Lose the Lawn Bag

Emptying your grass catcher can be a hot, messy job in the heat of summer. Save yourself the work and improve your landscape in the process by grasscycling. Leaving your grass clippings on the lawn helps return nutrients to the soil and reduce evaporation from the soil.

If you’ve got a mulching mower, you’re ready to grasscycle. Be sure the blades are sharpened, and your mower will cut your grass into lengths that are perfect for leaving on the lawn.

If you’ve left your lawn a little too long and fear the clippings would be too heavy, you can still skip the bag by using your grass clippings as mulch in your vegetable garden. Just like other mulches, the clippings help hold in moisture and keep weeds at bay. Then, be sure to schedule mowing so that you aren’t cutting more than 1/3 of the lawn’s total length. That will leave you with just enough grass to leave on the lawn and reap the benefits of grasscycling.

Worried that clippings will make your lawn look messy? Be patient. It may take a few hours, but the clippings will settle into the soil to decompose. If you can’t wait that long, you can gently rake the clippings to spread them and help them settle more quickly.