Grass-Boarding

Much as this sounds like an extreme sport, its actually a technique for home composting which is worth knowing about, especially if like me you have acres of lawns which are regularly trimmed.  If you have ever tried to compost just tonnes of lawn mowings on their own, you will know it can be a thankless task often resulting in just a soggy green mess.

However there is some benefit in composting grass cuttings in particular they have a very high nitrogen content.  In small amounts, they can really act like rocket fuel for your compost heap helping to kick start the process and get it hot.

So if you do generate huge amounts of cut grass to accommodate them in a normal composting set up, there is a useful technique called "grass-boarding".   This is something I was first made aware of by the wonderful garden at the Centre of Alternative Technology where they demonstrate a number of innovative techniques like this which has helped them transform an old slate quarry into a veritable garden of Eden.

It’s a really simple technique which has the added advantage that it also helps recycle any of the old cardboard you have around the house.  All you need to do is lay alternate layers of grass cuttings and cardboard, like you're making a sandwich. 

You want to try and spread the grass fairly thin roughly just an inch or two deep in each layer, and then just gently place a layer of carboard between each layer.  In this way you'll avoid it getting squashed which will make the rotting process go anaerobic. 

The compost produced by this process is excellent because its completely homogenous and weed free.  Grass cuttings inherantly contain alot of moisture so the cardboard had another useful effect in that it can stop it going soggy as it breaks down.