Recycling your grass

Yep, you can even recycle your grass! It’s a thing and it’s easy peasy!

Just leave your grass clippings on your lawn instead of bagging them and removing them as yard waste. Leaving your grass clippings where they fall will allow soil microorganisms to break them down naturally, releasing nutrients back into the soil. These nutrients can then be used by the turf plant as an additional food source. Yum!

Why should you recycle your clippings instead of bagging them?

Well, it’s good for your lawn and who doesn’t want that?

• Clippings help with the health and growth of your grass by reducing the rate of moisture evaporation from the lawn and helps keep your soil temperature cooler.
• It has been estimated that lawn clippings, which are 95 percent water and 5 percent nitrogen, can return up to 25 percent of the nitrogen back to turf grass. That’s a good thing!

It’s good for the environment. Let’s all do our part.

• It keeps clippings out of landfills. Unnecessary disposal of grass clippings account for 2/3rds of all yard waste. Yikes!

And, it’s good for you. Yeah!

• It takes less time than bagging, because you don’t have to stop to empty the bag. More time for backyard shenanigans.
• If you live in a municipality that charges extra fees to landfill yard waste, grass recycling will also save you money.

What about clumps?

Yep, clumps are ugly and when they are left on top of your grass it can damage the grass underneath. Smaller clippings fall more quickly to the soil surface and are less likely to clump. If you’ve mowed your lawn and you see large clumps, just mow the area again to reduce the size of the grass clippings. It’s just a bit more work but your grass will thank you!