Knowing how to compost grass clippings starts with understanding what makes up a compost pile. If you’re interested in adding a rich source to your compost pile, though, press on! Know what kind of grass clippings you’re using Suburban Hobby Farmer is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to. If you spread a thin layer of compost over your grass each year, it will go a long way towards helping to make sure it stays healthy without the need for chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Amazingly, finished compost will help fix almost any soil problem. Or you can mix it into the top layer of soil. When it’s ready, you can apply the compost as top dressing for your plants. If the pile is properly cared for, it should be ready in two to four months. Doesn’t have recognizable materials - everything is brown and crumbly.No longer increases in temperature after mixing.You can tell when compost is ready to use when it: If you are ambitious, you can insert a thermometer into the pile: 130-150 degrees Fahrenheit is ideal for the fastest decomposition and to kill weed seeds. You can add an optional top layer of soil to ensure that the pile has the right microbes at the beginning of the process. Mix all these ingredients together and water lightly so that the microbes will be happy and multiply while they are breaking down the pile. Next, you should mix in high-carbon browns to balance the amount of high-nitrogen grass in your pile.īrowns, which include leaves, straw, hay, paper and other carbon rich materials, should make up about 60 percent of the pile. Keep in mind that grass should make up no more than 40 percent of the pile if you don’t want it to smell.
COMPOST GRASS CLIPPINGS INSTALL
You might want to install a grass catcher on your mower if it doesn’t already have one.
Related: Cover Crop in the Vegetable Garden.įirst, you’ll collect organic materials. You should properly layer and maintain your compost materials on the piles. But composting, done right, is a bit more complicated than throwing a mound of organic junk in a bin. Composting grass clippings and compost pilesĪs organic materials decompose from microbes and insects, compost rich in nutrients is born. This in no way affects my recommendations. That means if you click and buy from my partners, I will make a tiny amount of money at no cost to you. This article may contain affiliate links. Let’s take a sec to get the legal words out of the way.
This in turn reduces the need for fertilizer. A surface layer of grass clippings slows evaporation, thus reducing loss of water.Isn’t that the dream? With grasscycling, you’ll likely save at least a half hour during mowing and save money by axing the need for more organic fertilizer or compost. Less work, less cost, more eco-friendly.As long as the blades are sharp, your mower is good to go-let the grasscycling commence. It’s completely unnecessary to throw away what you can easily use. Grasscycling reduces tons of organic waste that would otherwise be hauled off to landfills.Grasscycling is like a free, cannibalistic method of fertilizing-the circle of life. The clippings add water-efficient mulch and engender soil aeration by way of earthworms.Grass clippings naturally decompose and feed your lawn with high-nitrogen fertilizer. Five reasons you should compost grass clippings Grasscycling also takes considerably less time and effort. Recycled grass clippings return nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus to your lawn-that’s up to 25 percent of the lawn’s fertilizer requirements, according to the University of Missouri. That’s right, let the blades lay where they may fall. mulching grass, is an economical alternative to bagging grass clippings while mowing the lawn. The first step begins when you mow your lawn. are bloated with waste, and homeowners have a responsibility to mitigate the problem. But do you recognize that grass clippings make up far too much of what goes in the trash? C omposting grass clippings is so easy, why not give it a try? If you live in the suburbs, as most SHF readers do, you probably have more than your fair share of grass clippings.