Okay so if you have a lawn then you obviously mow it regularly but is it all to maintaining a healthy lawn? Are you mulching? Do you even know what mulching does to your lawn and why you should be doing it? Here’s what you need to know on lawn mower mulching.
First, when you mulch you actually save a lot of time. When you just mow, you also have to collect cut grass unless you use a grass collection bin. But, by mulching you don’t have to collect of empty the grass box and you don’t have to ever worry about heaps of cut grass either.
How Does It Work?
To mulch you need a mulching blade and this is different from the conventional mowing blade. What a mulching blade does is to cut and then re-cut the grass into smaller pieces. These pieces are then blown out into a sward. Being so small, the grass pieces decompose faster in a matter of hours and thus add nutrient back into the lawn allowing microbes and worms to grow and aerate the soil.
Is Mulching Beneficial?
Yes, the simple answer is that you should mulch at least once a month. See when you mow, you are disposing of grass clippings in a garbage bag and this is not helping anyone really. In a recent government project, it was shown that half-acre of lawn can make anywhere from 4 to 5 tons of clippings per season. That is a huge waste of resources and nutrients. Imagine how much you can save by reusing these grass clippings! You won’t have to use commercial fertilizers more than once each season if you mulch. Moreover, by mulching your lawn gets a steady diet rather than sudden high dosage of chemicals.
Grass clippings help recycle calcium, iron, magnesium and much more in tiny amounts, which helps keep the top-soil nutritive and healthy.
Is It Harder To Mulch?
No not really. It takes almost equal effort to mulch as it does to mow. But try not to overdo it since mulching can shave the lawn when done in excess. When you mulch you get a golf course like cover but don’t get too attached to this type of a lawn cover since you will have to aerate and water the lawn a lot more to maintain this golf course like appeal. Besides, golf course soil is much more compacted and regularly monitored for health, which is not something you can do on a regular basis at home.
Best advice is to regularly mow your lawn and sprinkle in mulching every month to keep the soil naturally nutritional.
Remember to mulch in moderation. Think of the mulching deck as a large blender. Too much grass and the end result is never good. Put the right amount in and you get an even spread of mulch. So first mow your lawn to about an inch more than your desired height. Then switch over to the mulching kit and mulch the last inch off for a perfect height and spread.
