Grass clippings...

[MartyMcFly3]

Just a question on this gloomy Sunday. What do you do with yours? Collect them? Leave them?

 

[phucheneh]

Burn them because they're pure evil. Goddamn allergies.

(okay, actually, I just use the side chute most of the time. If I bag, they get thrown behind my shed)

 

[lxskllr]

Always leave them. That's where they belong.

 

[blackangst1]

In the weekly trash.

 

[JamesV]

I have an area of my backyard that basically is a giant compost heap. For the grass, I just make a long low hill of it, and add to it for two years, then start another elsewhere, and use the extremely good dirt under the two year old grass for flowerbeds and the garden.

People that put out their grass clippings in yard waste bags are strange. Inevitably they are the same people that buy dirt, and instead of letting nature make it for them, they pay for bags to bag it, and waste gas of garbage trucks to deliver it and gas/money for trucks to bring dirt back.

I guess I just don't get why people have to have a manicured backyard to their property line, like my neighbor who uses that backyard maybe once a year. In the fall he puts out about 150 bags of leaves... mine go into the grass/yard waste compost.

 

[mugs]

My mower mulches them, and I usually cut the gras often enough that there are no visible clippings left. If I fall behind and have to cut too much off I rake them.

 

[Mixolydian]

bagged, set at the curb, picked up with the trash. I don't care.

 

[nickbits]

I usually bag them.. my mower somewhat sucks at mulching. We have yard waste pickup every week so nbd.

 

[Mixolydian]

I have an area of my backyard that basically is a giant compost heap. For the grass, I just make a long low hill of it, and add to it for two years, then start another elsewhere, and use the extremely good dirt under the two year old grass for flowerbeds and the garden.

People that put out their grass clippings in yard waste bags are strange. Inevitably they are the same people that buy dirt, and instead of letting nature make it for them, they pay for bags to bag it, and waste gas of garbage trucks to deliver it and gas/money for trucks to bring dirt back.

I guess I just don't get why people have to have a manicured backyard to their property line, like my neighbor who uses that backyard maybe once a year. In the fall he puts out about 150 bags of leaves... mine go into the grass/yard waste compost.

1. mulching is fine until the grass clippings dry out and turn brown, then it looks bad.
2. i spend a lot of time in my yard, mulching inevitably leads to grass clippings being tracked in the house.
3. yard waste is picked up every week on trash day, so why the fuck not?

 

[blackangst1]

In the weekly trash.

Just to add to this...I dont bag it...just dump it directly in the garbage can. I dont mulch because my dog loves to roll around in the grass and I dont want grass clippings all over the house.

 

[zerocool84]

I have an area of my backyard that basically is a giant compost heap. For the grass, I just make a long low hill of it, and add to it for two years, then start another elsewhere, and use the extremely good dirt under the two year old grass for flowerbeds and the garden.

People that put out their grass clippings in yard waste bags are strange. Inevitably they are the same people that buy dirt, and instead of letting nature make it for them, they pay for bags to bag it, and waste gas of garbage trucks to deliver it and gas/money for trucks to bring dirt back.

I guess I just don't get why people have to have a manicured backyard to their property line, like my neighbor who uses that backyard maybe once a year. In the fall he puts out about 150 bags of leaves... mine go into the grass/yard waste compost.

Because people usually don't like a huge pile of compost in their yard.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Put them in bags or bins, put them on side of road so trash people can come pick it up

 

[Engineer]

Leave them.

If I decided to, I could put them in the "yard waste" bin (leaves, grass, twigs, etc) and the city would pick them up (along with my trash bin and my recycling bin - yes, 3 bins total).

 

[rh71]

I had read it's good for the grass to leave clippings. Coincidentally today I decided to try not bagging, but only the backyard. I don't want to risk it in the front where it's too unsightly not to do something about it immediately. We'll see how it turns out in the back. It'll probably be unsightly and I'll never do it again.

 

[Mixolydian]

I had read it's good for the grass to leave clippings. Coincidentally today I decided to try not bagging, but only the backyard. I don't want to risk it in the front where it's too unsightly not to do something about it immediately. We'll see how it turns out in the back. It'll probably be unsightly and I'll never do it again.

i've read that too. not convinced it makes any difference, as I certainly haven't seen any.

 

[rh71]

One thing about not bagging though, I don't have a self-propelled and it was way easier pushing that thing minus the bag around the larger backyard.

 

[Red Squirrel]

When I lived at my parents my dad insisted we bag them, was a pain in the ass. 20 bags at very least. 40 at times. 90% of the time was spent bagging and not mowing. Now that I have my own house, I just use a mulcher and let them go in the ground. Only thing is when the grass is wet, which is most of the time, it does tend to create clumps. But I just pass over it again and keep going. Still beats bagging.

Also, the lawn mower is a great alternative to raking in fall. :twisted:

 

[phucheneh]

I had read it's good for the grass to leave clippings. Coincidentally today I decided to try not bagging, but only the backyard. I don't want to risk it in the front where it's too unsightly not to do something about it immediately. We'll see how it turns out in the back. It'll probably be unsightly and I'll never do it again.

Leaving them to create a little ground cover seems to help new grass take root. When I spread seed in a bare area, I just use a bag of clippings for cover. Some people use straw. It's probably better...but I don't feel like paying money just for some dead shit to cover up grass seed.

But once it's growing, I don't see why there would be any benefit. It just creates a layer of matted-up crap that inhibits further growth.

 

[Mixolydian]

But once it's growing, I don't see why there would be any benefit. It just creates a layer of matted-up crap that inhibits further growth.

thatch, yo.

 

[palemale]

i dont like the smell of grass clippings

 

[Mixolydian]

i dont like the smell of grass clippings

the smell of fresh cut grass is awesome.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Collect them and put them in the compost bin.

 

[Markbnj]

Mulch them in if just cutting an inch or so off the top. Mulching mowers aren't designed to handle more than that. If you see dried, dead grass clippings on the lawn a few days after mulching then it was too tall. Up here in the spring I'd have to cut twice a week to mulch, and I don't have time for that. So I bag them and dump them in the half-acre of woods we have.

 

[DrPizza]

If they mulch up good with the lawnmower, I leave them. If I get a lot of clumps, I'll pick up the clumps and feed them to the goats. I'd let the goats mow the lawn, but the goats would be like, "fuck grass, look! Apple trees, pear trees, cherry trees, peach trees, raspberry bushes, blueberry bushes, grape vines! Woohoo!" One goat got into the back yard last year - lost a couple hundred dollars in trees in about 20 minutes.

 

[PowerEngineer]

I always use a mulching mower. Mowing goes much more quickly without stops to empty the bag, and saves me from paying for yard debris pick-up service. The clipping decay quickly and do not increase the need for thatching.