We a seemingly endless amount of weeding and thinning this weekend which gave us a nice amount of amaranth, pursulane, chinese mustard and micro-greens to have for salads. A small reward for all the time spent on our knees.
Scott also mowed our lawn and used the grass clipping in our newest experiment in the broccoli/cauliflower bed. We read a great article in Mother Earth News this weekend that explored the different types of organic fertilizer on the market. As you know, fertilizers must be labeled by their Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium (N-P-K) levels. Being that nitrogen is a likely deficient in many soils, the author compared the fertilizers based on their per pound of nitrogen. She compares 17 different store bought organic fertilizers, the cheapest being SoyBean Meal (7-2-1) at $4/lb of nitrogen and the most expensive being TerraCycle Plant Food (.03-.002-.02) at a whopping $16,987/lb of nitrogen.
Or she says, you can just use ordinary grass clippings which contain anywhere from 2% – 5% of nitrogen. In most areas you can work in about half an inch into your soil, or put a 1-2 inch layer as a mulch on your garden bed and that will provide all the nutrients most crops need for a full season of growth! Not only will it provide nutrients, but the grass clippings as a mulch act as a good weed prevention and as a moisture retainer.
Usually we just put our grass clippings into the compost pile and let them compost. Doing that dilutes the nitrogen power down to about 1%, but the benefit of compost is that it departs its nutrients into the soil over a matter of years rather than in just one growing season.
Either way, obviously, is beneficial. And obviously much, much cheaper than buying organic fertilizer, wouldn’t you say? I don’t know, free vs. $16,987, you make the call.
Cool! Never thought of that. I just do the grasscycling where I leave the grass on our lawn and it decomposes or, theoretically does, if you cut it every week instead of every month.
I really like the grass garden mulch idea. I’ve been tossing mine into the compost bin. Didn’t realize it would be so beneficial to the garden.
I have a question for you..
I’ve got a packet of Amaranth seeds that I was planning to plant this year. Reading about the amaranth coming up everywhere in your garden has made me delay a little.
Would you plant it again if you had the chance, or do you think it is too invasive?
Hi Sarah, we would definately do it again, but at the end of the growing cycle, when it forms those beautiful golden seed heads we should have cut those off and thrown those in the garbage or better yet harvested them for grain. We made the mistake of putting them in the compst pile.
Greenbean, I heard leaving grass clippings behind as you mow is a great idea too.
Thank you for mentioning us on your Web site. We’re glad you enjoy Mother Earth News.
Loved the post on organic fertilizers. Glad our article was helpful.
Laura Evers
Mother Earth News
You know, I was thinking of simply side dressing my corn bed with grass clippings since corn is a nitrogen hog. I was told to side dress with urea. I may try this.
FYI, another good free nitrogen source are coffee grounds from Starbucks. I mixed them into the top 6 inches a month before I planted.
Thanks!
My fellow on Facebook shared this link with me and I’m not dissapointed at all that I came here.
I would rather pay the “free” price.
Hi, I’ve been contacting grass-cutting services for the last year, using the grass clippings for my compost; only recently have I also decided to try using the clippings as mulch & see what occurs. Glad to hear that it has been suggested by someone else; I’ll keep you posted as to its efficacy too.