Grass/Lawn Clippings and Leaves for Fertilizer/Mulch

A Sustainable Approach to Building Soil Using Local-Materials

photo: Muhammad Sajjad

Turning over a new leaf
Leaves, grass clippings (or 'lawn clippings' - since lawns often contain many other plants besides grass; many of which are rich in nutrients) and other yard "waste" make excellent fertilizer for garden soil. We have been demonstrating this at the Sharing Gardens with vegetable yields in the tons (2012 Harvest Totals). My husband Chris also demonstrated a great increase in fertility using yard "waste" on his 5-acre farm in the high-desert country NE of Mt. Shasta, California (back in the 1980's - '90's). Within a short amount of time, using only leaves and grass clippings, alfalfa-powder that he collected from the floor of a pellet mill nearby, and a modest amount of goat and chicken manure from his own livestock, Chris turned volcanic soil, the consistency of beach-sand, into a garden that inspired Organic Gardening Magazine to write an article about him called "Defying the Odds on a High-Desert Oasis" (March 1991). Chris' gardens were so bounteous and beautiful that his farm was nicknamed "Findhorn West!"

Feed your worms and other "micro-livestock" directly in the soil!

We have already written several posts that go into great detail about the simple methods we use at the Sharing Gardens, using local materials, to increase fertility (links below). In essence, our method is to feed the soil with leaves, lawn-clippings, spoiled hay and vegetable scraps, weeds and the plants we pull at the end of the season to feed the "micro-livestock" (worms, bacteria and other "composters"). As these garden-partners eat their way through the yard and garden "waste" we provide for them, they fertilize the soil with their manure and create minute tunnels that keep the ground from compacting.

Organic Matter, the "The First Amendment"
As our dear friend, James Cassidy (professor of Soil Science at Oregon State University) likes to say about soil health, no matter what challenges you are facing, the answer is always "add organic matter!"

Here is a step-by-step guide to one of the methods we use at the Sharing Gardens to increase the fertility and tilth of the soil using a lot of grass clippings combined with dry leaves.

Two to three weeks before planting in a bed, spread a layer of leaves and grass clippings and till them in.

1. Thinly distribute dry leaves over the surface of your grass. You want there to be more grass clippings than leaves in your final mix. It'll be much easier to do with dry leaves saved from the previous Fall.

Maple and fruit trees have thinnest leaves that break down quickest. Avoid walnut leaves as they will make your soil toxic to your seedlings. Oak and other thicker leaves work fine -- just mix in more grass clippings than with thinner leaves.

2. Run the mower over the leaves/lawn, using a catcher-bag to collect them. Set mower at a higher setting. Sometimes you may have to lift and lower mower to avoid stalling.

3. Distribute them about 1" - 2" thick in garden beds. You can till first, or lay the grass/leaves out and then till them in.

4. Till grass/leaf combo into the soil passing over the bed two to four times to work them in well.

5. Worms and soil organisms will decompose them enough in 2-3 weeks for you to begin transplanting.

6. Stand back and watch your vegetables grow!

You don't have to spend lots of money on soil amendments, to yield beautiful results!

Note: if you use plain, fresh grass clippings (no leaves), they can be quite hot, if laid on thick. If used as a mulch around plants, be sure they don't actually touch the stems or leaves of the plants.

John mulches lettuce and broccoli using fresh grass-clippings.

Other related posts from the Sharing Gardens:
Preparing Garden Beds - One Low-Tech Way

Hay-Bale Compost

More on Mulch

Mulch We Love, and Why 

Benefits of Deep Mulching

CLICK HERE for article (from your Organic Garden) about using leaves to build healthy soil.

Raking grass - a local resource.

But could it really be so simple? 
In the beginning (if you are starting with a new garden site), or even as you transition from using commercially available soil amendments, you may need to use a pre-mixed, organic fertilizer, or concentrated materials applied judiciously, in addition to leaves, grass clippings etc. For example, in the first years of the Alpine, and Monroe Sharing Gardens we used rabbit and llama manure (dried and sifted as part of our nursery/potting mix, or worked into the hole with transplants.) We used an all-purpose, organic fertilizer in this same way, along with some kelp powder (for minerals and micro-nutrients). At times we have also used fish, or seaweed liquid concentrates as a "foliar feeder" (diluted with water and sprayed on plants when they showed signs of mineral depletion or stress.) But our primary methods of maximizing the fertility of our soil have been through mulching deeply using locally available "waste products": Leaves, grass clippings and spoiled hay (wet or moldy hay that can no longer be used as feed or bedding for livestock).

