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Green Bag It: How to Compost Your Grass Clippings
from: Lawn and Garden MagicComposting your grass clippings isn't difficult, although it may require a little more work than you might realize and these clippings may sometimes cause problems in your compost pile if they're not properly composted. By taking a few precautions you'll prevent your grass from turning into a smelly and slimy problem.
Grasscycling is the easiest way to deal with your grass clippings. With grasscycling, you just leave the grass clippings on the lawn where they fall naturally from the mower. They will then act like any other natural fertilizer and save you money on fertilizer and the time it takes to bag your grass cuttings. Any grass mower can become a grasscycler -- simply remove the grass catcher from your lawn mower. You'll need to make sure you mow when the grass is dry to prevent old clippings from clogging up your lawn mower, so make sure you keep the blade of your mower sharp. Leaving the grass clipping behind is the simplest way to deal with them, however, this isn't always practical if you have young children or pets.
If grasscycling doesn't appeal to you, then here's the proper way to compost your grass clippings.
Your freshly trimmed grass has more moisture and a much higher nitrogen level than most other garden materials. Freshly mowed grass can often clump together and this is a problem because there's no room for oxygen to get in. If you compost your grass clippings like this, you may find you have a serious odor problem. If you follow the following process, you should to reap the benefits of adding fresh grass clippings to your compost and, at the same time, avoid any odor problem. Grass can also develop a white mold if there is no air getting in.
To start with, you should add high carbon materials (also called browns) to your compost pile. This includes wood chips, leaves and broken up sticks. Adding browns to your compost helps prevent the grass clippings from clumping up the compost and will help oxygen circulate. You should alternate your layers i.e. a layer of grass clippings and then one of browns.
You can also get the oxygen in your compost pile circulate by aerating it. Aerating or oxygenating your compost pile involves the turning of the material. If you plan to add grass clippings then you should make sure you're aerating your compost pile regularly. If your pile is mainly grass clippings then there's nothing for the gas to ignite and the pile turns into a disgusting slimy mess.
If you're going to be continually composting your grass clippings then you'll need more grass clippings than other materials in your compost pile. What's the solution? Multiple compost piles. You’ll go through a process all summer where you're rotating between the piles and then consolidating piles as they become more manageable.
If you don't want to have two or three compost piles on the go, you can also try baking your grass clippings in the sun for a day before adding them to the pile. Spread them on your driveway or any other flat surface for a day to prevent the clippings from souring up your compost pile.
If you've recently applied pesticides or herbicides to your lawn, you don't want to add those grass clippings to your compost pile until the rain has washed them clean. You should be very careful about adding any clippings that have come in contact with chemicals.
Another useful tip is to add lime to your compost pile (or grass heap if it's mainly made up of grass). This will kick start the decomposing process and prevent mold from forming and your pile from developing a nasty odor.
Follow these simple guidelines and you shouldn't have a problem turning your old grass clippings into compost that will benefit your whole garden.
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