For many people, when you think about mowing your lawn, you associate this with a mower with a grass box, collecting clippings as you mow.
However, in the UK, mulching your grass, rather than collecting the clippings, is becoming increasingly popular.
In this article, we’ll explain what exactly mulching is, and why you might consider doing it.
What does mulching mean?
Mulching refers to turning your grass clippings into mulch as you cut the grass. Rather than collecting the lawn clippings in a grass box and then disposing of them elsewhere, your mower returns clippings to the ground, to be used as compost.
However, mulching grass clippings doesn’t just mean taking off the grass box. A proper mulching mower will cut the clippings repeatedly, sending them through the cutting deck multiple times to create a finer mulch.
Mulching lawn mowers will also force the clippings down into the grass, and ensure an even distribution of your clippings. This is one of the main differences between mulching and side discharge. With a good mulching mower, your clippings are spread out more evenly, and are pushed directly into the soil.
Benefits of mulching grass
Here are some of the reasons why you might like to mulch your grass instead of bagging it.
1. Improve lawn health
Believe it or not, grass clippings actually have many nutrients that improve grass health. As it decomposes, mulched grass releases nitrogen, making your soil more fertile.
Your clippings also contain many other essential nutrients that your grass needs to grow, such as potassium and phosphorus.
By mulching grass clippings, you’re reducing the need to use fertiliser or lawn feed to keep your grass healthy. You’re putting these nutrients back into the ground on a regular basis, saving you time and money with your lawn care.
2. Convenience
By mulching,, you’re skipping what’s probably the most annoying part of mowing your lawn – the clean up!
Rather than having to tip out your grass box every so often, or raking up the clippings, you get to leave them in place.
This is why many people like mulching grass clippings – for the convenience and time savings it offers.
3. Retaining moisture
Grass clippings are actually made of around 85% water. By mulching them, you’re leaving a decent amount of moisture in place – moisture that your grass needs to grow.
As a result, mulching is often used when the weather is drier, to avoid having to water the lawn as often as would normally be required.
4. Cost saving
If you’re about to buy a new mower, and you’re unsure what you get, it’s important to know that mulching mowers can often be cheaper than mowers that allow you to collect grass clippings.
To collect cut grass, a mower will need to be bigger and bulkier, and will have to come with a grass box. As a result, they’re more complex to make, and can cost more.
However, this isn’t a cut-and-dry rule. Some mowers without a grass box won’t actually mulch your grass – they will just leave it in place, rather than making a fine mulch, and forcing it into the soil. Therefore, if you’re looking for a cheap mulching mower, you need to be careful to ensure that it’s actually capable of turning your lawn clippings into mulch.
Disadvantages of mulching grass
While mulching can be very beneficial for your lawn, there are a few downsides you should be aware of, as well as some situations where mulching grass cuttings is not the best idea.
In summary, you need to be careful to avoid mulching when the grass is too long, or too wet, or clumps will form, and the grass won’t decompose quickly enough.
Since you’ll need to mow the lawn more often, your mower will need more maintenance, especially sharpening its blades. Also, you need the right type of mulching mower to mulch the grass properly.
To learn more, read our guide to the disadvantages of mulching grass.
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I’m Josh, and I’m the head writer at Lawn Care Pro.
I love everything lawns, but I’m a bit of a lawn mower nerd. I spend a lot of my free time tinkering with mowers, and planning my mowing schedule for the next few weeks.
I’m also into cars, which comes in very helpful when servicing a mower engine!