We encourage you to have a little more leisure time this summer season and leave your grass clippings on your lawn after mowing.

Leaving grass clippings on your lawn is an easy and natural way to provide nutrients and improve the health of your lawn. It also provides you more time to work on other gardening tasks or to simply relax and admire!

Be a Lawn Ranger!

Benefits of Grasscycling

• Save time and energy by not raking, lifting and carrying heavy bags of clippings.
• Save money on water and fertilizer as grass clippings help to retain moisture and provide nutrients for your lawn.
• Reduce the amount of material placed into your green cart so it doesn’t fill up as quickly.
• Protect the environment by reducing fertilizer runoff and the amount of waste being collected.

How to Grasscycle

Grasscycling is as simple as removing the collection bag off your lawn mower! You don’t need a special mower to achieve this. Here are some helpful tips to ensure you get the best results:

• Keep mower blades sharp. Dull blades tear rather than cut grass.
• Mow when the lawn is dry. Wet grass will clump together.
• Follow the 1/3 rule: mow your lawn often enough so that no more than 1/3 of the height of your lawn is cut.
• Mow every 5-7 days so your lawn doesn’t get too long. Longer clippings tend to sit on top of your grass rather than settling into the soil to decompose.

Please ensure when you have completed mowing that you sweep any grass clippings back onto your lawn away from your storm drain. Visit the Only Rain in the Storm Drain page for more information.

Debunk the Grasscycling Myths

Grasscycling will make my lawn look less attractive.

Myth. When cut frequently and properly, grass clippings on your lawn will be unnoticeable. They will settle into the soil and decompose quickly. As a result, your lawn will look healthier.

Grasscycling will cause thatch.

Myth. Thatch is primarily composed of grass roots and not grass clippings. Poor watering practices such as watering too frequently is the cause of thatch.

Grasscycling will spread lawn disease.

Myth. Improper watering and fertilizing have a much greater impact on lawn disease than grasscycling.

I need to purchase a mulching mower.

Myth. Despite their name, they do not create mulch. A mulching mower has a specialized curved blade that is designed to cut grass blades into tiny pieces and distribute them evenly on your lawn as you mow.

While they are a great alternative, you do not require one to grasscycle. If you cut high and your blades are sharp, you can use any type of lawn mower.

Questions? Contact Environmental Services at 403-342-8750 or wastemanagement@reddeer.ca