Hello and welcome again to my channel,
"Garden Well Eat Well". I'm Paul, your host. You know, I really enjoy everything about gardening.... I love being outdoors. It' relaxing... it's productive... But especially you can take pride in being
able to grow your own food. It's really a good feeling. I hope you feel the same way. Others, though, they just see it as a lot of hard work. But it's always so rewarding to be able to walk
outside and pick something fresh off the vine. With most of us though it's not just the garden
that needs all the attention. We have to make sure to set aside some time
to maintain our lawn as well. Mowing...weeding...and trimming... now that, THAT seems more like a lot of hard work! And do you really get that much in return for it? I guess it's satisfying to have a nicely groomed lawn but, it really is only temporary. Soon you have to get back out there and do it all over again. And for some of you, that might be something you enjoy. But with all the time and effort we put into
keeping up that grass, wouldn't it be great if it could also benefit the garden in some way? Well it actually can! And today i'm going to show you how. If you have a lot of time on your hands,
you could be choosing to cut your lawn a couple times a week. In which case you're really only
taking a little bit off the top each time. But by cutting it so often, your lawn is healthy
and it's always looking great. Now, if your mower is set up with a mulching blade then you're not going to have
any trouble at all doing that trimming. Those clippings will drop down onto the grass and as they break down, they'll help fertilize it
... to an extent.. every time you run your mower. When they're this size
there's no need to worry about bagging them at all. Now as a gardener, you may be grateful when the weather is perfect
for your tomatoes and cucumbers, but, unfortunately, it turns out to be great for the grass as well. S o, you know it's soon going to be time to cut again. But we all have just too many things to do. Cutting grass is one of those jobs you just want to keep putting off. For me, I prefer to spend my time
working the garden, and certainly never the lawn! You can avoid it for a while
but then you're going to have to chop a few inches off. and then when it's that long, there's no way your mulching blade is
going to be able to handle that. It's going to be a struggle. It'll clog up and you'll see
trails of clippings all through the lawn. So they need to be collected. Now depending on the size of your yard,
that could end up being quite a pile. And then what do you do with it all? You might think...
just toss it all on your compost and you're done. After all, we've always been told that you
should be composting all yard waste. And that is very true but, surprisingly, this is not
the best way to handle grass when it's freshly cut. If you simply dump it all as compost in one large
heap the bacteria that's already on the grass will start decomposing it pretty quickly. You'll know that it's actively breaking down by all the heat it produces. Even a few hours after cutting
you can feel it warming up. It's a very moist heat. This is because fresh grass has a ton of water
in it and it starts getting released as it breaks down. When you start to take away that moisture, the grass gets limp and the pile starts to compress down. Over the next few days the heat that's coming
from all that active bacteria will start to build. Here in the center of this pile the
grass has already reached 140 degrees Fahrenheit. it's only been two days. If we wait a little longer...
maybe just a couple more days, it'll continue to compact down
and start blocking the air that up until this point,
has been able to get through the compost. A properly working pile that has the
so-called good bacteria that we want depends on a constant supply of oxygen. But now, since less air can circulate, this opens it up for the anaerobic bacteria
to start taking over. This is NOT the best state for
your compost to be in. It will still break down over time. It also creates layers that are all matted and that'll stop the rest of the pile from composting properly Here's a good example of what i mean. This is just grass. but it's reached that point
where it's all compressed down and it has these layers now. You can almost peel them like an onion These can get quite dense and definitely block
any oxygen and moisture from getting through. The composting still continues but
this slows the process way down. So we definitely have a colony of anaerobic bacteria growing here. The grass has this dark green and slimy appearance. This is what you want to avoid. The good news is that we
can get around this problem. We just need to dry it out first. Dump the grass next to your regular compost
but now we need to introduce more air flow. You can easily do this by fluffing it up with a
garden fork once a day. It only takes a minute. And the more often you do it the better. This will allow more oxygen in
to feed the good bacteria that we want. More importantly though,
by turning it, you're helping all that trapped moisture that was
originally in the grass to be released and leave the pile. So as you continue doing this
the grass dries out more and more. and once most of the moisture is gone
