Grass Clipping Mulch. 6.21.14

Creative Grass Mowing.  6.21.14

 Yesterday I mowed around the raised beds, and other areas of the second acre.  Most people in this area have tightly trimmed, golf course - like yards.  Some are more like pastures.  This area is on a 30 foot wide  easement that we anticipate will be paved soon, by a neighbor with attitude.  We don't know how much of the 30 feet will be paved, or when.  Meanwhile it's grass, organic, no chemicals added.  As a result, used for mulch, the clippings are coarse and dry to a nice straw-like consistency. dont mat down too much or turn sour.  The golf course-like lawns in the neighborhood get fertilizer, water, chemicals, the grass is green and lush, then they collect clippings and burn them.  The smoke is nasty.  Seems insane.

I cut "crop circles" in an attempt to be whimsical.  There is a lot of clover in the grass, now, for nitrogen and bees.

Peppers in raised bed with grass clipping mulch.  6.21.14

I had newspaper and food package cardboard mulch for the squashes, just compost for the peppers.  Now that is covered with an approx 4 inch thick layer of grass clipping mulch.  Will keep them weed free and not as dry for summer.  Like any organic mulch, they will break down to add orgsnic content and life to the soil.

Potato "well" with grass clipping mulch.  6.21.14

The potato planters also got a thick layer of grass clipping.  About 6 inckes thick.  That is on top of a few inches of aged maple leaf mulch.

Mulch also went into some flower borders and around shrubs.  I view cutting the grass more as a harvest of quality organic mulch, than as grooming.

Sunchokes.  6.21.14

 The sunchokes already had a generous mulch of weeds, pulled from raised beds.  I topped that with grass clipping for a cleaner appearance and better weed control.

We recovered these sunchokes from Ning's meadow.  He planted them there last year when I was in surgery.  They didn't do so well there.  I found 3 of the plants.  We ate chokes from one, and I moved the others to this location.  With some added organic nitrogen, and lots of mulch, they are flourishing.  The shorter plant is shorter due to local herbivores.  The taller had a screen.  The herbivores seem to ignore them now.  Although they like to surprise me.