Grass clippings

[John DeBoo]

Just started a compost pile today with a bin I made of oak pallets. Everyone was very helpful with my wood chip question (I'll add some but sparingly) for composting. I also got 2 books from the Library yesterday that will be my evening reading for the next few days.

New question re: grass clippings. I intend to use some in the compost bin along with other garden greens & browns etc but as I was adding them I got to thinking - why not add some directly to the unused garden area now and mix them with the dirt so they breakdown(?) and may be ready for next years crop of goodies? Soil is sand & a lot of clay so it sticks in clumps as hard as concrete.

I also was thinking about adding them as cover to the in-use garden area now to help hold in moisture (mostly sand). Then in fall I'll turn the soil so they too are mixed in. Are either of these in general no-no's? FWIW, I'm in Albuquerque (zone 7) almost no rain and mid 90's so its hot and VERY dry. Regardless, I still intend to do the compost pile though.

TIA, again

[Joseph Meehan]

The combination of brown and green compost faster than either by itself.

[Travis]

That works and you could plant a fall cover crop also.

[Tom Jaszewski]

The action of making compost will produce a biologically superior product. Congratulations on making the first step in developing a vastly improved garden.

Here is a helpful link in building a successful thermophilic (superior) pile.

[Beecrofter]

The herbacide clopyralid is the one that seems most persistant in grass clippings. You can test for it's presence in compost by how it affects the germination and growth of garden peas. The more residue present the more stunted and distorted the pea foliage is. At 75 parts per billion they really look bad. It does hang around far longer than desirable.

[Chris Owens]

The only problem with that idea is, if the clippings include seed, you're tilling it right in where you don't want it to grow. Other than that, this plan works just fine; we till in our crops every fall in the veggie beds with no problem at all.

Chris Owens

[sparkie]