Landscape Maintenance and the Benefits of Using a Mulching Mower
A mulching mower is good for the earth and for your house landscaping budget. Mulching mowers facilitate grasscycling, an earth-friendly landscape maintenance practice that involves leaving your clippings on the lawn as fertilizer. A mulching mower cuts up what it mows into tiny pieces—i.e., into mulch that you can then use in your garden – and delivers those clippings back to your lawn.
Don’t have a mulching mower? If you live in North, Northeast or Southeast Portland you may be able to check one out at the tool library for your neighborhood. Another option is to hire a landscaping contractor, who can have your lawn cut and mulched in a jiffy while you enjoy a cool beverage in the shade.
Here are a couple of benefits of using a mulching mower during the summer months:
Natural fertilization. Although many of us are used to simply tossing the bag of lawn clippings into the compost bin along with the rest of the yard debris, Portland landscape maintenance experts recommend otherwise. Those lawn clippings are chock-full of nitrogen, which your grass needs to stay healthy and green. Oregon Metro reports that grasscycling can fulfill up to 50 percent of your lawn’s fertilization needs.
Less work. By grasscycling, homeowners avoid having to gather clippings in yard debris bags. A mulching mower saves you one extra step by eliminating the need to dump the mower bag and spread its contents throughout the lawn.
Cost-free landscape maintenance. Why spend all that money on fertilizer when you could be adding more water features? Portland gardeners can save money by using their lawn clippings to fertilize their lawns. Here’s one more way a mulching mower can save you money: Because you’ll be using the lawn clippings, you won’t have to pay to have extra yard debris taken away when you mow.
Earth-friendly house landscaping choice. By using your clippings instead of buying fertilizer at the store, you are helping to reduce the amount of fuel spent on transporting products.
Neat appearance. With all those dried-out, brown grass clippings on top, grasscycling can leave your lawn looking a bit shaggy – unless you use a mulching mower. A mulching mower automatically delivers the clippings back into the lawn, leaving a neat house landscaping appearance.
Overall, a mulching mower can make your lawn healthy, strong and vibrantly green. Ask a Portland landscaping contractor what he or she recommends for a healthy looking lawn, and the answer is likely to include a mulching mower.