Volunteers sharing in the harvest. Now that's local!

Taking local food production to a new level
One hot topic these days is "eating local".  A "locavore" is someone who endeavors to eat foods grown or produced within a certain radius (for example, 100 miles). There are many reasons a person might choose to eat more "locally" but one common reason is to live lighter on the planet by reducing the amount of fuel needed to transport food. While this is an important piece of the puzzle, it's also important to go a step further to look also at where the fertilizers and other soil amendments come from. Even if the food you eat travels less than 100 miles, if the soil was fertilized with products that came from half-way around the world, this radically increases the "carbon footprint."  Many of these soil amendments also involve aggressive mining, or extraction methods that are environmentally damaging and threaten the delicate balance of life. Many of the sources for these materials are in increasingly shorter supply, making the long-term use of them unsustainable. Also, for people who choose to eat a vegan, or vegetarian diet, their use in growing vegetables is undesirable (ex: feather-meal, bonemeal and other slaughter-house by-products).

Don't treat your soil like "dirt".
As an overall philosophy, we feel it is better to work with nature and cooperate with the processes of soil-building and fertility that have evolved over eons, than to assume the role of a soil magician, concocting potions and powders, mixes and methods that can be complicated, costly and often disruptive to the health of your soil. The good news is that most, if not all of these products can be supplemented, and eventually replaced by resources that are local, renewable and sustainable: leaves, lawn clippings, kelp concentrates (powder and liquid) and modest amounts of animal manure.

Finding local sources
If you don't live in an area that will deliver leaves, or you don't have a site big enough to warrant a full dump-truck load deposited, here are some other ideas:

• Offer to rake your neighbors leaves in exchange for using them in your garden.
• Approach your neighbors about bringing you their bags of leaves.
• Organize a "leaf co-op" where a group of gardening friends rake and share the leaves they gather.
• Organize your local scout troop, or 4-H, or youth group to spend a few Saturdays in a row raking leaves in the neighborhood. You can offer this service 'by donation' and collect funds for the youth group's other activities.
• Put an add on 'Craig's List' requesting leaves.
• Set up a site at the local dump or transfer station.

Collection station Chris set up at the local dump in Mt Shasta, CA (1980's).

This last solution is one that my husband Chris, implemented quite successfully at his previous farm. At that time, yard "waste" was a real issue as it took up valuable space at the land-fill and meant that they would have to close and find new places to dump the community's refuse. Also, in many rural areas, instead of paying dump-fees, many people gather their leaves and burn them which not only deprives the soil of these valuable nutrients but adds to air pollution as well. Chris made an arrangement with the dump's manager whereby he set up a chain-link enclosure as a collection-site for yard waste and had a separate area for nursery pots and flats. Whenever the enclosure was full, Chris would get a call from the manager, and go pick up the load.

We're all just kids in the garden!

Whenever we write one of these "how-to" posts we try to add a couple of caveats: One is that, there are just about as many different ways to grow a garden as there are gardeners and this is just our way. Two: Gardening is a very dynamic process; each garden site is different, and each year the same garden site is different due to the weather and other shifting conditions. So, while these methods reflect what we're doing these days, check back in another year and see if we've evolved it further!

Herbicide Contamination in Manure, Compost and Grass Clippings?

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Conscious Cultivation: A community food solution flourishes in rural Oregon

By Tuula Rebhahn

This week's Sharing Gardens post is actually a re-post from our new friends Hannah and Tuula - two brave adventurers who are weeks away from embarking on an epic 5,000-mile journey from Eugene, Oregon to Boston, Massachusetts. Along the way they will work and stay at farms in order to bring awareness to issues of local food, and bicycling as important ways of reducing one's "carbon footprint". Here is an article Tuula wrote about their recent visit to the Sharing Gardens, and our tiny home in the woods. We feel the article really captures the spirit of our lifestyle and why we do what we do. Enjoy!

