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Large lawn
sandione
Posts: 1
I've just moved into a large house with a very large lawned area. Having cut this once we've completely filled a 4 foot square compost bin. How do others with large lawns to cut dispose of all the cuttings? Want to compost as much as possible without ending up with a load of green slime. Have layers with dried leaves so far. Would appreciate your thoughts.
0
Posts
I mix it up with a lot of shreddings, cut down elder, brambles, hedge prunings, all put through the shredder and then mixed up together. Ripped up newspaper can be used. Also any veg trimming, potato peels, citrus peels, banana skins etc.
Got this info off a website and this is what I do:-
1. Leave Them on the Lawn
If you’re striving for a perfect lawn, you probably remove your grass clippings every time you mow. But you’re actually robbing the grass of certain nutrients that it needs to thrive.
In future, leave your short clippings lie, as they will break down quickly, nourishing the grass and turning it a perfect shade of green. In fact, grass clippings can add back up to 25 % of the nutrients that growth removes from soil! These clippings also encourage beneficial microorganisms and earthworms that digest this grass and maintain healthy soil.
However, clippings that are too long won’t break down and will leave the lawn looking unsightly. To avoid this, you may need to mow more often – removing no more than one-third of the grass blade each time. Despite more frequent cutting, you’ll still be saving time by neglecting to collect the clippings Studies show that it takes less overall time to mow more often and leave clippings on the lawn, compared to mowing weekly and bagging clippings.
Note that if your lawn is showing disease or is full of weeds, tackle these issues before leaving the grass clippings lie, as this will only exacerbate the problem.
Last edited: 08 August 2017 18:53:12
We have far more grass cuttings than a compost bin can deal with because you need a mix of materials. I pile up all the excess cuttings in an out of the way place and leave them until the last cut. Then I turn the heap, breaking up clumps and mixing old with new. I do this several times during winter, it's great for burning off those Christmas calories or getting out when there is no real gardening to do. By Spring it is well on the way to being compost and I often mix in my half finished material from the compost bins. After that I just leave it alone until Autumn by which time it is the best compost you could ask for,