For those of you without livestock to feed, what do you do with all the lawn clippings? My rental has a small patch of about 200m2 that I mow after the bin has been collected (every 2nd week) but it fills the whole bin and then some.
I'm concerned leaving the clippings in the yard will attract bugs and pests. Should I ask the agent if they can organise a second bin?
I don't seen many houses with 2 garden waste bins that's why I'm asking what everyone else does.
Thanks
The basic mower from Bunnings includes a mulch plug and works fine for 400m2. Just leave the clippings on the grass. They're barely visible.
I put mine in the compost bin along with dried leaves and kitchen scrap. I reckon this makes a good recipe for compost which I then feed onto my fruit trees and veg patch.
I use mine as a garnish in soups and casseroles.
compost
I mow after the bin has been collected (every 2nd week)
Change the order in which you mow/bins are collected.
Mow right before collection, fill the bin and leave the rest next to the bin. Once bin is collected, put the rest into the now empty bin.
Hopefully by the next fortnight the clippings will have compressed, leaving you more room.
My council introduced green bins about 2 years ago. You could retain the full size general use bin or downsize for a reduced fee. We now struggle to fill our general use bin but definitely use the green bin to its capacity throughout the warmer 6 months. I also have a compost bin which I use in the really high growth season to be able to span out the use of the green bin.
I don't understand this (sorry OP). I have an acre of which around 1/2 is grass. Should I also bin it all which would require, I'm guessing, 10+ bins? Surely common sense dictates that you mow without catcher and let it sink back to the soil? Mow frequently (I am lazy so hence the amount of grass left is a lot) and then you won't have so much clippings.
Or… get yourself goats/sheep! (I'm Kiwi hence why I don't have any or could get into trouble).
At my sister's place that's what the gardener does, but it's a huge open lawn on a hill where I guess a lot of it blows away. At my rental the backyard is about 200m2 of very closed in lawn, I don't expect any of it would blow away and I'd just get more pests and bugs living in it.
I'd just get more pests and bugs living in it.
But only if you don’t spread it.
Now weekly in summer, especially since we’ve had a wet summer.
What bugs and pests exactly?
You keep saying this, anything in the clippings is likely living in the lawn anyway.
My advice: Move past this point and listen to some of the very useful advice above….
Another vote for mow regularly, on one of the highest settings without the catcher on. Let it mulch back in and return nutrients to the soil.
I have 400m2 lawn rental and got a mower with mulcher as recommended by gardener. Just let the mulched clippings stay on the lawn. Disappear in a few days, no bugs and pests. I don't have a green bin. Had a few different gardeners come in previous to self mowing and they all did the same. Catching and binning clippings is unpractical and unnecessary.
getting a lawn mower with a mulcher is also a great idea! just make sure you mow at least once a fortnight otherwise its a pain if you leave it for too long there are clippings everywhere!!
OP, I would get a compost bin and turn it into compost! You can also use it around trees to retain moisture around the roots similar to mulch
Have a 700+ block and about 450 is lawn. Just bought a mower with a mulch plug and halved the amount of stuff in green bin! only need to mow if left a while and too long, so half mow, then mulch the rest. lawn is looking healthier already, no extra bugs (other than the ones in the lawn already) apparently mulching helps with pest species like bindi as well, so that can't be bad!
I have 300 SQM and it fills half the bin? How often do you mow? The lawn clippings will self-compost in the bin, and reduce in size over a few days.
Best to mow 1-2 per week at least.
Green bin, and then whatever is left over goes into the composting bin. If I have to mow weekly, which is usually the case during summer, the green bin has usually reduced a bit so i can add more on. If everything gets overloaded, i start dumping green waste into the normal hard waste bin which is collected weekly.
I agree with mow on high setting on mower or close to it. You may have to mow more frequently at first. The grass clippings are good for microbes in the soil and earth worms. Their numbers will increase and over a few weeks you maybe able to back off to your regular fortnightly mowing. Alternatively, start by binning the clippings only fortnightly but mow weekly.
When I was renting, I just made a ring around trees and shrubs with the lawn clippings so it looked tidy. No mess.