Hannah and I hopped off our saddles when our tires turned on the gravel parking lot of Monroe, Oregon's stately white church, the tallest building in town. We pulled in under a sheltered picnic table made from a single 100-foot slab of Douglas fir. Immediately, we knew two things: One, that this place has hosted meals of epic proportions. Two, we would be glad we made the trip out this way. What we didn't know that the afternoon would change the way we thought about our relationship to the world, our community, and to each other.

It had been a slow start. With the wind blowing the rain sideways, and our lack of experience doing day trips by bike, we were nervous. I packed extra snacks and cinched my rainpants on tight.

As we pedaled north out of Eugene, suburban sprawl slowly dissolved into farmland, and the horizontal rain gave way to occasional drizzle and a road-spanning rainbow.  With the squash harvest just completed, the sunlit fields gave off a dizzyingly sweet aroma of baked pumpkins.

Hannah grazes on roadside blackberries on the way to Monroe.

This is one of my favorite regions of Oregon - the picture-perfect fields, barns and country roads that roll over the landscape from our valley to the coastal mountains make it a cyclist's, as well as a farmer's, paradise. In all of this agricultural richness, however, many lack access to fresh foods. Monroe, a community of about 700 people living 15 miles from the nearest grocery store, is the perfect example of this. Or was, at least, until Chris and Llyn moved to town in 2008.

My estimate of how long it would take us to ride the 23 miles from our house to Chris and Llyn's garden project was a bit conservative. For once, I was early. As we waited for our hosts to arrive, catching glimpses of the garden through the fence beyond the picnic table, Hannah started asking questions, questions I didn't have the answer to.

"So, who are these people again?"

"They run this thing called the Sharing Gardens." Hannah is always up for a bike ride, and I'd coordinated the destination. I'd heard about Llyn and Chris' innovative take on community gardens, and Monroe was about the right distance away for us to begin training for longer bike rides. They'd responded to my email with enthusiasm. That's about all I knew so far.

Finally, an old green GMC truck pulled into the gravel drive, and the faces I saw through the windshield beamed a warmth and light that cut through the drizzle. We were rewarded for our trek by a hug from Llyn and a couple of pears harvested from a nearby tree.

October 2012 - preparing ground for cover-cropping

The garden was pretty much done for the season, all the crops harvested and the beds turned over, but as we walked between the rows, I could tell by the richness of the soil that these guys knew what they were doing. Inside the tiny greenhouse, we found proof in the gorgeous ripe tomatoes, as well as racks of drying peppers and bean pods. Designed and built by Chris and Llyn, the greenhouse was a tropical oasis this time of year. As we basked in the warmth, the couple told us their story.

Five years ago, they were fed up with paying too much in rent, working unrewarding jobs, and not being able to exercise their full ability to help the community. They were searching for a way to redefine the living standards that most of us in this country take as non-negotiable: You work, you pay for a place to live and for food to eat, and if you want to do anything more, you incur debt.

In Monroe, they found what they were looking for: a tiny house whose owners were willing to let them work off a portion of the rent, leaving them with free time to pursue other projects. The fact that the tiny house is a travel trailer with less floor space than some people's bathrooms didn't deter them. In fact, they considered a healthy way to eliminate all but the essentials in life.

Staking out the garden - March 2010. 

The couple founded the Alpine Garden in a tiny community just west of Monroe in 2009. Finding that they needed a slightly larger population to sustain the garden, they put feelers out again for the perfect plot of land. When they spotted an empty lot behind Monroe's church, they knew they had found what they were looking for. They contacted the owner of the property, who not only agreed to allow the couple to plow up the grass and plant a garden, he also offered to pay the water bill - a big deal for gardeners in a valley that receives almost no summer rainfall.

"Well, shall we sit at the picnic table and shell beans while we visit?" Llyn asked. I could see how her energy contributed to transforming what was a weedy patch of grass in the beginning of 2010 to what the Sharing Gardens is today: A vital source of fresh produce for 75-100 families in the area. We grabbed tubs of dried scarlet runner beans and made our way back to the wooden benches.

