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What do you do with grass clippings?
Outdoor girl
Posts: 286
I have masses of grass clippings. I have just mown the grass (I hesitate to call it a lawn!) properly on the highest setting and have about 8 wheelbarrows of the stuff. I have sprinkiled a 10cm layer on the compost heaps but do not really know what else to do. I have this problem every year and it often results in a slimy stinking mess. Does anyone have some advice about how to deal with it? I would like to compost it but so far have not had much success.
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ive got a lot of leaves that were swept up last year. I mix them up with grass cuttings, shredded hedge prunings and kitchen waste and it makes compost.You can lay them as mulch around raspberry plants
We compost them with lots of shredded cardboard, partially rotted down leaves from last autumn and veg peeling etc. If you put grass clippings on the compost heap add equal amounts of shredded paper/cardboard etc and stir it around regularly to let air into the heart of the heap - that'll stop it from going wet and slimy
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Our petrol mower has a mulcher, we then put the muched grass cuttings in the compost bin along with the veg peelings etc.
Hi
As Dove stated mixing the grass cuttings with the rest of your compost mixture is essential to creating a good compost, if you just throw it top of the rest of your compost it will just turn in to a slimy mix that will pong a bit
i would always mix in small heaps with the rest of the compost mix and give it all a good watering to get the heat process starting. As a rule, turning your compost so that you mix thoroughly and get air in to it will speed up the process. I do this about 3 times a garden season
In Devon i've been mowing since early March! I use my grass cutting to mulch around my bamboos, the warmth as it breaks down heats the soil incourages earlier canes to grow. And of course feeds them
I agree with verdun, too much nitrogen will produce more green plants than flowers and the acidity wont help the brasicca beds surely, i had to lime mine because the soil is acid.
We try to cut the lawns very regularly, the mower mulches and we dont pick up. No good for first cuts though, some in compost bins, some to council tip.
Thank you everyone. It will be the compost heap with cardboard & other bits in a stew!
In the trenches with the spuds. The acidity helps prevent scab and the nitrogen makes them grow. As well as compost, of course.