I just asked this question a couple weeks ago. The answers I received were: YES.

Our garden is mulched with newspapers covered in dried grass. So far, our plants are thriving and have had no problems. Just be sure not to touch the plants with anything that can break down. I laid out the grass and then pulled it away from the plants.

Good Luck.

Long as it's not too think- it works great.

hay is food, straw is bedding.

Mowed grass when dried, is about the same thing as straw... just a different plant...

I am using grass clippings on my raspberries and rhubarb and the growth is amazing! We have nasty clay soil and the grass clipping are keeping it from drying out and becoming hard and impermiable to water. I laid a soaker hose through the raspberries then put the clippings on top.

You can use grass clippings as part of a mulch. You can screw things up by using too much. A thick layer of green grass clippings will mat up and not allow water to penetrate, and go anaerobic and stink and get hot. So spread them thin, and combine with something else for best effect, like paper shreddings. So many people are shredding their junk mail and office correspondance etc to prevent ID theft that there's a lot of shredded paper available for mulching and composting now.

Are you overhead watering in your garden, or using drip? Mulch should go on top of drip or soaker hoses so you don't have an issue with water not penetrating the mulch.

Hay is grass (or sometimes alfalfa) that was cut while green, and then allowed to dry for storage. You can have the same problems with mulching with hay as with grass, as far as matting and rotting in place. Straw is the dried stems of grains such as wheat. It makes a great mulch as it's less likely to mat down and prevent water from penetrating. Straw that was used as bedding for horses or chickens is the best yet as it has traces of manure and urine in it for nitrogen.

I used to get straw bales from the local feed store, use it as chicken bedding, compost that, and then use it as soil amendment, or use it straight as mulch for the fruit trees. Wonderful stuff. But you need some kind of livestock supply place to get hay or straw, or buy direct from a local farmer, hard to do if you live in the midst of mile after mile of urban development. Horse stables are another source, if there are any, and you'd be surprised how many urban areas do have horse stables or race tracks. Used bedding is often free for the hauling.

Do not use grass clippings from a lawn that was treated with herbicides or weed n feed.

Hay is a grass that has been cut and cured in a way that keeps the essential nutrients in the stems intact and it is used as an animal food.
Straw is a grass that has had the seeds that grass produces harvested and is now a waste product left from that harvesting. The straw, which comes from wheat, oats, rye, and any other grain we eat, is most often used for bedding, but is also used as a mulch in the garden and because of that what used to be a free product is now sold for almost as much as hay is.
The grass clippings you harvest will be prety much the same thing, stems of plants, and they can be used for mulches but if freshly cut and piled deep enough they can get hot enough to create problems for the plants, but they will not stop water from getting into the soil although they will aid in keeping the soil from splashing (eroding) onto the plants or elsewhere.

I live in surburbia- no farms or feed stores locally. But garden centers sell straw, especially plentiful in spring and fall.

i saw an ad for straw sold in a local home supply store, so i went to buy one, and it was not only small, but $8.50 cents. i was surprised it was that much. is this straw pretty much always going to be unused (i.e. never used as bedding for horses or anything). is there somewhere where i'd be likely to get this for a reasonable price/free? also, i'm assuming it is fine to till this into the soil after your season is over?

8.50 a bale sounds high, but if it had to be hauled a long distance, it might be reasonable. Last I checked around here, straw was 2-4 dollars a bale depending on how much you bought, and how much the farmer had.