Next time you mow your lawn, don’t throw your grass clippings away. Under the right conditions, small grass clippings make excellent plant food, which will help your lawn grow stronger and healthier—for free.
Even if you can’t recycle your grass clippings, you can still skip bagging and discarding them by using them as mulch or composting them. The key is knowing how to do it and when not to do it. But that part’s easy—we’ll show you how.
How to Recycle Your Grass Clippings
Recycling your grass clippings is easy—just leave them exactly where they fell after you mowed your lawn. Eventually, the grass blades, which are composed mainly of water and nutrients such as nitrogen and potassium, will break down and be absorbed by the soil. This will nourish your lawn, which will grow back stronger, so you can do it all over again.
Leaving your grass clippings in place will also be greatly beneficial if you’re treating your lawn with a fertilizer or a product like a herbicide. Chemicals are usually absorbed by the grass and will then be reabsorbed by the soil, prolonging their effect.
But before you go outside and mow your lawn with the box off, there are a few things you should take into consideration.
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Make sure your grass clippings are short
To use them as fertilizer, your grass clippings need to be an inch long or shorter.
Long blades will clump together and smother the grass underneath, preventing proper airflow and sunlight exposure. This will also trigger anaerobic decomposition, resulting in rot and unpleasant odors.
Short grass clippings won’t cause any of those problems and won’t make their way indoors either. Small enough clippings will make their way all the way down to the soil, where they’ll start decomposing and be reabsorbed into the ground.
Frequent mowing will save you the mental calculations by ensuring your grass clippings are always short. Now, how often you should mow your lawn to achieve the desired clipping length will highly depend on the type of grass you’re growing and the weather at your location. Experimentation will go a long way.
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Grass clippings should be dry
Wet grass clippings will be prone to clumping, and the extra water will either smother or drown the grass underneath. You don’t want that.
Only leave out healthy grass clippings
If your lawn has any type of disease or infestation, leaving grass clippings on it will only exacerbate the problem. Bacteria or fungi will be reabsorbed into the soil and could potentially spread to healthy parts of your lawn.
Forgo recycling your grass clippings when weeds are present
If you care about weeds making their way into your perfect lawn, then don’t recycle grass clippings when you see seed heads or flowers. Leaving the clippings there will only help weeds spread further.
Two Things to Keep in Mind When Recycling Your Grass Clippings
You might’ve heard that recycling your grass clippings generates thatch—an intermediate layer of half-decomposed organic material that sits on the soil and makes your lawn more prone to damage. We’re happy to inform you that recycling your grass clippings does not contribute to thatch, especially if the clippings are short enough.
Thatch appears when organic material is produced faster than the soil can absorb it. Bigger grass clippings take longer to decompose, not only because of the increased volume, but also because the larger grass blades are more fibrous, and they take longer to break down.
You should alsoavoid letting grass clippings build up near gutters and drains. Seems a bit obvious, but we’ll say it anyway—no matter the size of the clippings, if you leave them around drains and gutters, they’ll probably make their way into them. This will either clog them or help to clog them, which, for your sake and that of your neighbors, you don’t want to happen.
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How to Use Your Grass Clippings as Mulch
If your grass clippings are too large, you don’t want to recycle them, or there is just too much to go around, you can use them as mulch for your garden. You’ll need to have some of the same considerations you’d have when recycling your grass clippings, as well as some extra ones.
You can use larger clippings—but not too much
You can use grass clippings longer than one inch as mulch, but always in the right proportion—drop a layer no thicker than two inches around the base of your plants, and you’ll be set.
Your grass clippings must be dry
Wet clippings will promote rot and anaerobic decomposition, resulting in foul odors. The extra moist environment could also aid in the proliferation of fungi and pests, and prevent the natural evaporation of water from the soil.
Grass clippings should be untreated and healthy
Herbicides that allow you to keep weeds at bay in your lawn may kill some of your plants, so don’t use clippings that might contain chemicals as mulch.
The same applies to lawns affected by pests and diseases—using infected clippings as mulch will spread harmful bacteria into healthy soil and foliage.
How to Compost Grass Clippings
Maybe the last layer of clippings has not been absorbed yet, and all your flower beds and tomato plants are already benefiting from a healthy layer of mulch. If that’s the case, you can always compost your clippings.
If you already have a composting pile in your garden, simply drop your clippings there, mix them well with the rest of the organic material, and let Mother Nature do the rest. If you don’t have a composting setup yet, the Environmental Protection Agency provides a step-by-step guide to help you make your own.
But, as you might’ve imagined, there are a couple of considerations to keep in mind before composting your grass clippings.
Clippings must be dry before composting
It must be pretty clear by now that, whatever you do with your grass clippings, they are better off dry. In this case, and as we’ve mentioned earlier, wet grass clippings will trigger anaerobic decomposition, which will generate awful smells in your backyard.
Grass has enough water as it is, so ensuring the clippings are dry will help you prevent gases that will surely push you back indoors.
Mix with other organic materials
Grass clippings won’t compost themselves—you’ll need other organic materials to help absorb the extra water and keep moisture in check. Straw, wood chips, and even some recyclable, non-laminated cardboard can do the trick pretty well.
Grass clippings should be weed-killer-free
Chemicals present in your grass clippings may leach out and either kill the bacteria responsible for the decomposing process or alter the cycle in a harmful way.
If you’re using an organic compound as a fertilizer or insecticide, check the label to ensure it’s compost-friendly.
Related: Lots of Homeowners Let Grass Reseed Itself. Here’s Why That’s a Costly Mistake
How to Throw Away Your Grass Clippings
If none of these alternatives is viable, you may need to dispose of your grass clippings altogether. In that case, there’s one way to go about it—check with your city or municipality for the best way to throw them away.
You’ll probably face one of two options:
- Take them to a special facility. Some cities may offer a designated area for disposing of organic waste, such as grass clippings. If that’s the case, make sure to ask about schedules and the best way to bring them there. If you’re lucky, they may even do pick-ups. Follow the instructions and go on your merry way.
- Throw them in the trash. When there’s no other option, you’ll just have to put out your clippings along with the trash. If that’s the case, use compostable bags instead of plastic ones, and ensure they are securely closed to prevent them from ripping in transit.
