posted 6 years ago
I am getting frustrated with having a lawn!
Actually I love having a lawn, and unfortunately my lawn is no where as Permie as my garden, but I am getting there (marriage compromise). I still have my garden fertilized, but I am using less and I no longer use weed killer (2,4D). I have a lawn service fertilize for me as they can spread fertilizer cheaper than I can buy it. However I am about to fire the lawn company. I specifically told them not to spread any weed killer and only to fertilize the yard and not the trails or along my driveway. When they showed up guess what they did—they were spreading right alongside my driveway right next to my garden beds!
What they were spreading was a pre-emergent. I generally find this less harmful than a herbicide, but I still did not need this. So my question is regarding my lawn clippings. I personally like to use my clippings in my garden as a mulch. I do have a need for some mulch to top off my recently inoculated wine cap beds. It has been about 2 weeks since spreading and I have mowed and it has rained heavily. If I had to guess, I would say that there is no chemical left in the green part of the grass. Is there any reason I should keep these clippings out of my inoculated woodchip beds? I don’t see myself planting any new plants for a while, at least not from seed.
So as frustrating as it is, is using clippings from grass treated with granular fertilizer and pre-emergent safe to apply to a garden as a mulch? I know this is not ideal and I am trying very hard to cultivate healthy soil microbiology, but will s pre-emergent have any long-term effect like 2,4D would? As far as know, pre-emergent is only effective in lawns for about 6 weeks.
Thanks in advance,
Eric
Some places need to be wild
