Growing Grass for Mulch 

Nice one! Interesting use for bamboo

Yes! I just started growing vetiver grass! The bamboo I have I was planning on turning into biochar in the autumn.

@@jessicaheger1880 I wrote that about 4 years ago. After that time I use the bamboo leaves as mulch the vetiver as mulch and either use the bamboo stalks for projects or I cut them down and biochar them.

Heidi do you have any issues using conifers for the mulch? I've read that they quite acidic.

Nessa V I’ve read that too. But I’ve also read that by the time the needles break down and go into the soil they’ve neutralized. To be sure I mostly place them around acid loving plants like my rhododendrons and blueberry bushes. We also use them to mulch pathways. Larger branches we place on top of leaf mulch to hold down in winter time. Hope this helps. God bless!

@@spoolsandbobbins okay, that's interesting about neutralising. Regarding rabbit manure and urine, my mother used it and it was excellent fertiliser.

I like your thinking, if you can maintain it without it spreading, that may be the best way to have a steady supply of green nitrogen fertilizer

Great to have it so close. Couch grass (the dominant grass in my country) will creep through almost anything in a very short time though. With a riding mover you can have a collector so that kind of eliminates the problem unless you're really far away from where you need to mulch. With the amount needed I've found it's not sustainable to rake it up anyway.

In the tropics, using herbaceous mulches will wear you out replacing them. the closer you get to the equator, the bigger and woodier the mulch needs to be.

I'm not Geoff but I have read to wash the seaweed and then it would be good to use, if you have a large supply I assume that would be a good resource.

I’ve never washed my seaweed but I do cover it with leaves. Seems to work well and after a few months it’s mostly broken down.

Kathleene Millhouse What about salt? I’m no expert at all but I would be worried that the sea weed is adding salt to the soil even if it has been washed off.

Depending on where you are beware of salt and heavy metals. Seaweed tend to accumulate heavy metals.

Lay out newspaper and plenty of cardboard (wet it to remove glue and tapes easily, metall stapels can stay), lay cartons on newspaper and overlap. Thick layers, you must organize enough material, but friends can help you (recycling center, shops). 1 whole paper folded up to maximum surface (but not the glossy loose loose ads, and also no glossy cartons or magazines. The ink of newspapers are harmless (also the colored ones, for images for instance) but the shiny slightly water repellent material is coated, do not use that. Brown cartons are good. Put 2 carton layears on top of he paper, or even 3. Make sure to not have any open spots. If one newspaper or carton has a hole another sheet of paper or carton must be over it, or the weeds will creep through. Don't be stingy with the smothering layer. This carbon rich cover will break down very fast in Hawaii. Water it. Then put compost on it if you have it, spent soil etc. then a thick mulch layer like wood chips on top. Since you deal with a hardy weed / grass you have to err on the side of thicker layers. Water again when the top layer (mulch) is on it, let sit for a few weeks, the newspaper clings to the underground when wet, even better than wet cardboard ! - and smothers the plants underneath. I'd say 2 weeks in Hawaii - you should look and see, make it 3 weeks to damage the roots of the grass. If the plants under it are looking really bad and damaged you can plant (seedlings fare better than seeds and you must go through the carton, tearing a hole to help your plant).

The fungi working at the carton will for a while bind nitrogen so if you want to plant soon, you should add some liquid fertilizer that improves the nitrogen supply (organic * or otherwise), only use something that does not dissolve too easily. With the Hawaiian rain it would run off. * Fish / blood meal, nettle teas, nettle manure, compost teas, urin, ... Store bought organic ferilizer or standard ones. In the moderate climate zone they prepare beds like that in fall and plant them in spring. At least the mythical patient gardener would do that.

