#but i wasn't looking forward to using my aged wood chips as mulch for the vegetables--too much chance for nitrogen trapping

[jensownzoo]

Hot damn they're mowing my neighbor's grass right now!

The reason why this is so exciting for me is that the property has been unoccupied for at least 15 years now. They've always used a service to keep it reasonably mowed, so that's not an issue.

What is GREAT is that I know for certain that there hasn't been any chemicals sprayed on the lawn that whole time and that grass clippings are FANTASTIC mulch for my tomatoes. And my yard produces very little clipping because it's a small area of zoysia (thanks to the drought it stayed dormant almost all of last year).

I just transplanted my tomatoes in and that grass is nearly a foot tall right now (first mow of the season). The timing couldn't have been better, though the rain we're going to get tonight means I need to grab my rake and my ikea bag and go gather it up immediately instead of letting it dry out for a few days first.