Wood piles & grass clippings

[Cowgirl]

Helloo there,

Just thought I'd venture onto this forum to ask some questions re log piles for overwintering creatures. I have been reading with interest how to create wildlife friendly areas in my garden so have dug ponds, left areas unkempt (although hubby would say that is most of the garden ) and planted wildlife friendly plants. I also created a couple of medium sized woodpiles (well, branchpiles really) created from elder out of my hedge.

To reassure people, I live very rurally and there is copious amounts of elder in the hedgerows so no loss to the environment as it was never allowed to flower anyway even though some of the trunks were 2-3 inches in diameter & had obviously been there a long time (we've only been here 3 years), but my hedge (unfortunately) is privit, so the elder had to go for the sake of neatness (rented property).

My question is (will get there eventually ), I put a load of grass cuttings over the top of one the branch pile to try & keep the area nice & moist for frogs etc, my thinking being that with air being trapped in amongst the branches it would compost nicely, while providing a bit of shelter underneath to protect things from the elements. However it just looks to be turning black & slimy on top, haven't poked about in case I have residents. Did I do wrong? Should I remove the canopy of grass & just let nature be, or will it be alright? Will they not like the grass turning slimey & what sort of critters may use it, hedgehogs? Help!

[Cotham Marble]

Originally Posted by Cowgirl

I put a load of grass cuttings over the top of one the branch pile to try & keep the area nice & moist for frogs etc, my thinking being that with air being trapped in amongst the branches it would compost nicely, while providing a bit of shelter underneath to protect things from the elements. However it just looks to be turning black & slimy on top, haven't poked about in case I have residents. Did I do wrong? Should I remove the canopy of grass & just let nature be, or will it be alright? Will they not like the grass turning slimey & what sort of critters may use it, hedgehogs? Help!

The problem with lawn grass is that it's usually comprised of species selected for verdant growth in the early stages so that regular cutting keeps the lawn 'nice and green'. This 'greenness' requires lots of moisture to be held in the leaf cells and when cut with a mower, a dense water heavy mass is created which then tends to rot anaerobically.

Bracken or hay would serve as a 'thatch' but short cut lawn mowings, unless thoroughly dried first and/or kept under cover, are unlikely to be attractive to mammals or reptiles, at least not into the Autumn months. My inclination would be to move the grass cuttings to the compost heap and replace with hay or straw gleaned from the surrounding fields (?).

CM

[nightshade]

My son gets bees (type unspecified) every year in his piles of grass cuttings but it is kept reasonably dry

[Cowgirl]

Aaah righto, job for the weekend then. Straw I can get from the farm where hubby works. (I hate it when he's right )

Thank you, Nightshade, CM.