Monroe Sharing Garden August 4, 2012

Most community gardens comprise individual garden plots assigned to families, who are then completely responsible for keeping up that plot year-round. At The Sharing Gardens, all the spaces are communal, allowing everyone to grow more in the long beds than they could ever do in shorter, individual ones. Working like peas in a pod has its challenges, but with Llyn and Chris as the dedicated core volunteers, the garden has the leadership and communication structure to stay productive.

While only a handful of people appear at the garden regularly to help out, around fifty are part of the volunteer network. Others give in other ways, with donations of cash and materials. It's all paid off for the community: This year, the garden produced 30 different crops, and the top ten producers weighed in at 6,200 pounds.

Dipping into the tub of pea pods, Hannah broke her silence with a typical to-the-point inquiry.

"Don't you worry about healthcare? Retirement? Getting away once in a while?"

Our hosts smiled serenely. They are perfectly healthy, they told us. They never want to retire. When they feel the urge to travel, they get in their roomy van (their second vehicle) and go camp out somewhere. Other volunteers run the garden while they're gone. Of course, they do rely on cash for some living expenses, and continue to use their savings while their new way of life comes to an equilibrium.

We needed to know more. We invited ourselves to Chris and Llyn's travel trailer to explore their take on efficiency housing - the sharing philosophy applied to their own lives. They kindly accepted our invite and drew us a map, promising to follow in their truck once we'd gotten a good head start.

So far, the biking part of this journey had been easy (ie, flat). Now, we were climbing a long, windy hill into Christmas-tree-farm territory. Ten minutes later, wheezing, we took a right turn and were headed down again, accelerating a bit recklessly, my hair beating against my helmet like a hundred tiny flags snapping in the wind. As soon as I remembered to check the numbers on the mailboxes as we flew by, we had arrived.

Chris and Llyn live in the 'Spartan Imperial Mansion' on right (320 sq/ft). The 23-foot trailer on the left serves as a guest room and extra storage.

As we turned into the driveway, the big green truck rumbled up behind us. We got out of the way. With a light tap from the truck's bumper, the big metal gate flew right open. Sheep galloped to the fence bordering the driveway, serenading us with comical bleats. We closed the gate and followed the truck up the hill.

The travel trailer was just that, and nothing more. The special thing was how Chris and Llyn used the space. Most of the trailer's storage goes to food - jars of applesauce, dried beans, onions, canned tomatoes - most of it from the Sharing Gardens. They removed the table and benches that normally take up most of a travel trailer's living area and laid down a beautiful rug. Now, the space functions both as a Japanese-style eating area and a yoga studio, dance floor, or whatever.

Inside their home. This view is from the loft-bed, looking into the kitchen.

We stepped back outside to tour the outdoor kitchen. Llyn made the excellent point that most kitchen activities that require a lot of space - canning, dehydrating, juicing, etc - can be done on a nice day in a covered area that doesn't necessarily need to be indoors. On the porch attached to the trailer, they installed a counter, sink, and propane burner. They do all their everyday cooking in the trailer, and they use the outdoor kitchen for bigger projects.

We spent the rest of the afternoon on the rug, sharing a bowl of walnuts harvested on Chris' recent trip to California and a quart of homemade grape juice. We told stories and discussed the obstacles people face in embracing a shared lifestyle.

The Sharing Gardens has been a success because it lives up to its name; everyone in the community has access to the bounty, and the shared space makes the best use of everyone's skills. On a personal level, Chris and Llyn, who had only been together two years before they launched into the full-time-volunteer lifestyle, have been able to live in a tiny space on a very limited budget without going crazy because they have an exceptional ability to respect each other's needs.

"We're cultivating we-consciousness," says Chris.

Whoa. For Hannah and I, it's been one thing to work together, live together, and plan the Food Cycles tour together. Functioning as a single cognitive unit? This was a whole new level to consider.

Llyn on loft-bed. Food storage below.

The travel trailer was a sanctuary and Chris and Llyn felt like old friends, but we had to get back home while the sun was still awake. With bellies full of tree protein and heads swimming with ideas and wisdom, we strapped our helmets back on and rolled down the driveway. The sheep shouted their goodbyes.

All the way home, I turned over Chris and Llyn's simple but transformative act of building a garden in a community that desperately needed one. Can it be replicated elsewhere? People like them don't come along every day - Chris and Llyn have a lifetime of experience in sharing through communal living situations, were prepared to go minimalist and didn't have debts to pay off or chronic health issues. Then again, even if they did, I had the feeling they would probably still find a way to make it work.

