returned to the lawn as you mow?
Mulching devices on many power mowers allow the user to collect the clippings and/or create mulch for return directly into the soil. It is convenient to have several options, but it is unfortunate that many people don’t take advantage of the options, or even consider the merits of options. The grass clippings are, after all, useful resources that can be used in various environmentally friendly ways.
grass clippings can be incorporated directly or collected for targeted distribution
Grass clippings that are returned directly into the soil as mulch can also be considered as “green manure” that fertilizes the lawn immediately after it is cut. Fortunately, there is a higher concentration of plant nutrients found in the tips of grass plants than elsewhere in the grass plant. Returning the grass clippings directly back into the soil as fresh green manure thus decreases the overall demand for fertilizer; and when considered as mulch, the fresh clippings help to maintain the moisture content in the soil while simultaneously shielding surface areas vulnerable to weeds.
Collected clippings can also be used as mulch for targeted areas around the base of lawn chairs, ornaments, and along borders where weeds tend to gain an advantage. The green color of the clippings provides an aesthetically pleasing blanket while serving the same essential role as the lawn itself. Also, a layer of grass clippings in bare spots effectively hides obvious blemishes and discourages weeds from taking over.
mowing and maintenance of lawns is an example of biotic interactions that exist in feedback loops that we should not take for granted.
Finally, when we think of and use the grass clippings in our front and rear lawns as inputs in the natural loop of biological processes, we eliminate the need to dispose of them as trash to be hauled away or to be dumped into a landfill somewhere.
After more than 40 years of practicing what he has preached, the Footloose Forester can say that he has never had to dispose of grass clippings beyond the confines of his own lawn. And he has never had a problem with a buildup of thatch because grass clippings eventually break down and become incorporated into the soil, actually improving the physical structure of the soil matrix and its chemical balance. That is to say, the nutrients in the grass clippings break down; are transformed and mobilized into elements and compounds that are then taken up as fertilizer by the existing stand of grass. The overall process has never failed.
