Can you use grass clippings as mulch around your yard? When it’s time for me to re-mulch my yard each year, I ask myself this same question. It always surprises me just how many clippings I get from a single cut, and I wonder if I could put them to better use, say, like mulch. Well, let’s take a look at the pros and cons of using grass clippings as mulch, then let me share with you the decision I ended up making.
Pros and Cons of Using Grass Clippings Mulch (The Short Answer)
If you are considering using grass clippings as mulch, then there are several factors to consider first. Here’s a list of pros and cons you’ll want to bear in mind:
Pros of Using Grass Clippings as Mulch
- Cheap Alternative to Regular Mulch
- Free Fertilizer for Your Flower Bed
- Saves Having to Compost the Clippings
- Prevents Clipping from Going to the Landfill
- Helps Prevent Weed Growth
- Helps to Retain Soil Moisture
Cons of Using Grass Clippings as Mulch
- Takes Nutrients from the Lawn
- Clippings can Become Smelly
- Clippings can Become Moldy
- Spreading Weed Seeds
- Clippings can Transfer Herbicides
- Doesn’t Look Great
The Pros of Using Grass Clippings As Mulch Around Your Yard
As you can see, there is a long list of pros for using grass clippings as mulch, which makes it a much more tempting idea. Let’s take a closer look at each of them.
Cheap Alternative to Regular Mulch
A little bag of rocks costs around $5, a regular bag of mulch costs around $3, and a bale of pine straw costs a fortune. So, by the time I’ve had a pallet of mulch delivered, I’m looking at spending a few hundred dollars every single year. So, forgetting about traditional mulch and using grass clippings instead makes total financial sense.
Free Fertilizer for Your Flower Bed
Grass clippings contain about 4 percent nitrogen, 2 percent potassium, and 1 percent phosphorus. Therefore, when they decompose in your flower beds, you’ll get a boost of fertilizer. So, if you add grass clippings to your flower bed year-round, then that’s free fertilizer throughout the year, which is great for your plants and, again, great for your wallet.
Saves Having to Compost the Clippings
Grass clippings contain about 4 percent nitrogen, 2 percent potassium, and 1 percent phosphorus. Therefore, when they decompose in your flower beds, you’ll get a boost of fertilizer. So, if you add grass clippings to your flower bed year-round, then that’s free fertilizer throughout the year, which is great for your plants and, again, great for your wallet.
Prevents Clipping from Going to the Landfill
If you don’t mulch grass clippings back onto your lawn, compost them, or use them as bedding mulch, then they are probably heading to the landfill. Now, this is a terrible idea. Not only does this deprive your yard of valuable nutrients, but it adds to the ever-increasing landfill problem.
Landfills around the country are huge contributors to soil and water pollution. So, the less we use them, the better. One way to stop your grass clippings from ending up in a landfill is to use them as mulch.
Helps Prevent Weed Growth
Any type of mulch, including grass clippings, will create a barrier that stops weeds from germinating. If you have a thick enough layer of grass clippings, then weed seeds are not going to be able to germinate. Not only does this save time and money, but it’s one step closer to organic gardening.
Helps to Retain Soil Moisture
Another benefit of using grass clippings as mulch is that you help the soil retain moisture. Not only will the clipping hold a certain amount of water, but clippings will help keep the soil cool and reduce natural evaporation. So again, you’ll be saving money and the environment since water is becoming less and less plentiful.
The Cons of Grass Clipping Mulch
So far, so good. Using grass clipping mulch sounds like a pretty good idea. But since this article covers grass clippings as mulch pros and cons, we better look at the cons.
Takes Nutrients from the Lawn
Using grass clippings in your flower beds provides nutrients to the soil. This is a good idea, but if you take the clippings off the lawn, the grass will be missing out. So, it’s a decision between giving nutrients to the lawn or the flower beds. Personally, my lawn takes priority. Local ordinances limit times during the year when I can fertilize. So, having grass clippings feed my lawn through these periods really helps keep my lawn green and healthy.
Clippings Can Become Smelly
Using grass clipping as mulch isn’t the same as using them in compost. You don’t have the same conditions and the same control. For example, grass clippings in your flower bed will become too wet for efficient composting. They will still break down and feed your beds, but wet clippings turn into smelly clippings.
Now, when I walk out into my yard in the morning, I smell the morning dew, the flowers, and the smell of the pines. I’m not sure I want to add rotting grass to the mix.
Clippings Can Become Moldy
Well, moldy is kind of misleading. The mold is actually a type of fungus or, should I say, a selection of fungi. Some of these are good for your property and help break down dead vegetation, but some can be plant pathogens, causing diseases to your shrubs, trees, and lawn.
Also, some plant pathogens will make you sick, so it’s definitely a con to really consider and decide if it’s worth using grass clippings as mulch. Now, I’m not a fungus expert, but I’m not sure I’d want my dog sniffing around some type of plant pathogen.
Spreading Weed Seeds
Luckily, I don’t have too many weeds on my lawn, but a few pop up from time to time. I use herbicides to try to keep them under control, but I still usually miss a few. So, if I mow and bag the clippings, then the ones I’ve missed end up in my clipping bag.
Now, this isn’t a problem unless I tip the grass clippings out into the flower beds. Maybe it’s just me, but if any cut weeds or seeds get into my flower beds, then they’re pretty much guaranteed to grow. So, be prepared to transfer weeds from your lawn to your flower beds.
Clippings Can Transfer Herbicides
The herbicide I use to keep my lawn weeds at bay is fine for my grass. However, the bottle label states that I should keep it away from plants or shrubs other than weeds and my particular grass type. On average, the herbicide takes a few weeks to completely wash through the lawn and down into the soil.
So, if your grass clippings have been treated recently, you’ll add herbicide to your flower bed. You’ll either have to wait for the herbicide to wash out or take the risk with your plants and shrubs. Now, I know I can’t wait a couple of weeks because my lawn would look like a jungle, and I definitely don’t want to risk harming the plants in my flower beds.
Doesn’t Look Great
I saved the best to last on the grass clippings as mulch pros and cons list. And for me, this was the one item that made my decision. It’s the fact that grass clippings in flower beds don’t look very good. This might be a matter of personal preference, but it’s not the look I like in my yard.
Now, if you have a more natural-looking yard, then using grass clippings as mulch might actually look pretty good. But if you have a very manicured yard with things like concrete curbing, then using grass clippings can look out of place. So, if you are considering using this method, I recommend you try a small test area and see how the grass clippings look.
And if you ultimately decide, like me, that using your clippings as mulch isn’t for you, there’s actually a surprising number of uses for grass clippings (check out my article for ideas).
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