Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: teflon on April 10, 2009, 16:03

Title: Grass cuttings
Post by: teflon on April 10, 2009, 16:03

What practical uses are there for grass cuttings?

Title: Re: Grass cuttings
Post by: iwantanallotment on April 10, 2009, 16:07

I used them as a mulch on container-grown potatoes last year, kept slugs out and moisture in.

Title: Re: Grass cuttings
Post by: Trillium on April 10, 2009, 16:08

 :D And I find the opposite. I won't use them for mulch as they slow down my plant growth. But they make excellent compost material when layered between other matter.

Title: Re: Grass cuttings
Post by: WebSiteEvo on April 10, 2009, 16:14

Leave them on the lawn for healthy turf, just don't cut too much at once. Little and often is best. 

Title: Re: Grass cuttings
Post by: Ivor Backache on April 10, 2009, 16:30

There is no indication of quantity. I have a small lawn and I leave the cuttings on the surface. However when the council cut the playing field they leave plenty. I have started a new compost heap with such grass cuttings mixed with sawdust, newspaper, leaves and kitchen waste etc.  On its own grass will become a slimy mass but with carbon waste you will have good compost.

Title: Re: Grass cuttings
Post by: 8doubles on April 10, 2009, 16:36

I use them for mulch but only around the raspberry canes , the rest i compost.

Title: Re: Grass cuttings
Post by: DIGGER on April 10, 2009, 16:56

I put mine inside the structures of the runner beans to prevent weeds coming through, and between the strawbs

Title: Re: Grass cuttings
Post by: Kristen on April 10, 2009, 17:26

Don't use them for anything mulch-y or compost-y for a while after applying selective weed killer, or "weed & feed", to the lawn.

Title: Re: Grass cuttings
Post by: Faz on April 11, 2009, 11:55

I rake mine off the lawn as I want to deplete the nutrients and encourage wild flowers to grow (don't tell the wife as she would really like a lawn with stripes!).

The cuttings i first let dry a little if it is sunny, then rake them up and mix them up with the sawdust from the guinea pig, mix a little in my daleks and use some as a mulch round my fruit trees to help keep the soil moist while they are still young.

Title: Re: Grass cuttings
Post by: Yorkie on April 11, 2009, 12:09

I was taught not to leave grass cuttings on the lawn as they cut out air and light from the existing grass roots and can weaken it.  Also, it contributes to 'thatch' and moss on the lawn.

Title: Re: Grass cuttings
Post by: richyrich7 on April 11, 2009, 12:16

Mulch, composting, feed to my hens, feed to my guinea pigs. Lots of uses I have a lawnmower man who dumps loads and loads of it down the lottie for me.  :D  I even tried digging it straight in over the Autumn.