BUT one can plant after 3 - 6 weeks (climate zone, weeds that are very persistent), just be sure to plant UNDER the carton, use seedlings (not seeds), and do something about the nitrogen. You can add compost on top after your harvest (but you always remove wood chips for that, the top layer is shoved aside and then put in place again). I think selecting fast growing plants would be a good idea. Lettuce could be your canary in the coalmine- it needs nitrogen and the roots are not deep, so maybe you can even skip the carton holes - if the carton is already well rotten. if you have grass as mulch it is not so important if it gets into the soil, when you add compost but wood takes longer to break down and and if you mix the chips into the top growing layer the fungi that process them, will for a while compete with your plants for nitrogen. If you have a good layer of mature compost, or the soil where the grass grew is fairly good it likely would not matter much. If that is not the case and there is also no good compost your plants will not do well, except if they are legumes. I assume the quality of the old soil where the grass grews is the most important factor. Compost on top of the carton still needs some time to show some effect even if it is good. there are many reports that people were disappointed with the annuals, but saw that trees and bushes did very well. While others had no problems. Likely with the annuals it depends on the quality of the old soil, and if your plant has high demands. Wood chips as mulch directly (no compost) under established trees and bushes work well (they like a fungal dominated soil or mulch. Annual plants need some help if you are at the beginning of the soil buidling / weed fighting - and if you do not want to wait. You can speed up things but you have to make extra provisions (which is not so complicated with nitrogen). When the wood or other carbon rich bio mass (like carton !) has completely decomposed a part of the nitrogen is released again (I think a part escapes as gas into the air), but for the duration of a year wood chips that have the job to act as mulch but are mixed into the substrate underneath, can stump your plants. You can always add compost or replace mulch. As long as your plants peek through they are good - and as long as sensitive stems of seedlings are not touched by sharp edges of wood chips. Or too much moisture is funneld to the lower leaves by too close or heaped up mulch. If you use wood chips as mulch (which is more durable as cover layer, but it will be gone in one year, that is what they report from states like Florida): You have to shove your mulch aside if you plant. Some find that and the opening of a hole in the carton inconvenient. if you do have a good height of compost / soil over the cartons and you chose a plant with shallow roots you could get away with planting the first time ON the carton even. Think lettuce. Untill you harvest the carton will have "disappeared". Maybe making little mounds for your first planting with soil that adds to the height of the bed, planting the seedlings in normal depth (calculated from the mound surface), and then putting in place the pulled back top cover (for instance wood chips). covering also the (flattened) mound with mulch. Wood chips _can_ physically damge the tender seedlings if they are coarse / "sharp". You could even use other mulch around the plants or finer wood chips.