you can mix it into the compost with your kitchen scraps and other garden waste
and then you'll get proper even composting. Another approach is to cut the lawn
but just leave the fresh grass on the ground to dry out. After a couple days you can rake it up and then add it to the compost pile
with the same good results. Obviously the the big issue with this method
is that it means a lot more work and a ton of extra time that we could probably
spend better elsewhere in the garden. But my recommendation... and this is your
BIG takeaway from this video today... is to avoid the compost pile all together. That's right! We're not going to compost the grass at all. Instead we're going to use the fresh grass
directly in the garden as a mulch. You'll find that this method is the absolute best. It has the least amount of work but with the greatest return. All we have to do is
lay it down an inch or two thick and put it all around your plants and
once it's down you're done! Now, I'm not discounting
the previous composting methods. If you feel those are working for you,
by all means, continue doing that. But using the grass as a mulch instead,
has a ton of additional benefits. First, if you spread it only a few inches thick,
it will easily dry in place without any issues. Adding this layer of mulch will stop
the sun from baking the soil and keep the temperature down
so the roots don't overheat. Even in the dead of summer. It will also help keep the moisture
that's in the soil from evaporating quickly. Now here you can see the difference between
the area that has the protection and the soil that doesn't. The soil that's exposed to the sun
is very dry and it's almost powdery. While the mulched area is retaining some
moisture and it's even clumping together. So if you're in the middle of a dry spell
mulching like this will reduce need to water as often. And that'll help save you some money too. If you can manage to keep your soil
looking like this all through the summer, then you'll have a fantastic harvest. When you do water, or when it rains,
it will easily pass through the mulch to get to the roots. And for those times when the
soil is too slow to absorb it, the grass will help keep the rain
in place until it can penetrate. But really... what's the task that takes
up most of our time in the garden? Of course, it's the weeding! Mulching can be a huge time saver for us. The more we mulch, the less time we'll have to spend weeding during the year.
Guaranteed! Covering the soil
reduces the germination of weed seeds and then blocks their light if they do happen to grow. This will slow their growth and weaken them. The thicker the mulch the better! But if any weeds do poke up through it,
you can simply pluck them out. And if you find that you have a lot in a few spots
you could always pull back the mulch and use a tool like a stirrup
hoe to dislodge the weeds. And then just spread it back into place. One thing to note though, if your soil
contains any roots from perennial weeds, like dandelion or thistle, then a mulch will not stop them
from growing up through it. This is especially true for thistle. With their deep roots, they can push their stems up through a foot of soil and no amount of mulch will stop them. See my other video
on how you can fight that weed and win. Here's a link to that. Again, the thicker the mulch is,
the more effective it'll be. You build it up over time by starting with
an inch or two of fresh grass letting it dry in place... and then, every time you cut your grass,
you add another layer. Now even though you may be adding to it
every week or so, the grass is constantly breaking down
and turning its nutrients back into the soil. Just another great benefit. Sort of like composting in place. But you may find that if you don't keep replenishing the grass it may just seem to disappear on you later in the season. You don't even have to wait until your plants
are large to see a benefit with mulching. Before you plant your seeds you can put it down. Just spread the grass over the entire bed first. But leave the soil exposed slightly
where you intend on planting. you don't want your seeds to have any trouble sprouting and then just do your planting as normal. This way you'll ensure
the ground stays moist and the new seedlings won't have to compete
with any neighboring weeds. You can keep laying down the mulch
until the end of the season. and by just leaving it in place, it can protect the soil
from the sun and the wind all through the winter. If it's thick enough it may even last until spring and then continue fighting to keep the weeds down. One important note though through all this is if you use any herbicides or pesticides on your lawn don't use that grass in your garden
or in your compost pile. You want it to remain organic and
if you start mulching with tainted grass, you could be doing harm to the plants or even to yourself and your family
when you eat from the garden. So no matter how long you spend on your lawn, at least you now know that a lot of that time
was a good investment for the food that you grow. If you found this video helpful,
please give me a thumbs up and consider subscribing. My channel is all about using your garden
organically and productively to provide good wholesome food. Thanks very much for watching! When you Garden Well, you'll always Eat Well.
