Mulching or Bagging: Which is Best For Your Lawn?
Lawn service is an art form due to the complicated nature of yards. One lawn can have millions of individual blades of grass, bacteria and other living organisms within it.
Supporting certain types of interaction among these organisms will ensure that your lawn stays green for as many months of the year as it can.
One of the biggest influences on lawns is mowing. It's a regular maintenance requirement, but what happens to the blades of grass after your yard is mowed can make or break it.
Let's explore if you should have your grass clippings bagged or mulched.
The Case for Mulching
Mulching is generally the best option for yards that are being maintained. The clippings contain nutrients like nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous, which are essential to growing healthy, green and resilient grass.
This can allow your grass to receive about a quarter of the nutrients it needs for the entire year. This earth-to-earth figure is one that stays unchanged regardless of the type of grass you have.
The one thing to understand about mulching is that it needs to be done properly to ensure that these nutrients can be freed. This is why a grater understanding of how the microorganisms in your lawn work is required to make mulching a success.
The Right Conditions for Mulching
The best conditions for mulching require that you mince the grass clippings into the tiniest pieces possible. This helps the bacteria and other microorganisms responsible for breaking down the grass to work in an efficient and quick manner.
If the grass clippings are too large, they will dry out before they decompose. They will then clump on top of healthy grass, or form a fine mat of dried clippings that reside around the base of your green grass.
If the latter occurs, it can make your soil compacted. This result in your grass being unable to breathe, which in turn means that your grass may grow poorly.
As a general rule of thumb, it's best to mulch only when you are trimming about a third of the height of your grass.
Opting to Bag Your Clippings
When mulching isn't the best option for your lawn, then you should opt to bag your clippings. This will allow you to dispose of the grass in a way that doesn't affect your lawn's beauty.
Most local municipalities have eco-friendly ways to dispose of grass clippings and other yard waste due to the ecological benefits of doing so. This means disposal can still allow the nutrients to return to the soil in one manner or another.
Keeping Your Yard as Green as Possible by Picking the Right Practices
When it comes to maintaining your lawn, seemingly minor practices like choosing to mulch or to bag your grass clippings can have a large effect on your lawn.
At Progreen Landscape Solutions, we ensure that every choice about your landscape, from the smallest to the largest, is the correct one. This helps ensure that our clients can have the most beautiful landscapes while preventing potential problems like disease.
To learn more about our services, contact us at 919-497-5974. We look forward to providing for every one of your landscaping needs.