Grass Cuttings
 

We have an enormous pile of well rotted grass cuttings from this year and
the tear before.

I am digging out an old area to make a new flower bed. The soil will
probably be a bit tired. Is there any merit in adding a layer of the well
rotted grass cuttings before I replace the soil. I know manure would be
better but I don't have any at the moment - I will probably put some on top
later in the year, but this is too late to backfill the garden.

Thanks

Harry

Harry Ziman wrote:
:: We have an enormous pile of well rotted grass cuttings from this
:: year and the tear before.
::
:: I am digging out an old area to make a new flower bed. The soil
:: will probably be a bit tired. Is there any merit in adding a layer
:: of the well rotted grass cuttings before I replace the soil. I
:: know manure would be better but I don't have any at the moment - I
:: will probably put some on top later in the year, but this is too
:: late to backfill the garden.
::
:: Thanks
::
:: Harry

As a beginner to gardening I can say that grass cuttings are very good for
flowers!!
In spring I filled hanging baskets and planters with a mixture of rotted
grass cuttings and soil (not very good soil - it was lifeless) along with a
small amount of compost and they did exceptionally well - the flowers in the
pots and planters which didn't get any grass were only half the size of
those that did.
One word of warning though, watch out for hundreds of tiny grass seedlings
coming up all over the place!
I picked them out every few days and they remained relatively weed free.

In article ,
Harry Ziman hziman at clara dot co dot uk wrote:
We have an enormous pile of well rotted grass cuttings from this year and
the tear before.

I am digging out an old area to make a new flower bed. The soil will
probably be a bit tired. Is there any merit in adding a layer of the well
rotted grass cuttings before I replace the soil. I know manure would be
better but I don't have any at the moment - I will probably put some on top
later in the year, but this is too late to backfill the garden.

Yes. If they are 6" down, they will be accessible to worms and
plant roots, but you will get few seeds. If not, don't worry.
You can chuck manure on top, later.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

They will be over a foot down! The area was previously a gravel path, with
compacted hardcore etc that I need to remove, hence digging over.

Harry

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Harry Ziman hziman at clara dot co dot uk wrote:
We have an enormous pile of well rotted grass cuttings from this year and
the tear before.

I am digging out an old area to make a new flower bed. The soil will
probably be a bit tired. Is there any merit in adding a layer of the well
rotted grass cuttings before I replace the soil. I know manure would be
better but I don't have any at the moment - I will probably put some on
top
later in the year, but this is too late to backfill the garden.

Yes. If they are 6" down, they will be accessible to worms and
plant roots, but you will get few seeds. If not, don't worry.
You can chuck manure on top, later.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article ,
Harry Ziman hziman at clara dot co dot uk wrote:
They will be over a foot down! The area was previously a gravel path, with
compacted hardcore etc that I need to remove, hence digging over.

Too deep. You want it 6-12" down - below is a waste. Also, don't
worry about removing small gravel, because it makes a perfectly
good substrate once loosened and enriched with compost. Compacted
gravel is a disaster, but gravel+compost is a very fertile medium.

If you are digging compacted hardcore to that depth, you will need
plenty of beer :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Points taken! Thanks.

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Harry Ziman hziman at clara dot co dot uk wrote:
They will be over a foot down! The area was previously a gravel path,
with
compacted hardcore etc that I need to remove, hence digging over.

Too deep. You want it 6-12" down - below is a waste. Also, don't
worry about removing small gravel, because it makes a perfectly
good substrate once loosened and enriched with compost. Compacted
gravel is a disaster, but gravel+compost is a very fertile medium.

If you are digging compacted hardcore to that depth, you will need
plenty of beer :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In message , Harry Ziman
writes
We have an enormous pile of well rotted grass cuttings from this year and
the tear before.

It is pretty good stuff. Worth giving a mix up to encourage it along.

I am digging out an old area to make a new flower bed. The soil will
probably be a bit tired. Is there any merit in adding a layer of the well
rotted grass cuttings before I replace the soil. I know manure would be
better but I don't have any at the moment - I will probably put some on top
later in the year, but this is too late to backfill the garden.

Certainly worth putting some in whilst you are digging and for that
matter using it as a mulch around plants that you are fond of. The worms
will mix it in eventually. Just make sure the stuff is fairly well
rotted down first.

Bury the rough stuff and keep the nicest material for the top 6 inches.

Experience varies enormously with grass cuttings. I can compost mine
very fast except for the top layer that dries out. YMMV

Regards,
--
Martin Brown

"Harry Ziman" hziman at clara dot co dot uk wrote in message
...
We have an enormous pile of well rotted grass cuttings from this year and
the tear before.

I am digging out an old area to make a new flower bed. The soil will
probably be a bit tired. Is there any merit in adding a layer of the well
rotted grass cuttings before I replace the soil. I know manure would be
better but I don't have any at the moment - I will probably put some on
top
later in the year, but this is too late to backfill the garden.

Thanks

Harry

Simply Dig and mix it well in to the soil it will do it the world of good
........much better than a layer of slime under a layer of soil

If you were making a trench for runner beans your idea would be great though