Volunteers select produce for personal use. No one is ever charged anything for the food.

The Sharing Gardens isn't just a way to get fresh food to a community that lacks it. It's a gathering point and educational tool; this fall, the group hosted a 150-person "Farm to Farm" bike ride, and is offering potlucks and beginning cooking classes in the church. For Chris and Llyn, it's been a path to fulfillment and a way to test and strengthen their relationship. Maybe all food-culture transformations have to happen this way, with a deep dedication to sharing, not only of our time and energy, but also of our philosophies.

City lights welcomed us back home as we pedaled the final miles. When we walked back into our small two-bedroom house, it seemed cavernous and excessive. Still, the ride had been a success, food for the soul and for the body: Llyn and Chris had sent us home with a bag full of the best walnuts we'd ever tasted.

***
To find out more about Hannah and Tuula's Food Cycles Bicycle Tour visit their site HERE.
Click here to read Bios of Tuula and Hannah

The "Beet" Goes On

Monroe Sharing Gardens - August 4, 2012 (Grade School in background)

The Sharing Gardens project demonstrates an efficient way of growing food that is light on the Earth, builds community, and provides ample surplus for those in need. We have steered away from seeking large government, or private grants because, in order to be sustainable, we must demonstrate that this type of garden can thrive through the support and participation of the community it serves. This year has been an amazingly successful demonstration of these principles in action.

Llyn, with Striped German tomatoes

For the 2012 season, expenses specific to the gardens, were just under $2,800. This included gas and up-keep for the farm truck, materials for a 12'x40' greenhouse as well as other garden-growing basics. With the stipend that Chris and I receive from the project, to cover some of our living expenses, the total comes to $11,350. With these financial resources we were able to grow (on a piece of land 110' x170') over 30 varieties of vegetables. Our top ten producers yielded just under 6,200 pounds of food, including over 500 heads of lettuce, with a total market value of $15,800!

This food has gone to feed people at four charities in the area, the volunteers, and other contributors -- all free of charge. Because we are growing food in such volumes, many of our volunteers have 'canned' and dried food for winter storage as well.

The gardens would have cost much more to operate if it weren't for the community support we have received in materials-donations, tools and equipment, a trailer and RV we fixed up and re-sold, and countless volunteer hours - (our core group of gardeners each gave 3-5 hours weekly). We are grateful too that many people have offered their grapes, apples and nuts to glean and share. The project has also received many cash donations ranging from $20 to $3,000.

As we look to the 2013 season, we're excited about a growing partnership with the United Methodist Church adjacent to the gardens. It looks like we'll be cooperating on a series of classes, movie nights and potlucks meant to inspire and educate people about healthy eating, food preservation, organic gardening and other relevant topics. CLICK HERE

We continue to be thankful to the Crowson family for the use of the land and water on their property in Monroe.  We've recently tilled up an additional 8,000 sq/ft to include more winter-storage crops such as squash and potatoes, and to expand the existing orchard area to include figs, berries and more apples and plums. This brings our garden-area total to 2/3 of an acre! We are also determined to build a second greenhouse. CLICK HERE for an expanded list of donations given in 2012.

Let us know if you would like to participate in any way. We can always use more donations of cash, building materials, tools, garden supplies, leaves and hay (either to expand the existing site or spawn some new sites in surrounding communities.) Contact us: ShareInJoy@gmail.com - (541) 847-8797 - www.theSharingGardens.blogspot.com/

John Kinsey and Chris Burns wrestle buttercup squash vines over to the compost bins!

Top Ten producers - 2012

Sweet, ripe melon!

Beets: 462 pounds
Bell Peppers:135 pounds
Cabbage: 330 pounds
Cucumbers: 950 pounds
Lettuce: 511 heads
Melons: 185 pounds
Potatoes: 315 pounds
Tomatoes: 2,450 pounds
Winter Squash: 1050 pounds
Zucchini: 300 pounds

At local market values (not counting the 20 other crops grown) this comes to a value of $15,800.

Pie, "Oh my!"

Ride of the Century!

