Grasscycling can save up to one-third your mowing time
Called grasscycling, this simple method will save you hundreds to thousands of dollars in fertilizer and water over the lifetime of your lawn. Plus, you'll get a more beautiful lawn in the bargain. This lens shows you how.
It also provides you with links to some of the best chemical-free lawn care wisdom currently available. Your local library can get any of the books listed here absolutely free to you.
Every time you mow
If your lawn is typical, by the time you've finished your weekly mowing, you've hauled 70-140 pounds of filled garbage sacks to the curb. Trucked away week after week, those bags, along with your neighbors', contribute about half the waste going to the landfill between May and September. Collection and landfill costs rise, passed back to you in higher fees. This can be you
You can save as much as one-third of your lawn mowing time over an entire season by letting grass clippings lie. While you relax, those grass clippings are settling between the living leaves, locking in moisture, shading the roots from the hot sun, and beginning to break down and feed nitrogen and other nutrients to your lawn. You save time and $$. 
Grasscycling saves!
When you grasscycle, you save both time and money because you water and fertilize less. 3 ways to save your water bill and get a greener lawn
- Grasscycling saves water. Properly mowed, grass clippings settle quickly between the growing blades of grass where they shelter the roots from the sun and conserve moisture. You'll need to water less.
- Deep, healthy roots don't require as much water. Plus, they deliver more lush, green-enhancing nutrients to the grass leaves above the soil. Easiest way to get deep, water-saving roots is to water deeply and less frequently. Here's why: Light, frequent watering encourages shallow roots and may lead to increased disease and stress injury to the grass plants.
- To avoid losing up to 60 percent of the water to evaporation, irrigate in the morning, between six and ten, before the sun is high. Use a low sprinkler head that saturates the ground, rather than a high shower. On a hot day, most of the water from a high sprinkler evaporates before it can sink into the soil.
If you live in a dry climate, such as the Rocky Mountain states, save even more by watering at night. This won't work if you live in a moist climate, though, where a damp lawn after dark is more prone to disease.
Rule of thumb
Water only when the grass is dry--most lawns need no more than one inch water per week, even in arid areas of the country.
Weekend gardener?
You'll like this book
Taylor's Weekend Gardening Guide to Safe and Easy Lawn Care: The Complete Guide to Organic, Low-Maintenance Lawns (Taylor's Weekend Gardening Guides)
Amazon Price: (as of 11/11/2009)
The title says it all. Grow a safe lawn your children can romp on all summer long. Go ahead, show them how to whistle through a blade of grass.
With Grasscycling, you'll use one-third less fertilizer
Fewer Saturdays pushing the fertilizer hopper
As grass clippings break down, they release moisture and nutrients into the soil, including the nitrogen that keeps your lawn green and lush. You'll need to fertilize less, about one-third less, according to studies.Less is more! Most grasses require modest levels of nitrogen for good color and controlled growth. Excess fertilizer makes grass grow faster, requiring more mowing, and does not necessarily improve the health of the plant.
For optimum lawn health, follow this schedule.
- Fertilize only in the fall. A fall application boosts spring growth.
- Fertilize again in spring, but only if the lawn needs it.
- For slower, more uniform growth, choose fertilizers with the label "water insoluble nitrogen" or "slow release nitrogen." These increase the amount of time the grass can use the nutrient.
- Let clippings do the job through the summer.
For a healthier lawn, mow high and a little more frequently
You'll still save time
Set your mower height to 2"-3". Mowing high reduces shock to the grass plant because less of the blade is removed. Grass looks healthier because it is, from the roots up. Grasscycling cuts your mowing time by about one-third
Even though mowing high requires mowing a little more often during the peak growing cycle--about every five days--studies conducted by the University of Idaho and elsewhere show that most grasscycling homeowners reduce overall mowing time by about one-third over the course of a season. For a safe, healthy lawn, go organic
The Organic Lawn Care Manual
Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 11/11/2009)
Everything you need to know to build a lush, green lawn your kids can romp on safely is right here. Go ahead. Lie down. Feel the earth supporting you. Pluck a blade of grass and indulge in its sweetness while you watch the clouds skuttle overhead. This is the book to help you get that lawn.
Keep your mower blade sharp
to keep your lawn healthy
Mow when the grass is dry
Consider a mulching mower
If this is the year you're planning to buy a new mower
This mulcher comes highly recommended
Lawn-Boy 10685 Insight Series 21-Inch 6.5 HP Gas Powered Self-Propelled Lawn Mower with Sens-a-Speed (Non-CARB Compliant)
Amazon Price: $445.13 (as of 11/11/2009)
This model was well-rated in Consumers Reports, the Amazon reviewers are especially pleased with its mulching capabilities and the way it handles tall grass, and they like its ease of use.
Will grasscycling cause thatch?
