If you choose to maintain a lawn, you can either collect your grass clippings and put them in your compost/green cart, or you can simply leave your clippings on the lawn, known as grasscycling. The small grass blades quickly and naturally break down, and serve as a natural fertilizer. It’s free, it’s easy, and produces no waste at all.

You will be grasscycling like a pro in no time with these key pointers:

• Before you start, make sure your grass is completely dry. Wet grass clippings will improperly ‘clump.’
• Keep your mower blades sharp.
• Use any mower to grasscycle, or better, a mulching mower. If your mower has an existing collection bag, remove it and properly cover the chute where trimmings would normally fly out.
• Cut no more than one third of the total length of the grass during each mowing. Your goal is to produce short clippings that fall in between the blades of grass. If your trimmings are too long, they will cover up your lawn, which may appear unsightly and prevent normal growth.
• Cut your grass frequently, especially in peak growing months, to keep your lawn and its trimmings at ideal lengths.

 

Resources:

Howcast provides a great, quick video tutorial about grasscycling in How to Grasscycle.

A solid case is made for grasscycling in Just Mow and Go! Tips for Grasscycling, a video produced by Montgomery County, Maryland’s Division of Solid Waste Services.

 

Additional Resources:

• A Landscaper’s Guide to Grasscycling / Una guí de Bay-Friendly Landscaping Sobre el Reciclaje del Pasto
• Grasscycle – A Case Study