Grass

[PurpleDragon]

We have 2 acres of grass that gets mown every fortnight. The bloke who mows it puts it between the new trees at the bottom of the garden (in the hope we may keep down the weeds) and along the side of the garden.

I was thinking : can I put this grass, newly mown, over the top of my veggie plot (which is heavy clay, little sand - intend to add sand at some point before planting again).

Will over-wintering my veggie plot with this grass rotting on top of it a) keep the weeds down and b) put some goodness back into the ground? Last winter (and for the previous growing period) the plot was kept under black plastic (you know the stuff you can grow stuff thru?) and when we lifted it in the spring it was like a flippin plate - the clay was so hard.

[Wombat]

The answer should be yes to A and B. If you want to be sure about the weeds you could put some newspaper down first but if the mowings are thick enough it will give the weeds a hard time as encouraging worms and providing organic matter. Sounds good to me!

Nev

[PurpleDragon]

Cheers, Wombat - thanks for your help :)

[Millymollymandy]

I think it also adds nitrogen to the soil. The only thing to watch out for is if the cut grass has any seeds in it because for sure they will all germinate in the spring!

I use grass clippings to mulch my paths in the veg patch which is a good weed suppressant; the only problem is I get a good grass path in spring, which I don't want!

[PurpleDragon]

Hmm. Dont knof if i could be bothered to sort thru 2 acres of grass cuttings looking for seeds, but I dont want a grass veggie patch either. Mind you - we want to grass the play area (currently bark - nightmare!) so I could grow grass in the plot then turf up come spring and re-lay it in the spring.