Mulching with grass clippings
 

I have tried this technique once or twice without much
success. Either I get masses of weeds coming through,
or the grass clippings coagulate into a sticky mess
(as they do in a compost heap if you put too many in
at once).

I would really like to use the clipping to mulch
around my respberries as they are getting old and weak
and I was hoping that would help next years canes
develop.

Any tips please?

--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

Mulching with grass clippings
 

On 07/05/2013 20:25, Roger Tonkin wrote:
I have tried this technique once or twice without much
success. Either I get masses of weeds coming through,
or the grass clippings coagulate into a sticky mess
(as they do in a compost heap if you put too many in
at once).

I would really like to use the clipping to mulch
around my respberries as they are getting old and weak
and I was hoping that would help next years canes
develop.

Any tips please?


Try a little and often, just a couple of inches at a time.

Mulching with grass clippings
 

"David Hill" wrote in message
...
On 07/05/2013 20:25, Roger Tonkin wrote:
I have tried this technique once or twice without much
success. Either I get masses of weeds coming through,
or the grass clippings coagulate into a sticky mess
(as they do in a compost heap if you put too many in
at once).

I would really like to use the clipping to mulch
around my respberries as they are getting old and weak
and I was hoping that would help next years canes
develop.

Any tips please?


Try a little and often, just a couple of inches at a time.

Said the actress to the vicar
--
Pete C

Mulching with grass clippings
 

In article ,
Roger Tonkin wrote:

I would really like to use the clipping to mulch
around my respberries as they are getting old and weak
and I was hoping that would help next years canes
develop.

Plant new ones, preferably somewhere else. Mulching won't
help worth a damn in such a case.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Mulching with grass clippings
 

In article , nmm1
@cam.ac.uk says...

In article ,
Roger Tonkin wrote:

I would really like to use the clipping to mulch
around my respberries as they are getting old and weak
and I was hoping that would help next years canes
develop.

Plant new ones, preferably somewhere else. Mulching won't
help worth a damn in such a case.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Yeah, I know that is what I ought to do, but there are
a couple of problems:

1) Space - there is no where for a new fruit cage to
go, apart from the lawn, and swmbo will not allow
that!

2) The possibility that we move, age, remoteness,
large garden and family pressures!

--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

Mulching with grass clippings
 

In article ,
says...

On Tue, 7 May 2013 20:25:45 +0100, Roger Tonkin
wrote:

I have tried this technique once or twice without much
success. Either I get masses of weeds coming through,
or the grass clippings coagulate into a sticky mess
(as they do in a compost heap if you put too many in
at once).

I would really like to use the clipping to mulch
around my respberries as they are getting old and weak
and I was hoping that would help next years canes
develop.

Any tips please?

Most of my grass clippings go straight onto the beds around shrubs,
except where the compost heap is nearer to hand.

I use them on all beds, and regularly add a thick duvet-layer to
compost bins to heat them up/ keep them hot. Several neighbours donate
their clippings,so we have a constant supply.

They are applied
fairly thinly, i.e. probably 2 inches maximum, go brown within a few
days so cease to be noticeable, and disappear after a few weeks. They
suppress weed-seed germination, but won't stop weeds that are already
established: these just grow through the mulch. They also improve the
soil and help to retain moisture. Birds turn the mulch over, looking
for worms etc.

I was about to say.. birds do the work of preventing the coagulation
problem; so encourage birds in your garden, especially ones that forage
for worms and insects (blackbirds, robins, thrushes and starlings. If
you can employ pheasants, even better :-)
Throw a few crumbs or scatter some wheat on the clippings mulch and
they'll soon get the idea.

Janet

Mulching with grass clippings
 

In article ,
Roger Tonkin wrote:

I would really like to use the clipping to mulch
around my respberries as they are getting old and weak
and I was hoping that would help next years canes
develop.

Plant new ones, preferably somewhere else. Mulching won't
help worth a damn in such a case.

Yeah, I know that is what I ought to do, but there are
a couple of problems:

1) Space - there is no where for a new fruit cage to
go, apart from the lawn, and swmbo will not allow
that!

2) The possibility that we move, age, remoteness,
large garden and family pressures!

Then plant new ones in the same location! I really do mean
that there is no hope of any of the Rubi recovering once they
have started to go downhill. They haven't adapted to recovery
from fungal root-rots, viruses etc. and rely on new plants
taking over. Longer-lived and more woody plants have some
recovery mechanisms, but Rubi are not like that.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Mulching with grass clippings
 

In article , nmm1
@cam.ac.uk says...

In article ,
Roger Tonkin wrote:

I would really like to use the clipping to mulch
around my respberries as they are getting old and weak
and I was hoping that would help next years canes
develop.

Plant new ones, preferably somewhere else. Mulching won't
help worth a damn in such a case.

Yeah, I know that is what I ought to do, but there are
a couple of problems:

1) Space - there is no where for a new fruit cage to
go, apart from the lawn, and swmbo will not allow
that!

2) The possibility that we move, age, remoteness,
large garden and family pressures!

Then plant new ones in the same location! I really do mean
that there is no hope of any of the Rubi recovering once they
have started to go downhill. They haven't adapted to recovery
from fungal root-rots, viruses etc. and rely on new plants
taking over. Longer-lived and more woody plants have some
recovery mechanisms, but Rubi are not like that.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

That's encouraging, but I understood you should not
use the same patch, partly because of the problems you
outlined.

