What to do with grass mowings

[Odsox]

I think about this every year and then do nothing about it.
I got the mower out today as the orchard grass was nearly as tall as the apple trees, and was thinking (again), what a waste.

From mid April until the end of November I mow my lawn + orchard + small field + all the other nooks and crannies every 10 days and although I have never weighed it, I'm sure I collect well over a ton of clippings each time. At the moment and ever since I moved here, it just gets dumped. The mowings off the lawn get tipped over the hedge for the cattle to eat, but all the rest just gets dumped and it must be a terrible waste of resources, but I don't know what to do with it.

Some gets used as mulch, especially between the potato rows and I have tried composting it mixed with shredded paper, but that was not particularly successful plus it doesn't take many fillings to fill a dalek composter and paper is in short supply.
I keep toying with the idea of one of those rotary composters that purport to make compost in 3 weeks, but they are so expensive that I would have to make one, and I ain't really got the time.
So any thoughts, what do you do with yours ?

[pelmetman]

Ours always go on one of the 5 compost heaps. When Dave is mowing I always try to do some weeding so its not all piled up in one heap.

If you put to much on the compost it can go all soggy and needs some bulk between it to make successful compost.

Sue

[grahamhobbs]

Odsox, with all that veg growing I can't believe you only have one dalek composter !!!

[Odsox]

Odsox, with all that veg growing I can't believe you only have one dalek composter !!!

I have three Graham, but my point is that it only takes about 10 full grassboxes to fill a dalek and I estimate that I have at least 50 boxfuls every 10 days.
So if I get 5 daleks and fill them, they would have reduced by half in 10 days, so I need to go and buy another 2 1/2 daleks ... and so on, until I have more daleks than Dr Who ever saw.

Funnily enough, I just watched a very interesting TV program that promoted making methane from grass cuttings, maybe that's the direction I should be looking.
http://www.sustainableclon.com/wb/wb/me ... erence.pdf

[Green Aura]

One of my neighbours grows her spuds in grass clippings. She just puts them on sheets of cardboard then piles the grass on every time the lad mows all the communal grassed areas. She tried it out for the first time a couple of years ago and did it again last year and got some fantastic spuds!

[chuck_n_grace]

Hi,
I've got two adjacent neighbors in their 70's. Each time they cut grass they bring the clippings to my compost bins. It's absolutely amazing how soon that stuff starts heating up. If I had a lot more grass clippings I would pull out one of the raised beds and add three more bins.

Anyhow, too much grass is a good problem to have.

Regards,
Chuck

[jim]

I just use the clippings for mulch, but then there isn't a lot of cut grass Each week throughout the season I mow and spread the cuttings on one of the raised beds. As I have 8 raised beds it takes a couple of months before they get another dose and the previous one has thinned considerably by that time.

Love and Peace
Jim

[boboff]

What about just leaving it to rot on the ground where you have cut it? I know it can look untidy etc, but it would put nutrients back and might slow the growth down? Not on a lawn, but in the Orchard etc it might do the job. Obviously road edges which are strimmed, have the cuttings left, and they can still look ok? Even if you did this every other cut, it would reduce by half the number of Darleks?

[Thomzo]

Chook bedding. The best stuff is in the autumn when you get leaves mixed in. Chooks love it.

Mulch, but watch out for seeds.

If the weather's really dry, cut it long and spread it out to dry. Then store as hay for winter bedding.

It's fine on the compost heap as long as it's mixed in with other stuff. Keep a pile beside the bin and pop a forkfull in every time you add veg peelings or any other compost stuff.

Zoe

[PlainQB]

Put round strawberry plants instead of straw?

[Odsox]

Put round strawberry plants instead of straw?

No, tried that.
The small short pieces of dried grass stick to the berries and you have to either pick the pieces off individually or wash them all.
I tried it as a mulch for dwarf runner beans years ago and that's even worse as the rough surface of the beans get smothered in dried grass bits and was a right pain to remove.

Thanks for your suggestions people, lots of ideas but most of them are for small quantities and not for a ton or more every other week.
For instance a pile next to my composter would be the size of a small greenhouse (8' x 4') every 10 days.
Just seems a waste.

[happyhippy]

Hi,not sure how you feel about this suggestion,but if you have the right fencing how about keeping a couple of sheep to keep the grass down?You can either buy them yourself and,keep them as pets or as meat,or maybe borrow a couple from a neighbouring farm perhaps if you don't want them all the time?I think thats the way I'd go!

[Big Al]

Hi,not sure how you feel about this suggestion,but if you have the right fencing how about keeping a couple of sheep to keep the grass down?You can either buy them yourself and,keep them as pets or as meat,or maybe borrow a couple from a neighbouring farm perhaps if you don't want them all the time?I think thats the way I'd go!

I was thinking of a goat, certainly for the orchard area.

[TheGoodEarth]

Add some pigs or wild boar and they will soon get through it.

[Millymollymandy]

We have loads of grass but only pick up the clippings from a small area. Even so I have tons of it in spring so I spread it on my veg patch paths to suppress the weeds. Otherwise it gets put in the compost as every day I have a bucket full of straw and duck and chook poo. We also use a lot of it in spring to layer with the winter 'compost' collected which tends to be mostly straw!

It's good to leave grass clippings on the lawn to feed the grass anyway and it's quicker to mow like that. If you have a ride on mower with a mulching attachment it cuts the grass up smaller so you don't have those ridges of grass ejected out of the mower.