GRASSCYCLING DOES NOT CAUSE THATCH
Thatch is an accumulation of dead rhizomes, roots and stems, which do not decay quickly. Cut grass decomposes quickly and does not cause thatch build-up. Build a healthy lawn
Building a Healthy Lawn: A Safe and Natural Approach
Amazon Price: (as of 11/11/2009)
You know the advice is good when a professional landscaper, for whom time lost on lawn care is money lost, recommends the organic route. Franklin gives you the deep view on how grasscycling and avoiding harsh chemicals net a more beautiful, durable lawn.
Tip
Wear golf shoes while mowing. The spikes help to aerate your lawn, which improves soil health.
Aerate your lawn
But don't bother with a big noisy machine
ECCO Men's Casual Cool Hydromax Golf Shoe
Amazon Price: (as of 11/11/2009)
These handsome shoes can go from the early morning lawn mow directly to a round on the links.
Grasscycling is good for your community and the environment
Good citizens grasscycle!
Grass recycling saves municipal costs, which we all pay for one way or another. It also reduces the amount of toxic runoff into our streams and rivers caused by excessive fertilizing.- Curbside clippings collection increases trash hauling and handling costs, which you'll see in your trash bill.
- Grass clippings can represent from 20 to 50 percent of the solid waste going to landfills in the spring and summer, and cities across the country are fast running out of new land to fill.
- Clippings contribute to landfill gas and leaching, putting our groundwater and air at risk and raising environmental management costs.
- Grass clippings increase odors during storage, collection, and disposal of trash.
- Runoff from a heavily fertilized lawn carries fertilizers to our rivers and streams, putting fish and wildlife at risk.
Teaming with microbes: A gardener's guide to the soil food web
Like the play on words?
"Sure, it's a gardening book, but it has all the drama and suspense of an extraterrestrial thriller. A cast of characters without eyeballs or backbones. Battle scenes with bizarre creatures devouring one another. Only this book is about as terrestrial as it gets."
Debra McKinney, Anchorage Daily News, September 14, 2006
Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web
Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 11/11/2009)
Summary
How recycling your grass clippings saves lawn care costs
Grass clippings shade roots, cool the soil, return moisture and nutrients to the soil when they break down, add moisture-holding organic matter, and reduce lawn watering needs.- Grass clippings supply up to one-third of a lawn's nitrogen fertilizer needs
- Clippings decompose rapidly, feeding soil organisms that keep soil healthy and help to prevent turf diseases
- Grasscycling saves one-third of the mowing time during the growing season
- Grass clippings do not cause thatch
- Grasscycling is good for the community: Saves garbage collection and landfill costs
Grasscycling is easy
Cut the sweat
Grasscycling is for the birds!
and the soil and the water and the air and all of us
Will you switch to grasscycling this year?
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byNo way, Grasshopper. My lawn is hooked on drugs.
Ah yes, Ladybug. I've got better things to do than feed and mow and water all summer.
kmcvay says:
My lawn hates drugs... probably has something to so with the concrete-hard dirt it's trying to grow in :-)
Posted August 18, 2008
CherylK says:
Absolutely. No chemicals are allowed anywhere near our lawn, especially because we live on a lake. Gotta save our water any way we can.
Posted March 28, 2008
LaraineRose says:
My Grasshopper is drug free! I'm going to switch to grasscyling this year. In fact I've been doing this for years.
Posted March 21, 2008
Make yours a chemical-free lawn
SAFE FOR YOUR WEE ONES
The Chemical-Free Lawn: The Newest Varieties and Techniques to Grow Lush, Hardy Grass
Amazon Price: (as of 11/11/2009)
List Price: $14.95
Want to save even more time and money? Not only does this book give excellent grasscycling info, it shows you how to mow your lawn in a third less time by mowing in a spiral. Try it. It works! (No, you won't get dizzy, but you will have some fun.)
Do you have a lawn? How do you care for it?
TheGreenerMe wrote...
Great idea for going green. I'm not much of a mower, but I'm passing this info along to a few people who I know should see this. Thanks! Lensrolling to a couple of my recycling lenses.
Posted February 28, 2009
JaguarJulie wrote...
Ah, you'd be talking to the gal that does the cuts the grass and edges usually when hubby is out golfing -- I don't mind because I want and need the exercise. At least we have a self-propelled lawn mower. I don't catch the grass cuttings, but rather will sweep up the excess and take it to our backyard to do a little composting. So, I guess we are kind of green. Happy new year my dear.
Posted December 29, 2008
StLouisLawnCare wrote...
These are great tips. I do landscaping in St. Louis and am always tell my customers these tips. Mulching the grass clippings is one of the best things that you can do for a lawn.
Posted September 17, 2008
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Did you know ...
"Grasscycling" simply requires a person to mow a little more frequently, Boyd said. "Grass clippings are 90 percent water so in a few days they're gone," he explained. " If you mow frequently, the clippings are very small. I don't ever pick them up. It's too much work."
-"How to 'grasscycle'," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, August 11, 1990
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