Ok guys. My roomate explained this to me, and I REALLY want her to be
wrong.

If I use grass clippings as mulch in my garden, am I just planting
grass in my garden?

I have an awesome arrangement with my neighbors to get their lawn
clippings, so I have piles and piles of fluffly, beautiful lawn
clippings - and more coming every week, as my neighbors mow their
lawns. I don't want to put them in the compost since they will take a
few months to degrade, but I REALLY don't want to plant grass in my
garden.

It breaks my heart to just throw it into the compost.

"tenacity" <anonymouswrds [at] yahoo.com> wrote in
news:1147797392.133952.14960 [at] y43g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

> Ok guys. My roomate explained this to me, and I REALLY want
> her to be wrong.
>
> If I use grass clippings as mulch in my garden, am I just
> planting grass in my garden?

if they are mowing thier lawns on a weekly basis there is
very little chance of getting seeds, & more importantly, ripe
seeds. no seeds, no grass growing in the garden.
of course if you are at all worried about weeds growing, put
landscape paper (not fabric) under the clippings. the paper
biodegrades in a year or so. (just don't even *try* to put it
down if there's even a slight breeze. it is a PITA)

> It breaks my heart to just throw it into the compost.

proper compost shouldn't take *months* to break down. maybe
30 days or so... but it takes a bit more work that just piling
up kitchen scraps & grass clippings.
lee
--
"Fascism would be better described as corporatism,
since it is marriage between the state and business"
- Benito Mussolini

"tenacity" <anonymouswrds [at] yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1147797392.133952.14960 [at] y43g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> Ok guys. My roomate explained this to me, and I REALLY want her to be
> wrong.
>
> If I use grass clippings as mulch in my garden, am I just planting
> grass in my garden?
>
> I have an awesome arrangement with my neighbors to get their lawn
> clippings, so I have piles and piles of fluffly, beautiful lawn
> clippings - and more coming every week, as my neighbors mow their
> lawns. I don't want to put them in the compost since they will take a
> few months to degrade, but I REALLY don't want to plant grass in my
> garden.
>
> It breaks my heart to just throw it into the compost.

Why? if there is a chance of seed in the clippings a nice hot compost is a
good way of killing them. One thought, maybe check out what your neighbour
has in his/her lawn. If there are weeds you are concerned about you can make
an informed choice.If in doubt your choice to take them, reject them or hot
compost them.

Another point, if you really like the grass (and it sounds that you do), a
few stray seeds in the garden that you can lightly hoe out when they
germinate may not be a big price to pay.

rob

Yeah - it's just so nice and fluffy! Soft to walk on, lightweight to
spread, free, abundant, effective...Great ideas! I'll have to give my
neighbors lawns a good look - but as far as I remember, it's just yer
basic grassy lawn. Now that it's come up, I have one neighbor who
always waits until the lawn is a jungle, so his clippings wil probably
have more seed. I won't ask him - or at least his will be my compost
food.


Mmmm compost n' mulch. I need a T-shirt - "Got compost?" or, "Got
mulch?"

"tenacity" <anonymouswrds [at] yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1147920706.429781.14320 [at] y43g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> Yeah - it's just so nice and fluffy! Soft to walk on, lightweight to
> spread, free, abundant, effective...Great ideas! I'll have to give my
> neighbors lawns a good look - but as far as I remember, it's just yer
> basic grassy lawn. Now that it's come up, I have one neighbor who
> always waits until the lawn is a jungle, so his clippings wil probably
> have more seed. I won't ask him - or at least his will be my compost
> food.

