I was working in my gardens the other day and it struck me how much I depend on mulch that I grow myself without even trying

I never buy mulch from the garden center or anywhere else. I just use grass clippings. Some may think that they would be unattractive, but that is far from the truth. In fact, if you let the clippings dry, and then use them around your plants, they look just as good as any mulches you would purchase in the garden centers. One of the best things I ever did was to invest in a mulching mower that had a bagger on the back of it. That way I can catch the clippings and use them when and where I please. When the grass clippings rot around the plants, it feeds them and helps to maintain plant health. When they start getting thin due to rotting, just put more around the plant. I ran an experiment and found that plants that were mulched with grass clippings required much less watering that un-mulched plants do. Fig trees that I mulched around needed watering once every 10 days. The un-mulched trees required watering every other day. That is five times as much water as the mulched trees required.

There are so many ways you can use such a common thing as grass clippings.

I use them to mulch around all of my rose bushes, fruit trees and shade trees.

I use it in the chicken nests for a comfortable seat for the hens to sit on while laying their eggs. This keeps the eggs clean and also keeps them from breaking.

I use grass clippings in the chicken pen for fodder. The chicks love to scratch and peck in fresh grass clippings. One word or warning here, do not put to many clippings in for the chicks at once, or they may chose to start laying eggs on the ground in it. I love to just stand back and watch how fast they devour grass clippings. In just a few minutes they are mostly gone. The ones that stay are scratched into the ground and fertilized with chicken manure. These I rake up one time per week and feed to the compost pile.

I also use fresh grass clippings on the compost pile. Some times I have so much grass clippings that I do not want to give them all to the chickens (even though the chickens are the best at getting them ready for the compost pile). When I have to much I just put the leftovers on the compost pile.

I have read so many articles that try to make composting into a complicated science. Composting is so simple. Nature is the working power here. Just pile up organic matter and forget it. No turning, no layering, no nothing except watering during dry times. What you need to remember is to use different organic things in the pile. Do not use all grass clippings or all leaves or all sticks. Use some of every thing. In about a year, the grass clippings, leaves, sticks, weeds, and old plants from the garden are wonderful, black, rich compost. I guarantee this will work. I have never had a compost pile sour on me or not decompose as it should. The key is not trying to rush the job. As you know, I am very strong on recommending compost in the garden. I know if all gardeners and farmers should choose to use compost more, we would be able to cut down on some of the garbage dumps around the country. Also it would save untold gallons of oil that is used to make chemical fertilizers because there would be no need for such fertilizers.

You can put anything organic in a compost pile. I do not put meat scraps or breads in because of animals digging into the pile for a snack.

Try using grass clippings and making your very own compost pile. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

God bless and happy gardening.

Byron