The Best Ways to Use Grass Clippings in Your Garden

Photo: EsfilPla (Shutterstock)

Maintaining a traditional green grass lawn is a year-round process, with mowing typically being the most time-consuming task. Not only does this involve cutting the grass, but it also means figuring out what to do with the clippings you’re left with when you finish.

Rather than dumping them into trash bags and throwing them away, here are a few of the best ways you can use these clippings in your garden.

How to use grass clippings in your garden

We’ve talked about recycling grass clippings to back onto your lawn, but they can also benefit your garden—as long as they haven’t been treated with herbicides or other chemicals that you wouldn’t otherwise use in your garden. Here are some ideas:

Mulch for vegetables

While you can use grass clipping as mulch around flowers, shrubs, and trees as well, that may not fit into your landscaping aesthetic. But that shouldn’t be an issue in your garden, where the clippings can help reduce weed growth, conserve moisture, and moderate soil temperatures for your veggies. Just be sure to only use dry clippings as mulch.

Nitrogen for your compost pile

If you are actively composting, grass clippings make a wonderful addition to the pile, thanks to their high nitrogen content. But to be clear, a heap consisting solely of accumulated grass clippings does not count as composting—which requires a combination of other plant materials and small amounts of soil containing microorganisms necessary for decomposition to take place.

Brew some fertilizing tea

Looking for a natural way to fertilize your garden? In addition to nitrogen, grass clippings are also high in potassium, and both nutrients give your plants a boost—especially in midsummer, when the soil isn’t at peak fertility. And you can send these nutrients their way in the form of fertilizing “tea.”

To brew the tea, get a large bucket or container and fill it 2/3 of the way with grass clippings, then top it off with water. Steep it for three days, stirring at least once a day. Then strain the liquid to remove the clippings, and add them to your compost pile (if you have one).

Finally, pour the liquid into a watering can if you plan to apply it to the soil surrounding your plants, or into a spray bottle or pump if you’re going to spray it onto the leaves of the plants. You can fertilize your plants with this tea every two weeks.