I posted this thread on CS forum (Country Singletree) and turtlehead suggested that I post my ideas here about gathering mulch with my sweeper and the estimated costs, etc. So, for what it's worth, I'm doing that for discussion and maybe some will find benefit, or otherwise from this:
Grass Clippings Economics 101
So, this past spring and into this summer, with hopefully good garden fall harvests, I've been doing a bit of an excercise in estimation regarding my 'no till' garden and the grass clipping mulch applied to all that on zenstead.
It might be considered still experimental, or 'nouveau', compared to other methods so I thought I'd share some of my experiences, costs, problems, and foreseeable benefits with 'grass clippings mulch no till gardening'. There is also chicken manure involved as part of the scheme 'of the whole' as is green manure planting such as annual rye later and so on.
no pictures, so now just some numbers and ideas of what's going on and how/why I started this homesteading 'practice'. It may not be for everyone, and probably holds a lot of criticism for some. That's life. Cest la vie!
I believe it all started with trailmaking and brush clearing. Over the last couple years, I've spent a good number of waking extra moments in clearing paths into the bush and along pasture edges mainly for trails that wildlife (mainly deer) can use and so I can get into my woodlot for firewood cutting. It's a 'multi use' idea that fits in well with my particular homestead that is near wild lands for many reasons, including foraging for wild edibles at certain times of year.
So, once the trails got nicely cleared, I began using the garden tractor rotary mower deck to clear and cut the weeds, grass during times it wasn't too thick to do so. That was not used at the time as mulch until I got a sweeper attachment. That sweeper collects cleanly a LOT of grass clippings, but will leave a good percentage down on the ground also. About 100 lb. per load is what it will collect. Over a one acre mowing area that is cut to about 4 inches height, I can expect about 10 loads or approximately a ton of biomass organic matter for the garden. It's used for mulch obviously, and covers weeds in the 'no till' gardens as evidenced in photos I've shown graphically. Most notably in the potato patch is where the benefit is easily seen using deep mulch. I won't go on about the 'benefits' at this time regarding mulch, except it's used also to make compost, as feed for the turkeys and chickens (clover and trefoil). In other words, I use every bit of the approximately 9.5 tons of mulch so far collected and being used this season.
Now the numbers:
On approximately 13 acres of cutting the open old pasture areas, I'm getting approximately 9.5 tons of clippings. Take note also that pasure improvement in small increments of 2 acre plots, or so is being done. This improvment was planned, and some clover was sewn in about 5 to 7 acres that is visibly growing in nicely now (after mowing down the tall weeds mostly goldenrod).
It takes me approximately 3/4 gal. of gas to cut about 10 loads or about a ton of clippings on an acre. If gas is costing now approximately $4.00 per gallon, that comes out to about $6.00 per ton of grass clippings mulch.
I'm anticipating by seasons end that 15 tons will be mowed and used for the no till garden methods...or $90 worth of gas to make all that mulch. Even adding 20% because this is an estimate after all, that's still less than $120 for a LOT of mulch (15 tons of biomass organic matter).
I had my one garden tilled once by a guy with a small tractor who came and did about the same size as my main garden. It cost me $40 then (10 years ago). If I had tilled it all in from scratch myself, and counting the size of the potato patch, and the other 3 sisters garden with the 7 hp. troy built tiller, the gas would probably not be much less than what I'm using to mow clippings.
So, I'm going to compare the benefits, and any downside to this method of 'no till' and the old way I used to till. I spent about the same amount of time, because I'd also till between rows for hilling potatoes, corn and cultivation. The tiller also chopped up everything and tilled it into the garden at the end of the season, which took time also (and gas). With the 'no till' now, I simply can add more mulch, let loose the chickens in fall to fertilize, and plant a green manure that winter kills (such as annual rye) to get a mulch mat down again for the following spring, add more mulch and continue on with the processes.
It works for me so far.
Downside? Possibly the mulch might bring in some pasture pests to my garden, such as more grasshoppers. So far, I'm not seeing that. So far I'm seeing NO pests, and not need use of pesticides. However, this is all new, so it's a work in progress.
