The Grass Clipping Debate: Bag, Mulch, or Leave Them

Whether you hire a local lawn service or trim the grass yourself, the sound of the mower triggers the perennial debate that affects homeowners all over the country. What do you do with grass clippings? Three answer exists, and they have created quite a discussion over fences and on gardening and landscaping forums on the internet. It might represent one of the most common questions asked of southeast Texas lawn service companies. When you cut my grass, do you bag, mulch, or leave the clippings alone?

Bagging Grass Clippings

If your township or city collects yard and garden waste, you may want to bag grass clippings or otherwise leave them in the appropriate spot for pickup. For example, Beaumont, Nederland, Port Neches, and Groves all provide this service. If you use a professional lawn service to mow your lawn today, they may remove them as part of your overall contract for yard care.

Catching, bagging, and disposing of lawn clippings may give a more perfect and polished appearance. Also, this makes perfect sense whenever the grass has a disease or some sort of damage.

Using Grass Clippings as Mulch or Compost

As long as you do not use dangerous chemicals on your yard, grass clippings are perfectly safe for garden beds and the areas around trees and shrubs. They make an excellent mulch to help retain moisture in the soil and provide organic material to feed your flowers. After bagging the grass when you or your lawn service mows, simply dump it in the garden and spread it out in a layer at least two inches deep.

Grass clippings also make a great addition to a compost pile or drum. Mix them in with organic kitchen ways and other natural products to make rich compost for your gardens.

Leaving the Grass Clippings On the Lawn

The least labor-intensive way of dealing with your grass clippings is to simply leave them on the lawn. If you or your lawn service company cuts regularly, you will not end up with unsightly yellow pieces scattered all over. Instead, the cut grass will quickly break down and feed the soil underneath. This can actually make your yard healthier over time. Contrary to popular beliefs, grass thatch that can build up between the attractive green blades and the soil below does not come from grass clippings. Instead, it forms naturally from the dead parts of each grass plant.

In the perennial debate about what to do with your grass clippings, the simplest solution is to ignore them. Unless you wait too long to cut your grass or some disease currently affects it, there is no real reason to bag up and discard these free and natural sources of organic nutrients.