I keep thinking…if people mow their lawns, bag the clippings and rake up all the leaves, where does the lawn soil get any organic material from? It’s an interesting question and one that I haven’t found the answer to yet.
I used to bag the lawn clippings. I was having fun doing it too. Then, I read that I could just mow the lawn and let the clipping stay. Of course the article was written by one of those freaky granola people with a dirt lawn. You know the type, the guy who tries to eat the lawn weeds. I always try to take advice from people I want to be like, not some weirdo who jumped on the “green” train. So, I kept on reading articles from a variety of authors. I came to the conclusion that leaving the grass clippings on the lawn is okay if you mow frequently. If you mow infrequently, you will get big grass clumps that will kill the grass underneath. I think I can handle mowing regularly. About half way through this last Summer, I stopped bagging and the lawn looked the same thereafter.
The whole reason I did that research is because every time I bagged the clippings, I felt like I was taking a little bit of love away from the soil. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how that soil was going to get the organic material back. I mean, was it from the leaves I pick up every Autumn? No, because they obviously aren’t there anymore (I picked them up, duh).
I had a vision in my head…I visualized the lawn in five years. It was horrible. Everything was in black and white and looked barren like the moon’s surface. You can even use Mars as an example. I didn’t like having a lawn with no nutrients and dark soil. I decided to keep reading and to research what would happen if I just mulched up the leaves that fall from the trees every year and kept them right there on the grass. Well, wouldn’t you just know it, other people were having the same thoughts and a group up at Michigan State University did a study on this exact topic.
You can read about it here.
I am going to jump right to the conclusion of their study. They said that it is okay to mulch your leaves into the grass and it’s actually better for the soil. It helps out all those microbes and the worms as well. I know about the worms because my compost pile is FULL of them. Worms like organic material. If the lawn had more organic material, I could imagine that the worms would find their way there.
I’m going to do it. This year, I am going to mulch the leaves and leave them on the lawn. I am going to have to do a really thorough job though because there are a lot of leaves. That’s good because there are some areas of this lawn where the soil is just stripped of any nutrients. I wouldn’t even call it soil anymore. It’s like dust when it gets dry.
I suppose I could always just spread peat moss or compost over the grass every Autumn. That wouldn’t really be fun. Besides, where would I get my compost? From the big pile of leaves and grass clippings I raked up and bagged the year before?
This year will be the experiment. I will let you know how it goes. If things look good in the Spring, I will tell you. Actually, I will tell you either way. It can’t get any worse than it is now. Although, I am looking at the grass after a three week spell of no rain and a thorough dethatching job. Things ain’t looking so great.
I mulch in leaves every year and import them for that purpose from neighbors who throw away piles of Brown Gold. A layer an inch deep will decompose very quickly, particularly if mixed with lawn clippings or if you add a little nitrogen to the mix by lightly feeding the lawn.
You can compost them if you want, and I do (3 1/2 bags got added to the bin today). Mulching them is a lot easier, though.
I’m sure not a freaky granola person, but I do maintain the lawn and gardens organically–and they look much better for doing it. If you follow my link, I have photos of the lawn up.
I’m in Connecticut and decided on my own to be “lazy” and not rake the leaves (oak & maple) but rather rather mulch them. I’ve been pleased with both ease and appearance already and it’s still November. (I’ve never raked my grass cuttings nor collected then in a bagger.) I went on line to find out what might best be a treatment to break down the mulched material, and I think it’s Nitrogen – that first of 3 numbers on a bag or fertilizer and it should be a high number. Am I right?
Yes, you will need to put down some extra nitrogen fertilizer when you mulch leaves (the browns) into your grass. The nitrogen helps break them down. Also, congrats on making your lawn healthier and your life easier.
i mulch the leaves into the lawn more out of laziness than anything. it might mean more passes with the lawnmower, more soil compaction and more gas burned, from labor day to thanksgiving, but very little raking and transporting. i haven’t noticed any deterioration of the lawn.
as for those “freaky granola eaters”, aren’t they the pioneers that dare to think outside the box and pave the way for our future activities? their actions today will be mainstream thirty years from now.
I have to agree with Morpheus. Organically fertilizing your lawns and gardens, in my opinion as well as many others, is a no brainer. There are more benefits to organic matter than I can even begin to list.
Think about it, your lawns and gardens are natural living organisms. They feed and grow off of nature. You don’t need to pump synthetic chemicals into them to get a great outcome. More often than not, using organic fertilizer is cheaper and more effective than synthetics anyhow.
To sum it all up, when you bag your clippings and rake your leaves, you’re creating far more work for yourself and more importantly, you’re stripping your lawn of all the nature goodness of well balanced organic matter.
Agreed. There really is no better way to get a nice, lush, green lawn. Well, a natural one anyway.