If possible you should do the whole garden: it is much harder to keep the area clean of weeds / grass when it can invade from the other part of the garden. You can work around lack of compost, and there is also value in having plants in the new setup fast, plus Hawaii is not quite the same as Oklahoma or Vermont regarding speed of decomposition. Worst case the first harvest is underwhelming. Then you remind yourself that patience is a core virtue of a gardener. do not wait for compost if you do not have enough, improvise with liquid nitrogen fertilizer, after planting. You can provide the compost in the following months as you get it. Then on top of the carton - if you still can see something of it ;) - but always under the wood chips if you use _that_ as mulch. With straw grass, leaves you can keep that kind of mulch where it is and just put the compost on the suface. One can use that as new mulch. The choice of mulch is an issue of availability, optics (wood chips give a clean look if you do the whole garden with them) and whether you get weeds that can germinate on top of the compost when the wind or birds seed them. The reason for the different strategy is that you recently added plenty of carbon with the carton and do not want to overdo it by having _a mulch layer with wood_ mixed into the growing zone too soon. You do not have to shove the top layer with wood chips around _that_ often - in Hawai it is broken down after 1 year and likely harmless regarding nitrogen depletion after 8 - 9 months. So it is not such a hassle. Green waste would be a good thing - think coffee grounds, bars where they sell pressed fruit juice, .... If doing all the garden at once is not possible (lack of paper, carton or mulch would be a No, you cannot cut corners with the thickness of the layers), it is even more important to have good borders (Charles Dowding talks about that). If you do not have enough material it is better to do half the garden properly (thick layers) establish borders and continue collecting material. In Hawaii you have not the obstacle of a cold winter so you are more flexible and can do the rest maybe a few months later. btw the smothering can also be done with a tarp. with carton in place already or without. Does not look so nice for a while but deals with the grass already. Broders around the garden zone. Wood boards laid down around the perimeter of your garden zone, or with cardboard and wet leaves on top (if the leaves get into your lawn mower it will tolerate that. You have to replace the leaves in the "barrier" fast anyway because they decompose fast when it is warm and humid. Grass clippings on cardboard strips (cut evenly for a neat look) will work as well. Or cardboard and wood on top. With "boards" I mean what saw mills have as the first cut of a tree with the bark on it, over the length of one tree, maybe 2 inches thick - . Of course I do not know if that could cause a problem in Hawaii with termites fire ants etc. Those boards as perimeters work in many regions, you can lift them for mowing and then put them back, they function well and are popular, cheap (for the saw mills it is waste, resp. fire wood, but that needs to be dried and cut). You will likely have seen them if you watch Back to Eden or Permaculture videos. you might even have to erect a higher board as standing "wall" to separate it for instance against a fence or shrubby areas so weeds cannot creep in. See Charles Dowding, from U.K. a video on "Back To Eden" gardening and covering with wood chips and other mulch. He talks about borders and weed suppression by mulching. Hardy weeds and grasses may make a comeback - a few - you exhaust the roots that survived the smothering by removing the shoots, if possible a part of the root - if that is easy. Else only the shoot. That is fairly easy with the loose material on top and not many should come up.. You have to stay on top of the weeding game, but it is not much work the thick paper / carton is effective, you just need to be very consistent, so as soon as a few pioneer out you stop them right away. Or birds or the wind sow some plants. (it is reassuring to know that we have so hardy plants on the planet ....) The first year or two are critical. Charles got rid of all but one weed in the first year when he transformed a weed rich property with grass, shrubs, some trees into a garden. The most persistent weed was gone after year 2.

Cardboard, liners made of starch or just a tarp can be put over even persistent weeds. Without any further work you can then plant straight into the ground but I would go no-dig after that.

Both types serve the same purposes: preventing the soil from drying out and overheating, protecting and feeding the soil microbes and the plants. Straw and hay is time-consuming to apply, and may cost you money to buy. Growing mulch is sometimes perennial, or will reseed itself if an annual. What really counts is what works best for you and your particular circumstances.

My high weeds have a bad effect on the growth of major crops. They competed with them and oppressed. So I think that it is better to use mowed grass or low shelter. this assumption - I will experiment. The opinion of people who have experienced this experience is very important. Thank.

In thinking ground covers could/should provide extra services too as the nitrogen fixing function of legumes like beans or arachis pintoi. Or even provide additional products as beans or sweet potato, yam and mandioca (Tropics). Other cover crops could be bushes like tithonia or trees like moringa, when chop & drop as they do in syntropic agroforestry alleys.

Bark and wood takes forever where I am. When it does break down the results are incredible but I can't really use it on my crops because it's hard to til the earth around the plants and then weeds and grasses grow through that kind of mulch.

@@TheCompleteGuitarist try moist bark in a a clear plastic bag keep it in the sun and add a little rotten wood). And / or add urine or other liquid nitrogen sources.

in the comments of the most recent Q&A

Try mulching them with the mower while also bagging them. It can get a little dusty/messy but I always do it this way and never had any problems with rodents. I think cutting them up more would help detour them in my opinion.

@@randyman8984 thanks will try this.

I have the same issue with leaves here in Nova Scotia and will try cayenne pepper for deterrent, blood meal, bounce sheets (if I can keep them dry) and in the end traps. Would get a cat but kids have allergies.

@@spoolsandbobbins Depending on the severity of the allergies, having a strictly outdoor cat might solve the problem.