You really love his grass don't you. Not that I am critical or calling you a
grass pervert or anything, different things excite different people. What
does your neighbour cut their lawn with, rotary or reel mower? I recently
cut my lawn with a reel mower and noticed it was chopped a lot finer than
with a rotary and had the soft and fluffy feel (like freshly washed hair on
some shampoo advert). Maybe good lawn requires a good shampoo?

rob

Yes, by inspecting the lawns you should see if and how many weed seeds
you are bringing in. Usually, I use only the grass cut in early May,
when most plants have not seeded yet. The rest of the grass I use to
mulch the ferns, for example, (too dark under there for any seed to
emerge). Otherwise, grass makes a pretty hot compost pile, so well
mixed with brown leaves or wood chips will cook well enough to destroy
most seeds.

Your biggest problem, however, are the weedkillers. Those are being
definitely brought in. Presumably, they will degrade faster in a hot
pile of mulch, and they won't bother the plants as much if the leaves
are kept clean of clippings. That is why I always steal the neighbors
bags of yard clippings and leaves, but never the grass bags. If you see
some of the plants declining, you will know what it is.

"simy1" <simy1 [at] my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:1147973749.421794.240940 [at] j55g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Yes, by inspecting the lawns you should see if and how many weed seeds
> you are bringing in. Usually, I use only the grass cut in early May,
> when most plants have not seeded yet. The rest of the grass I use to
> mulch the ferns, for example, (too dark under there for any seed to
> emerge). Otherwise, grass makes a pretty hot compost pile, so well
> mixed with brown leaves or wood chips will cook well enough to destroy
> most seeds.
>
> Your biggest problem, however, are the weedkillers. Those are being
> definitely brought in. Presumably, they will degrade faster in a hot
> pile of mulch, and they won't bother the plants as much if the leaves
> are kept clean of clippings. That is why I always steal the neighbors
> bags of yard clippings and leaves, but never the grass bags. If you see
> some of the plants declining, you will know what it is.
>

Without knowing what weed killers are present, it's irresponsible to suggest
that they will break down with heat, especially if the OP intends to use the
grass or resulting compost around edible plants.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I spread three huge bags of fluffy grash
mulch a foot deep all over my vines and veggies - and wore a goofy grin
the whole time. It's my favorite way to start the day - out in my
garden under a hot morning sun, with piles of mulch and a watering can.

When you've put so much hard work into something, and suddenly find
yourself in posession of something that makes almost every aspect of it
easier - and it's free AND abundant - well, that's just delightful. I
broke 10 yr old hard desert clay snarled up with crabgrass with a
pickaxe to start this garden, and my gardening space is about 200 sq
ft. Not huge, but large enough. So you could say I'm invested. After
the seedlings, and the bugs, and the composting, and laying the hoses
and lashing up shades and trellises, making the frames for tomatoes and
vines out of lumber by hand...man, mulch is my new best friend. It
saves me time and energy - and after months of hard work, with school
heating up (paramedic school - clinicals start soon ) I'm thrilled to
have a new timesaver. Also, I'm trying to garden organic, so there's a
few situations that I could have just thrown a chemical at, that I'm
putting a little more time and energy into to try to keep the situation
earth-friendly.

My neighbors use big industrial mowers - even though I'm in the heart
of Phoenix, I'm downtown in an irrigation area where people have nice
big lawns - so they use large mowers to get it done quickly. The
texture I'm getting from Mario - my kitty-corner neighbor - is soft,
fluffy, delicious, pure grass clippings. It's a joy to walk on - like
shag carpet - saves me water, deters the bugs, and keeps away the
weeds.

Since weeding, composting, watering, and bug-battling take a lot of
time, it's awesome to have something that cuts down the time I spend on
the hard stuff, and leaves more time for fussing with the vines,
arranging shade, journaling, planning, harvesting. I especially like to
take a certain amout of time looking at each plant. I love botany, so
the different vines, growth rates and patterns, flower shapes and
timing, fruiting behavior, and textures of everything facinate me. With
lots of gorgeous fluffy mulch, I have more time to really study each
plant, look at how the leaves and stem join, how the fruit develops,
how the stems change texture as the plant grows.

It's like having a family reunion where everyone is individual and
fascinating, but blissfully silent and cooperative, provided you keep
the drinks coming.