Grasscycling

Mow it high and let it lie!

Grasscycling is a great natural fertilizer. Grass clippings are 85-90 percent water, and they decay quickly, returning valuable nutrients to the soil.
This naturally fertilizes and strengthens your lawn, making the turf more resistant to disease, resulting in a healthier lawn.
One bag of clippings equals 100 grams of fertilizer, rich in phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium.
Leaving your clippings on your lawn allows all those nutrients to return back to the turf where they will do the most good.
Grass can be dropped of at the Public Drop Off Depot. A fee of $3.00 per container will be charged or $15.00 per truck or trailer.
Grass Clippings Price Sheet

Grasscycling Tips & Tricks:

You don't have to have a mulching mower to grass-cycle, you can take off the bag or buy a mulching blade. Don't like to mow? Expand your garden. In the fall, run over leaves with your mower to shred them into fine particles. Chopped leaves provide an excellent source of carbon for your lawn.

The 3" Rule: let your grass grow to 3" (inches) and cut 1" (inch) off the top. Short grass does not respond well to heat. It will burn. Longer grass will hold more moisture and shade out weeds.

Morning Watering:

Experts recommend watering early in the morning. Evening watering can expose your grass to fungus or disease.
Water long enough to allow a deep soaking to the roots (wet the soil to a depth of six inches).
Avoid daily, light watering - this can do more harm than good.

Plant the right type of grass. Three types of grass are best suited to Southern Ontario:

Perennial Ryegrass
Fine Fescue
Kentucky Bluegrass

Spread seed every year: over seeding will result in a dense turf that can choke out weeds. The best times to over seed are from May 15 - June 15 and from August 15 - October 1.

Use an organic fertilizer: Bone meal or blood meal are low-release, organic fertilizers, they won't burn your lawn. Fertilize in the late fall, and never in the spring. Spring fertilizing leads to top growth at a time when root growth is most important.

Compost ... spread it around: Grass utilizes the nutrients found in the soil as its food supply, but after a few years, the grass may have "used up" many of the most valuable nutrients. Applying compost to your lawn in the spring helps to supply the soil with new organic matter for your grass to feed on.

Public Works, Environmental Division
3540 North Service Road East
Windsor, Ontario
Canada
N8W 5X2

Phone: For general information, call 311. For detailed inquiries, call 519-974-2277 ext. 3121.
Fax: 519-944-3161
Email: pubwork@citywindsor.ca