Interesting? or not?
Grass Clippings Economics 101
So, this past spring and into this summer, with hopefully good garden fall harvests, I've been doing a bit of an excercise in estimation regarding my 'no till' garden and the grass clipping mulch applied to all that on zenstead.
It might be considered still experimental, or 'nouveau', compared to other methods so I thought I'd share some of my experiences, costs, problems, and foreseeable benefits with 'grass clippings mulch no till gardening'. There is also chicken manure involved as part of the scheme 'of the whole' as is green manure planting such as annual rye later and so on.
no pictures, so now just some numbers and ideas of what's going on and how/why I started this homesteading 'practice'. It may not be for everyone, and probably holds a lot of criticism for some. That's life. Cest la vie!
I believe it all started with trailmaking and brush clearing. Over the last couple years, I've spent a good number of waking extra moments in clearing paths into the bush and along pasture edges mainly for trails that wildlife (mainly deer) can use and so I can get into my woodlot for firewood cutting. It's a 'multi use' idea that fits in well with my particular homestead that is near wild lands for many reasons, including foraging for wild edibles at certain times of year.
So, once the trails got nicely cleared, I began using the garden tractor rotary mower deck to clear and cut the weeds, grass during times it wasn't too thick to do so. That was not used at the time as mulch until I got a sweeper attachment. That sweeper collects cleanly a LOT of grass clippings, but will leave a good percentage down on the ground also. About 100 lb. per load is what it will collect. Over a one acre mowing area that is cut to about 4 inches height, I can expect about 10 loads or approximately a ton of biomass organic matter for the garden. It's used for mulch obviously, and covers weeds in the 'no till' gardens as evidenced in photos I've shown graphically. Most notably in the potato patch is where the benefit is easily seen using deep mulch. I won't go on about the 'benefits' at this time regarding mulch, except it's used also to make compost, as feed for the turkeys and chickens (clover and trefoil). In other words, I use every bit of the approximately 9.5 tons of mulch so far collected and being used this season.
Now the numbers:
On approximately 13 acres of cutting the open old pasture areas, I'm getting approximately 9.5 tons of clippings. Take note also that pasure improvement in small increments of 2 acre plots, or so is being done. This improvment was planned, and some clover was sewn in about 5 to 7 acres that is visibly growing in nicely now (after mowing down the tall weeds mostly goldenrod).
It takes me approximately 3/4 gal. of gas to cut about 10 loads or about a ton of clippings on an acre. If gas is costing now approximately $4.00 per gallon, that comes out to about $6.00 per ton of grass clippings mulch.
I'm anticipating by seasons end that 15 tons will be mowed and used for the no till garden methods...or $90 worth of gas to make all that mulch. Even adding 20% because this is an estimate after all, that's still less than $120 for a LOT of mulch (15 tons of biomass organic matter).
I had my one garden tilled once by a guy with a small tractor who came and did about the same size as my main garden. It cost me $40 then (10 years ago). If I had tilled it all in from scratch myself, and counting the size of the potato patch, and the other 3 sisters garden with the 7 hp. troy built tiller, the gas would probably not be much less than what I'm using to mow clippings.
So, I'm going to compare the benefits, and any downside to this method of 'no till' and the old way I used to till. I spent about the same amount of time, because I'd also till between rows for hilling potatoes, corn and cultivation. The tiller also chopped up everything and tilled it into the garden at the end of the season, which took time also (and gas). With the 'no till' now, I simply can add more mulch, let loose the chickens in fall to fertilize, and plant a green manure that winter kills (such as annual rye) to get a mulch mat down again for the following spring, add more mulch and continue on with the processes.
It works for me so far.
Downside? Possibly the mulch might bring in some pasture pests to my garden, such as more grasshoppers. So far, I'm not seeing that. So far I'm seeing NO pests, and not need use of pesticides. However, this is all new, so it's a work in progress.
Interesting? or not?