You can often read in gardening guides that the lawn clippings absolutely have to be raked away. Otherwise the lawn would no longer get enough air and moss would develop. That's only partly true. If you do it right, lying down actually has benefits.
Can you leave the grass clippings lying around?
Lawn clippings can be left as long as they are a maximum of two centimeters long, cut in dry weather and distributed evenly. Mulching mowers or robot lawn mowers are helpful for finely chopping the cuttings and distributing them evenly.
Requirements for leaving the lawn
- Mow frequently or
- Use a mulching mower
- Mow only in dry weather
- Only leave short grass clippings
- Cuttings with inflorescences are better composted
- Raking wet lawns
Leave grass clippings – requirements
Lawn clippings are valuable biomass that you can put to good use in the garden. The cut grass blades decompose and release nutrients that benefit other plants - including the lawn itself. In summers with too little rain, they also protect the soil from drying out.
To ensure that the grass stays in place, you must make sure that the blades are not too long. Otherwise they will take too long to rot. There is a risk that the grass clippings will clump together and rot, preventing air and sun from reaching the lawn.
The lawn has to be mowed so often that the cut grass blades are a maximum of two centimeters long. If you use a mulching mower, you won't have to cut the lawn as often. The mower chops the stalks into small pieces so that they are hardly visible on the lawn.
Mow in dry weather
Mow only when the weather is as dry as possible so that the grass clippings are nice and dry. Leave out the lawnmower's collection basket so that the grass clippings are distributed evenly over the lawn.
If the cuttings are very damp or the lawn is generally too wet, it is better to collect the grass clippings in the basket or to rake them off and dispose of them later. This also applies if the lawn is heavily riddled with flowering weeds. Disposal can be done as mulching material under trees and bushes, on the compost heap or via the municipal waste disposal waste bin.
Tips & Tricks
The easiest way to mow the lawn so that the cuttings can be left behind is to purchase a robot lawn mower (€527.00 at Amazon). Depending on the setting, the robot mows the green area so frequently that the cut stalks are only a few millimeters long.
