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No Mow May. Is this a real thing?

ErgatesErgates Posts: 2,953
in Wildlife gardening
Just been shown an article about the benefits of not mowing the lawn until June, to allow wildflowers etc to provide extra nectar for pollinators. Very tempted by a legitimate excuse to leave the grass for another month, but does it really help? And will the mower cope after another months growth? We have a lot of bluebells, primroses and celandine which I’d be happy to leave. Might hand weed the dandelions though.
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  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    edited April 2021
    https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/about-us/news/no-mow-may-how-to-get-ten-times-more-bees-on-your-lockdown-lawn

    Looks like the NT is doing it too
    https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/take-part-in-the-no-mow-may-challenge

    I persuaded OH to leave a central section of our "grass" unmown all summer last year and we had all sorts of wildflowers come up including an orchid.  Loads more insects and happy swallows and house martins.

    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    My 'lawn'   is mown fairly regularly and has plenty of daisies, clover,violets etc etc for pollinators. They just duck under the quite high blades of the lawnmower
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • ErgatesErgates Posts: 2,953
    Forgot the violets! Lots of those too. Grass would probably have had a couple of cuts by now, but been otherwise distracted with diy this year. I’ll go round the edges so it looks slightly tidier, ie deliberate rather than neglect! Thanks for comments.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    ...or just leave all of it through the year and mow paths through it.
  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    No mow in May is a great idea and we did the same last year.
    We haven't cut the grass this year at all.
    Yes the insects do benefit from the low growing plants and this includes the dandelions.
    Once they have been pollinated then just take off the flower heads.
    The different bees we have going around the "wildflower" lawn is lovely to see.
    these insects will also pollinate our fruit trees and veg flowers. We need all the help we can get.
    Give your lawn a rest for May.
  • steephillsteephill Posts: 2,841
    For me it is to give time for crocus and fritillary foliage to do its job of feeding the plants before dying down. After that just set the mower to its highest setting then gradually reduce over the next couple of weeks.
  • edhelkaedhelka Posts: 2,351
    I mow on the highest setting and only once every two weeks. So low-growing flowers have their chance to grow and flower.
    Being from a slightly different culture (continental/east Europe), I am used to much bigger gardens and much less neat lawns. In my country, the type of lawn common here is called "English lawn" and often seen as slightly snobby or at least posh. Add some communist-era hardship and a typical Czech garden is longer and lower quality grass (not really worth being called a "lawn"), fruit trees, fruit bushes in the borders and some vegetable beds. Although this is disappearing now in suburb new-builts, new gardens seem to be smaller and more simple.
  • Blue OnionBlue Onion Posts: 2,995
    Why pull the dandelion if you want to benefit wildlife by not mowing?  They always have a ton of bee visitors in my grass, and then the finches and others gobble up the seeds once they become a wish.  Out of all the other grass flowering 'weeds'.. I think they are the most utilized by wildlife.  

    I'm not being critical of your choice, I certainly have flowering weeds I remove from my lawn.  Mainly just the type with thorns, most of which you don't get in the UK, but I am happy to leave the dandelion as I know the benefit.  
    Utah, USA.
  • FlyDragonFlyDragon Posts: 834
    bertrand-mabel said:
    No mow in May is a great idea and we did the same last year.
    We haven't cut the grass this year at all.
    Yes the insects do benefit from the low growing plants and this includes the dandelions.
    Once they have been pollinated then just take off the flower heads.
    The different bees we have going around the "wildflower" lawn is lovely to see.
    these insects will also pollinate our fruit trees and veg flowers. We need all the help we can get.
    Give your lawn a rest for May.
    Why remove the flower heads?  If wildflowers are a good thing we should let them reproduce. 

    I'm doing a sort of no mow May, but I'm going to have to mow this weekend then leave it for the rest of May, or after my 'no mow April' there's a chance it'll get so long I might lose the dog. 
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    I am happy to leave the far edges of my garden as an uncultivated wildlife haven but I have to say I do like my well manicured lawn, stripes and all. Around us are miles and miles of hedgerows with wildflowers flourishing at the base so I’m sure the insects are coping admirably without my lawn.
    Rutland, England
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