Not the nicest weather today, but good for gardening: not too hot (finally) and not too wet. The grass mulch experiment continues. With all of the recent rain, there’s been good growth, and I’ve cut and gathered quite a bit. Still, the volume of grass mulch available earlier in the season is still unknown, and it takes a lot to cover just one section. Here, Raechelle and Melissa (first time in the field) mulch tomatoes…
I am interested to see how this goes for you…I have thought about using grass mulch, too…but am concerned about weed and grass seeds…I don’t need any more of them in my garden!
I have to second Jean Ann’s concern. I will use grass mulch latter in the summer after the threat of dandelions has passed. Sometimes I get tempted to spray them but I just open a bottle of dandelion wine and enjoy until the urge passes.
Jean Ann, Rick: I’m not too worried about weed seed, but that could change! ;) I did have one batch where I mowed in a lot of dandelion that was already white and sending seed airborne. I haven’t had a problem with dandelion from seed in the garden beds, it’s mostly I think from the more established plants that get chopped up during spring or fall tilling. I’m actually considering BUYING dandelion seed to grow some for salad greens. We’ve been mixing them in from the wild this year, and I like the bitterness. So I’ll have a better idea of how it grows from seed…if I don’t find out anyway from the mulch! As for grass seed, I’m cutting regularly, before it goes to seed.
An unrelated problem, though, that I’ll mention in a later post, is that grass gets quite dense and packed after rain, and it can get moldy and start to break down where it contacts the soil when it’s REALLY wet and rainy, as it’s been for the last month. If we don’t get some straight sunny heat soon, I may have to at least start raking and turning it over a bit, so it dries more easily, which is kinda not what mulch should be about… We’ll see!
We are trying out grass as a mulch this year too. (http://asonomagarden.wordpress.com/2008/05/05/free-fertilizer-vs-16000-fertilizer/) It seemed to work great in our broccoli/cauliflower bed. And the melons we planted within the grass are really taking off now. I look forward to seeing how it works for you.
Funny, I did the same thing today! My husband mowed yesterday just for me. The first group of dandelions are past and the grass rarely reseeds from the mulching.
Best mulch I’ve ever used!! Grass clippings work very well, and I have had no weeds or grass seeds causing me any problems. You’ll be so happy with the results!!