To Bag, or Not To Bag

Admit it, we've all neglected our yards at one point or another.  Sometimes we get lazy and sometimes we're just too busy.  You know the drill: you get the gusto to get up, you put on your "yard work" clothes and you take out the lawn mower.  Then you stop and think to yourself, "Is my grass too high to leave the clippings?  Should I put on my lawn mower bag?  Hmm..to bag, or not to bag?"  Well, you probably don't really think that in your head, but for this post's sake, let's say that you did.

Leaving grass clippings behind is great for your yard.  First off, it acts as a natural fertilizer.  The nitrogen that is in the cut grass blades get sent back into the soil, fertilizing it as it breaks down.  Secondly, the clippings will also act as a mulch for your yard.  This can greatly help to reduce the growth of weeds.

However, if your grass gets too long, then leaving the clippings behind will actually hurt your yard.  The cut grass will be too thick and clumpy as you mow.  Leaving these clumps in the yard will actually smother your grass.  Your grass won't be able to get any light from the sun and will start to slowly die off.  So if your grass is considerably long, then you should bag it.  The good thing about bagging your clippings is that you can use it as a mulch somewhere in your landscaping, or it can be put in a compost pile.

So now you're probably thinking, "How long should I let my grass grow before I have to mow it?"  I'm a mind reader, I know...I've been told that before.  Ideally, your yard should be cut once a week.  But we all know that this doesn't happen.  Letting it go for two or three weeks is ok.  But what happens if you let it go for a month...or two...or even three months (that's basically almost a whole season)?  If that's the case, then you can call Colorful Yards Landscaping and we'll take care of it for you!

Here is a picture of a yard that went a little too long in between mowings:

This grass needs to be bagged!  If you look closely, you can see a bicycle that went missing some time ago.  Just kidding, there is no missing bike...at least I hope there isn't.

Here is what the yard looks like after it had been mowed and bagged away:

 

Afterwards, some residents came by to check on the work that had been done.

They were probably wondering where their meadow went.


Here is some grass that doesn't need to be bagged:

This grass is long, but not too long where it will leave clumps behind.  These clippings will be perfect to be left on the ground.

So hopefully this answers the age-old question of whether or not you should bag your clippings.  Stay tuned for the next post, which will be about mulching.