Can Composting Benefit Your Lawn?
Do you ever look at a neighbor’s lawn and think: What’s their secret? Do you want to have the lushest lawn in Spring Hill but don’t want to spread toxins in the very areas your children and pets play? If this is you, composting just may be the solution you’re looking for.
What is Composting?
Composting is the process of taking natural materials — such as vegetable peels, coffee grounds, and even grass clippings – and (through the process of decomposition) turning them into a nutrient-rich supplement for your soil. In fact, it’s so good for soil that serious gardeners sometimes refer to it as “Black Gold.”
Composting 101
Once you get the hang of it, composting is pretty easy. In fact, you may already be doing it. If you leave your lawn clippings behind when you mow, those little clippings are falling between grass blades into the soil where they will decompose and add nutrients to your Hernando County lawn. This process is known as grasscycling.
Other types of composting include vermicomposting, which uses worms to accelerate the decomposition process, and backyard composting, which combines grass clippings, dead leaves and other lawn debris, and food scraps.
The Benefits
While feeding worms or aerating a compost pile may not sound like your idea of a good time, there are many reasons why you might want to change your tune:
- Composting yard and food waste reduces your contributions to landfills.
- Using compost on your lawn and landscaping improves water retention; the more moisture is naturally retained, the less you have to run your sprinkler system.
- Composted materials can add a number of nutrients to our sandy Springhill soil, increasing the beneficial microbial activity that allows our lawns to thrive despite oppressive heat.
- Healthy lawns and plants are better able to withstand native pests without the use of harmful pesticides.
- Composting saves money; no need to buy fertilizers, pesticides, or bags of moisture-retaining ground cover such as mulch.
Composting isn’t for everyone, but if you’re interested, all you need is a small area to start a composting pile and the time to research the details online. At Challenger Irrigation, our goal is for every customer to have a beautiful lawn that they’re proud of. While having an efficiently running irrigation system is an absolute necessity to maintain the health of your landscaping, incorporating composting into your lawn care routine can only make it better.
