Squash and compost

[tenacity]

Ok guys. My roomate explained this to me, and I REALLY want her to be wrong.

If I use grass clippings as mulch in my garden, am I just planting grass in my garden?

I have an awesome arrangement with my neighbors to get their lawn clippings, so I have piles and piles of fluffly, beautiful lawn clippings - and more coming every week, as my neighbors mow their lawns. I don't want to put them in the compost since they will take a few months to degrade, but I REALLY don't want to plant grass in my garden.

It breaks my heart to just throw it into the compost.

[enigma]

"tenacity" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

if they are mowing thier lawns on a weekly basis there is very little chance of getting seeds, & more importantly, ripe seeds. no seeds, no grass growing in the garden. of course if you are at all worried about weeds growing, put landscape paper (not fabric) under the clippings. the paper biodegrades in a year or so. (just don't even *try* to put it down if there's even a slight breeze. it is a PITA)

proper compost shouldn't take *months* to break down. maybe

30 days or so... but it takes a bit more work that just piling up kitchen scraps & grass clippings. lee

[George.com]

Why? if there is a chance of seed in the clippings a nice hot compost is a good way of killing them. One thought, maybe check out what your neighbour has in his/her lawn. If there are weeds you are concerned about you can make an informed choice.If in doubt your choice to take them, reject them or hot compost them.

Another point, if you really like the grass (and it sounds that you do), a few stray seeds in the garden that you can lightly hoe out when they germinate may not be a big price to pay.

rob

[tenacity]

Yeah - it's just so nice and fluffy! Soft to walk on, lightweight to spread, free, abundant, effective...Great ideas! I'll have to give my neighbors lawns a good look - but as far as I remember, it's just yer basic grassy lawn. Now that it's come up, I have one neighbor who always waits until the lawn is a jungle, so his clippings wil probably have more seed. I won't ask him - or at least his will be my compost food.

Mmmm compost n' mulch. I need a T-shirt - "Got compost?" or, "Got mulch?"

[simy1]

Yes, by inspecting the lawns you should see if and how many weed seeds you are bringing in. Usually, I use only the grass cut in early May, when most plants have not seeded yet. The rest of the grass I use to mulch the ferns, for example, (too dark under there for any seed to emerge). Otherwise, grass makes a pretty hot compost pile, so well mixed with brown leaves or wood chips will cook well enough to destroy most seeds.

Your biggest problem, however, are the weedkillers. Those are being definitely brought in. Presumably, they will degrade faster in a hot pile of mulch, and they won't bother the plants as much if the leaves are kept clean of clippings. That is why I always steal the neighbors bags of yard clippings and leaves, but never the grass bags. If you see some of the plants declining, you will know what it is.

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Without knowing what weed killers are present, it's irresponsible to suggest that they will break down with heat, especially if the OP intends to use the grass or resulting compost around edible plants.