(l to r) Gini, Dan, Linda, Danielle and Christine harvest fresh produce to be used in the dinner meal.

For the past two years, the Sharing Gardens of Monroe, Oregon have catered an event called the Farm to Farm Century Ride. This year, we'd like to tell the story of the ride's success, in pictures. To read more about this unique 100-mile bicycle tour that features four small-scale working farms in the southern Willamette Valley, you may follow the links at the bottom of the post:

On the day before the event, a team of volunteers showed up to help with preparations. First they went to the garden (right behind the United Methodist Church) and harvested ingredients.

Gini Bramlett, editor of our local, weekly paper (Tribune News) thins carrots.

Jud and Mike picking nasturtium flowers to spice up the salad.

Janeece Cook does a pre-rinse of lettuce heads. We harvested 60 for the ride!

Kaitlynn Cook harvests kale (for a garnish).

On Friday, after the morning harvest, our kitchen crew prepped much of the food so it would just need assembling for the Saturday event. Our menu included vegetarian chili, basil-hummous stuffed tomatoes, green salad, cornbread and corn on the cob. Most of the produce was either harvested from our garden, or gleaned locally (corn).

Danielle scoops out Roma tomatoes (to be filled with basil-hummous).

Christine Musacchio and Linda Sebring prepping cucumbers (all from the garden).

Dallice steps outside for a breath of fresh air after making salad for 200 with her husband David Roux.

Betty and Sierra Briggs fill the tomatoes.

Linda chops peppers for chili (all from the garden).

Saturday morning, the cyclists began arriving at 6:45. The kitchen crew was struggling with the only real glitch of the event...the coffee-maker on loan came without instructions and, as we poured water in the top it flowed right out the holes spreading water and coffee grounds over the counter. Fortunately, the church had some other coffee makers that we could figure out and no-one had to wait very long for their first cup of Joe!

Cyclists arrive at the church for a breakfast of porridge, granola, fruit and coffee. (all donated)

Quite a sight, seeing 150 bicycles on the church lawns!

Such a happy buzz in the room as cyclists prepared for departure.

Meanwhile, Cameron...

...and David Crosby began husking the 400 ears of corn donated by local farmers.

We didn't take a lot of pictures during the morning/middle of the day set up. Volunteers put the last touches on salad; Chris cooked the chili in our new 40-qt. stainless steel stock pot. The composting/recycling center was moved outside (another year of very low-waste! All dishes and flatware were compostable, contributing to the health of next year's garden-soil.) We learned that we don't need to have quite so many volunteers for this middle stretch but when the cyclists returned, boy were we ready for them!

...Not to mention locally-made pie and ice-cream for dessert!

Green salad with nasturtium blossoms and 'toppings' behind.

We had no volunteers signed up for the afternoon of the event (all other slots filled up fast) but when it came time to serve, people were standing in line for a chance to feed the hungry returning cyclists.

Sisters Doreen and Denise, Azra and Kaitlynn in the serving line.

Llyn Peabody performed two sets of 'originals', and folk-classics.

Johan Forrer filled the air with sounds of the sixties on a guitar he built himself. His music added such a festive feeling!

An early wave of cyclists.

The evening meal was served on a 100-foot long table (made from a single board!). What a great place to have a party!

A good time was had by all!

Mike Hall was a great help in the kitchen.

Still smiling, Chris Burns set up an outdoor washing station to finish clean-up the day after.

A very special thank-you to the Monroe United Methodist Church (pictured) for allowing us to host the event on their premises with no cost to our program.

None of this would have happened without the initiative and hard work of Jenn Hughes and David Kunes - the organizers of the event. We thank them for their very generous financial contribution to the Sharing Gardens. We hope to see you all back again next year!

There were many more volunteers and riders that we didn't take pictures of but this gives you a feeling for the event. People had fun, ate great food and experienced first-hand a taste of "eating local".

For more info about the ride, follow these links below:
"More Than a Bike Ride" Tribune News article (Sept.18, 2012): LINK
"Stream Lining the Waste Stream" (about our successful efforts at making this a low-waste event as we compost and recycle the majority of materials that otherwise might end up in the waste-stream): LINK
"Info, Gratitude and Stories" from the 2011 Ride - LINK
Farm to Farm Century Ride's Home Page: LINK