--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

Mulching with grass clippings
 

On 08/05/2013 19:05, Roger Tonkin wrote:
In article , nmm1
@cam.ac.uk says...

In article ,
Roger Tonkin wrote:

I would really like to use the clipping to mulch
around my respberries as they are getting old and weak
and I was hoping that would help next years canes
develop.

Plant new ones, preferably somewhere else. Mulching won't
help worth a damn in such a case.

Yeah, I know that is what I ought to do, but there are
a couple of problems:

1) Space - there is no where for a new fruit cage to
go, apart from the lawn, and swmbo will not allow
that!

2) The possibility that we move, age, remoteness,
large garden and family pressures!

Then plant new ones in the same location! I really do mean
that there is no hope of any of the Rubi recovering once they
have started to go downhill. They haven't adapted to recovery
from fungal root-rots, viruses etc. and rely on new plants
taking over. Longer-lived and more woody plants have some
recovery mechanisms, but Rubi are not like that.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

That's encouraging, but I understood you should not
use the same patch, partly because of the problems you
outlined.

I would try a good high nitrogen feed now and then a potash feed in
August, and give a good mulch of grass clippings once the new growth is
about 12 inches or more.
Nothing to loose.

Mulching with grass clippings
 

In article ,
Roger Tonkin wrote:

Then plant new ones in the same location! I really do mean
that there is no hope of any of the Rubi recovering once they
have started to go downhill. They haven't adapted to recovery
from fungal root-rots, viruses etc. and rely on new plants
taking over. Longer-lived and more woody plants have some
recovery mechanisms, but Rubi are not like that.

That's encouraging, but I understood you should not
use the same patch, partly because of the problems you
outlined.

Ideally, you shouldn't. However, in the wild, they often tip-in
or sucker into areas where other canes have just died. I find
that young plants (not raspberries, but others) often thrive
even where and old one has been dying horribly.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Mulching with grass clippings
 

On Tue, 7 May 2013 20:25:45 +0100, Roger Tonkin
wrote:

I have tried this technique once or twice without much
success. Either I get masses of weeds coming through,
or the grass clippings coagulate into a sticky mess
(as they do in a compost heap if you put too many in
at once).

I would really like to use the clipping to mulch
around my respberries as they are getting old and weak
and I was hoping that would help next years canes
develop.

Any tips please?

If you dry them (rake them up rather than collect them) then they
won't heat up when you apply them as a mulch.
Thin layers regularly of fresh clippings is the way to avoid it
heating up.
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

Mulching with grass clippings
 

"mogga" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 7 May 2013 20:25:45 +0100, Roger Tonkin
wrote:

I have tried this technique once or twice without much
success. Either I get masses of weeds coming through,
or the grass clippings coagulate into a sticky mess
(as they do in a compost heap if you put too many in
at once).

I would really like to use the clipping to mulch
around my respberries as they are getting old and weak
and I was hoping that would help next years canes
develop.

Any tips please?

If you dry them (rake them up rather than collect them) then they
won't heat up when you apply them as a mulch.
Thin layers regularly of fresh clippings is the way to avoid it
heating up.
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

Two things that help make mowings work well as a mulch are 1 cut grass
regularly, keep it short, this cuts down on seed heads, 2 apply it at the
right thickness, too much and it heats up, to little and it doesn't do its
job, couple of inches works for me.

It goes without saying that if you are using the mowings as a mulch don't
use weed n' feed type products!!


--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk

Mulching with grass clippings
 

In article ,
says...

"mogga" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 7 May 2013 20:25:45 +0100, Roger Tonkin
wrote:

I have tried this technique once or twice without much
success. Either I get masses of weeds coming through,
or the grass clippings coagulate into a sticky mess
(as they do in a compost heap if you put too many in
at once).

I would really like to use the clipping to mulch
around my respberries as they are getting old and weak
and I was hoping that would help next years canes
develop.

Any tips please?

If you dry them (rake them up rather than collect them) then they
won't heat up when you apply them as a mulch.
Thin layers regularly of fresh clippings is the way to avoid it
heating up.
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

Two things that help make mowings work well as a mulch are 1 cut grass
regularly, keep it short, this cuts down on seed heads, 2 apply it at the
right thickness, too much and it heats up, to little and it doesn't do its
job, couple of inches works for me.

It goes without saying that if you are using the mowings as a mulch don't
use weed n' feed type products!!

Thanks for the warning, I was aware, and at the moment
have just done the second cut following weed & feed.
All the cuttings gone into bin bags to go down to the
recycling at some stage.

Probably start using 4th cutting for mulching, unless
anyone throws uo their hands in horror :)


--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

Mulching with grass clippings
 

On Fri, 17 May 2013 20:06:26 +0100, Roger Tonkin
wrote:


Any tips please?

If you dry them (rake them up rather than collect them) then they
won't heat up when you apply them as a mulch.
Thin layers regularly of fresh clippings is the way to avoid it
heating up.
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

Two things that help make mowings work well as a mulch are 1 cut grass
regularly, keep it short, this cuts down on seed heads, 2 apply it at the
right thickness, too much and it heats up, to little and it doesn't do its
job, couple of inches works for me.

It goes without saying that if you are using the mowings as a mulch don't
use weed n' feed type products!!

Thanks for the warning, I was aware, and at the moment
have just done the second cut following weed & feed.
All the cuttings gone into bin bags to go down to the
recycling at some stage.

Probably start using 4th cutting for mulching, unless
anyone throws uo their hands in horror :)


I'd have the rest in a big heap in a corner for growing worms. :)
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk