Okay, I'm new here, but I have used grass clippings in my garden since 1972, so I have a little experience. Some things I know are not true are that grass clippings will "steal nitrogen from the soil." They contain about 4% nitrogen,more if you have clover in the lawn. It does make a difference whether you till them in or leave them on the surface. Tilled in, the microbes that break them down are cut off from the inexhaustilbe supply of nitrogen in our atmosphere. Some free living microbes, as well as the ones living on the roots of legumes, can take nitrogen directly from the air. Another thing is that you simply never have to "dig them in." I've left my clipings right on the surface for over three decades, the way nature has done with organic materials for millions of years.And they've produced all the following benefits year after year: 1. They eliminate weeding, permanently. You don't even have to pull weeds already in your garden, even if they're taller than you. Just trample them flat and cover them with a good 3 or 4 inches of grass clippings. If you can't get many clippings at one time, either just do small areas each time you mow, or use newspapers to stretch a limited amount of clippings. Wet them, lay them down first, then cover with enough clippings to hide them. Don't use slick parts of the paper with a lot of color in them. There's debate over whether the ink is harmful. 2. You will need no other fertilizer, ever. I haven't spent one cent on fertilizers in 34 years. The grass clippings will supply all the nurtients your crops need, and better than any chemical fertilizer can. 3. The clippings will transform the worst soil- clay or sand- into the best. It's hard to believe the black, fluffy, fertile soil I have today came even from the same planet as the horrible heavy red clay I started with. 4. The clippings will conserve water by virtually eliminating evaporation and keeping the soil much cooler. Cooler soil means cooler plants, which means less transpiration- plant sweating. 5. The clippings will lead to an explosion in the populations of soil microorganisms and earthworms. I bought 500 "red wrigglers" in '72 or '73, and I've given away many times that many since, with tons still left in my soil.The clippings provide not only an ideal environment for them, but an inexhaustible supply of food. Oh, on the debate of CO2 absorption by grass Vs forests0 kind of not relevant to here- I read an intereting article in Discover Mag over a year ago. It's been found that forests are actually not a net sink for CO2. They give off just as much, in the decay of organic materials on the forest floor, as the trees themselves absorb. But that certainly should never serve as an excuse to cut them down like we are all over the world. They have many, many other benefits. If anyone doubts any of the above- and I admit it "sounds too good to be true"- simply test it on part of your garden or even a single plant.I know you'll be amazed at the result.

Thanks for the responses... This isn't a vegetable plot. It is an ornamental garden. The plants are well-established for the most part. Although (my personal opinion) the plants are being moved around a bit too often for this dry hot weather. I could make an onsite compost pile (or 20)nobody would try and stop me but I was looking for a quick fix. LOL People around here seem more interested in plants than soil. I like dirt so am sticking to that part of the process. I guess I have silty sand because this stuff is HARD. It is almost as hard as clay but when you do get the clods to bust they break up into fine pieces instead of chunks like clay does. The fine bits just reform into a hard layer once it is watered and left to dry. The area is mulched but the water just goes through the mulch and runs off the beds and into the paths. We do water but I do not think it is a very effective system. I've been digging holes and trying to break up the top soil and watering into the holes instead of watering the top of the mulch or soil. I guess I'll just make some "community garden" compost and keep picking out what I can from around the dump area to use to amend the soil. I can "liberate" the grass clippings and hide them until fall and start a regular compost pile and maybe some leaf mold. I can find a place that is a little out of sight near the garden and get some wire fence from the junk yard and see what happens. Thanks again.

I agree that tilling isn't necessary. It does make digging easier though, no doubt. I've reclaimed grassy spots using only smothering, by digging off the grass, and by starting with tilling. Areas that I've turned into beds without tilling have improved much more significantly in regard to tilth and fertility over the same amount of time. As said, the worms and other dirt-dwellers will mix it up for you, that's their job. It seems like a lot of them would be killed by tilling but I don't have enough experience in general with tilling to make a call on that. After comparing methods, I won't bother tilling anything here anymore, or digging out grass. It's far easier and seems more beneficial to just smother and pile on the organic matter, already composted or not, just a little more patience required the first year in regard to the ease of hole-digging or waiting to make sure the grass is definitely dead. Unfortunately drying out too much is the problem in this drought-prone area and a thick layer of OM helps a lot to combat that, especially in the tilled and grass-dug-out areas which dry out much more quickly than the smother spots. I would do everything you said, except the tilling part, especially since it's been done recently, but clearly others would disagree. It's good to hear different testimonials, so you are more able to understand how these options might work best for your conditions, available tools and materials, lifestyle, energy level, budget, soil type, what you hope to grow, etc... One of the coolest things about gardening is that two people can do two completely different things and come up with the same result - great plants. I hope whatever methods you choose work well for you! Whenever one is killing bad bugs, the good bugs are usually killed also. I would never put those moisture crystals in the ground or in pots. Bought them once and nothing good happened and have since read too many professional opinions that they actually draw moisture away from roots. They do make a cool vase though.

I've seen fungus like that in hardwood mulch before. I'm no expert on this sort of thing, and my experience is purely anecdotal, but I've seen this with "young" hardwood mulch (material that isn't aged enough) or that's applied too thickly (more than 2" deep). Because of this I've never determined whether the fungus was the actual problem or just a symptom of one of the unpleasant features of hardwood mulch. When left alone, I've observed that the fungus has just disappeared over time. But who wants a flowerbed out of commission for who knows how long? The grayish white stuff is the root network of the fungus. In and of itself that's not typically inimical to plants. The thing is that fungus can grow in conditions that plants can't survive, which might mean once again it's a symptom, not the cause of your problem. The culprit may be the hardwood mulch itself. It can cause problems besides that fungus -- it raises soil pH over time (not a good idea in parts of middle TN, where the soil runs neutral to alkaline naturally), and, of course, it ties up nitrogen as it decomposes. Pine bark/pinestraw avoids these problems, and I've never seen that fungusy growth in pine bark. And I use a ton of it -- I don't use hardwood on any of my clients' plantings. Marty