For people who mow their own lawns which do you do? People who do lawn work for other people at someones else’s choice don’t matter for this.
There was a guy a work who was seriously shocked when I said I don’t bag. He seriously thought that not bagging was something only the trashiest of the trash did. He went on and on about ugly clumps and piles left behind. I did get a mower that specifically said it could mulch, and I don’t see any piles, just a few scattered tiny pieces that fly onto the sidewalk or street.
I freely admit that the fact it’s easier is part of my reason, bagging it all and the carrying it out for trash day later in the week is just a pain in the ass. But it is more environmental too leave it there to contribute what it can back to the dirt, rather than taking it somewhere else. My city does have a fairly environmental bent where yard waste is collect separately for composting and etc, rather than just being sent to the dump like a few other places I have lived in. It is in southeaster Michigan, so we get a lot of rain to help grass grow fast, and gigaShitloads of leaves in Fall from all the trees, so it is a considerable amount.
But mulch-in-place seems a no-brainer win-win to me, easier for me, better for the lawn.
Mulch. We switched to mulching about three or four years ago and I honestly have no idea why we didn’t do it before. I think it’s because most people still bag here, but mulching isn’t any messier at all. There’s no clumps or unkempt lawn that I can see. Seriously, why do people continue to bag and throw it in the trash (as we did our whole lives almost.)
Mulch. You will only see clumps if you’re using a non mulching mower with no bag, or you wait way too long between mows and the grass is too tall and thick.
Mostly mulch but it depends on how long the grass has gotten between cuttings. Mulch breaks down quickly if the cuttings are very short. Long cuttings clutter up the mower, the lawn and can end up in clumps.
Sometimes I’ll make several passes over the same area just to keep the clippings short. For example, I normally cut the lawn at mower setting 5 but if the grass was long, I would start at setting 7 or 8 and reduce the height setting of each mowing by 1 until the lawn had been cut to level 5.
We’re in a condo now, but in the house I mulched it in place. Not only does it return nutrients to the soil, but it also lets moisture in and then helps keep it from evaporating away.
If my yard was actually grass, I wouldn’t bother with bagging, but since it’s mostly just weeds I try to keep cut short, I like to dispose of any seeds so they don’t further contaminate the area. This enables me to cling to the hope that one day the grass will magically choke out the unwanted growth and I will have a real lawn.
Or if you live near Seattle and your grass only dries out on one magical day every year.
Even when things are wet, though, I don’t have too many clumps. The clumps I do get are mostly a result of tiny particulates of mulched grass sticking to the wheels until the coating gets so thick that it tears off.
Mulch. And when it is tall and leaves lanes of clumps behind the mower just run the mower thru the lanes again… I did this to grass that was about 7 inches tall last week (was out of town longer than expected) and it chopped up the grass so fine that it wasn’t even noticeable.
A small part of what I mow is collected and used in my own compost pile. Even my tiny yard produces more clippings than I’ll ever need so most is mulched in place. I do have a concern about that though. Please understand that I’m not advocating any specific course of action and I’m fully prepared to be educated on why I’m wrong.
I’ve been told by people who claim to know what they’re talking about that mulching in place tends to produce a layer of dead thatch and that by bagging and removing the clippings you can promote more airflow around the base of plants and through the soil, reduce some diseases and allow water to penetrate more easily. This is done at the expense of increasing the lawn’s watering needs and requiring a bit more chemical fertilizer. One person tried to convince me of the value of running a power dethatcher by doing a small section of my yard. He was pulling out loads of obviously dead material from the lawn and the grass did seem to grow a little better in that spot for the rest of the season.
I’m just trying to knock the weeds down and I have no interest in the picture perfect ‘golf course’ lawn. I’m not going to spend money on another gas drinking yard machine to strip thatch and see no reason to change what I’m doing for the purpose of having a nice yard. IF I was looking for this kind of perfect green lawn though does bagging the clippings and stripping the thatch make sense?
I guess I will pick mulch. I only recently got mulching blades, but I don’t see a big difference in the size and distribution of grass clippings. Doesn’t really matter to me very much, as long as the grass gets cut before it is too high that is plenty for me.
I bag the front yard, because my wife was taught by her dad that that is the only correct way to cut grass. I get to cut the back any way I want. Fortunately, the bagged grass makes great compost so I don’t have to silently curse my father-in-law every time I cut the lawn.
Grass clipping stay in the grass. Come autumn, we have a mulcher/vac that we tow behind the riding mower to take care of the leaves. We empty it in the wooded part of our yard to decompose, then when we need mulch in our gardens, we’ve got it piled and ready to go!
But mulching requires that I mow more frequently (to prevent clumping) and that I sharpen the blade about once per month.
I’ll bag the front lawn maybe once or twice per season either due to letting it grow too long or because the wife wants to make it look nicer fro company
