What with all the rain, my lawn was long overdue for its mowing. So
long overdue that leaving the clippings on the lawn was not an option.
(I have a mulching mower, and usually the clippings just disappear into
the lawn.) So now I have several bags of fresh clippings.
Is it safe to put it directly in the garden? I have strawberries,
raspberries, tomatoes, and asparagus all cheek by jowl, and thought I
might just lay the clippings between the plants to smother weeds. But
I'm afraid I might smother the plants, or poison them with
decomposition products. How about as a mulch around a young apple or
cornus mas? I assume it wouldn't be a good idea around the trees that
just went in this spring, but others are a couple of years old.
The clippings are mostly grass, with a lot of clover and smaller
amounts of other weeds. The grass had gone to seed, but the seeds were
still soft and green, so I doubt they are viable. Right now the
clipping are sitting in a heap in the mulch pile, with last fall's
leaves. I'm sure they won't do any harm there, but they may not do
much good. (I haven't had much success with removing useful compost
from this pile, but I do use the leaves to mulch stuff from time to
time.)