Page 3 | AIBU to think No Mow May is a pointless pile of crap?

AmelieTaylor · 27/05/2024 18:11

@RuddyNorma

when you got out the wrong side of bed this morning, did you stand on a piece of Lego?

Lilacwall · 27/05/2024 18:10

MrsBobtonTrent · 27/05/2024 18:09

There is a value to it. But it’s a gimmick to save the council money here. I’d like to see paths kept clear, junctions and road signs kept visible. Wildflowers planted. Here it is just scruffy and very tall grass everywhere, hiding dog mess and fly tipping.

How can saving the councils money be a bad thing??

Original poster

RuddyNorma · 27/05/2024 18:10

MrsBobtonTrent · 27/05/2024 18:09

There is a value to it. But it’s a gimmick to save the council money here. I’d like to see paths kept clear, junctions and road signs kept visible. Wildflowers planted. Here it is just scruffy and very tall grass everywhere, hiding dog mess and fly tipping.

Same.

OP posts:

Countrydiary · 27/05/2024 18:10

RuddyNorma · 27/05/2024 18:02

Well yes I do think that the people who own the land previously meadow now industrial farmed should be responsible for correcting it.

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What if you are a farmer who cannot make a profit based on current food systems if you do this? A lot of farmers I know have other jobs at the same time now as it’s so hard already.

Incidentally I agree with you completely, but hay meadows were part of a very different farming system than today. Farming systems have a lot more to do with very complicated things than is ever acknowledged for example: food prices, and related to that house prices with what the UK public can cope with paying for their food.

S0livagant · 27/05/2024 18:09

It looks lovely after the long bleak winter.

MrsBobtonTrent · 27/05/2024 18:09

There is a value to it. But it’s a gimmick to save the council money here. I’d like to see paths kept clear, junctions and road signs kept visible. Wildflowers planted. Here it is just scruffy and very tall grass everywhere, hiding dog mess and fly tipping.

Lilacwall · 27/05/2024 18:09

RuddyNorma · 27/05/2024 18:02

Well yes I do think that the people who own the land previously meadow now industrial farmed should be responsible for correcting it.

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Oh yes right of course that's going to happen isn't

FlakyScroller · 27/05/2024 18:08

Our council only leave certain bits which have been planted for diversity, there are not mown until harvest time. It looks beautiful at the moment a blaze of colour.
We do it in our own garden and I’m debating leaving it until the poppies have gone to seed.

Tumblewit · 27/05/2024 18:07

I think it’s great and really important for our ecosystem. Read up about it op, some useful links/insight has been posted, I'm sure you’ll change your stance.

Captaine · 27/05/2024 18:06

RuddyNorma · 27/05/2024 17:28

It increases allergies and ticks, causes paths and road signs to be overgrown and difficult to use, and at the end of the month it all gets chopped down anyway. It doesn't re-wild anything, it's just putting off doing outdoor chores. Plus, I'm not seeing any rebate on my council tax, even though our council has done naff all gardening for this last four weeks. AIBU to think that we do need to have some kind of initiative to support green spaces but that simply downing tools for a month isn't it?

An OP for whom the word Curmudgeon could have been invented.
Give Over, and stop being so daft!

Original poster

RuddyNorma · 27/05/2024 18:05

OneTC · 27/05/2024 18:03

Didn't "no mow may" lead to "slice up a hedgehog June" last year or was that scaremongering?

That and "pebbledash with nestled dog turds".

OP posts:

LakieLady · 27/05/2024 18:04

I would much sooner the council left all verges / fields etc .. all the time, unless they are causing a hazard.

At the T-junction where the road from my estate joins the main road, the grass on the verge is so long that you can't see if anything's coming up the hill unless you pull out halfway into the road.

I briefly contemplated going down there with my strimmer to sort it out, but then I reminded myself that our council tax is about the 4th highest in the country. I emailed the council and told them it was dangerous.

Needless to say, they haven't done anything about it yet.

Crumpleton · 27/05/2024 18:03

I have an area of my garden that now will not be mown until October time, its an area that's not included in the main lawn area so I just leave it be to feed the bugs.

Main road T junctions and roadsides however, IMO are a danger not being mown at least 3 foot back from the kerbside.
I've recently reported a few local T junctions where I live as you just can't see on coming traffic over the growth...many more have been reported by others where it impeeds sight of on coming traffic when pulling out onto main roads in local areas.
The general reply was grass verges near these roads will be given 2 cuts this year

OneTC · 27/05/2024 18:03

Didn't "no mow may" lead to "slice up a hedgehog June" last year or was that scaremongering?

Original poster

RuddyNorma · 27/05/2024 18:02

Lilacwall · 27/05/2024 17:57

That'll be farmland to you know, to grow crops on and graze livestock. You're really not thinking this through are you

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Well yes I do think that the people who own the land previously meadow now industrial farmed should be responsible for correcting it.

OP posts:

qwertyqwertyqwertyqwerty · 27/05/2024 18:01

NuffSaidSam · 27/05/2024 17:32

I really like it. But in my area they still cut pathways/around signs etc, but they leave big patches unmown and it looks lovely.

Same here, so long as the important things are cleared, what on earth is the point of mowing verges that are never walked on? Leave them for the insects.

soupfiend · 27/05/2024 18:00

I particularly like the way it hides all the dog shit so you cant see what you're stepping in.

Nice work council.

ExtraOnions · 27/05/2024 18:00

…and how many accidents have there been at this overgrown roundabout ? Probably none …

Making people slow down, and take thier time isn’t necessarily a bad thing

midgetastic · 27/05/2024 17:59

It also helps combat climate change apparently- so don't moan about the weather any more if you won't change your way of living to prevent it

Each extra degree of warming means something like 10% wetter for the uk

Countrydiary · 27/05/2024 17:58

Anyone mentioning ticks, that’s a too many deer problem, not a long grass problem.

I’m all for no mow May, ideally would like to see it wild for longer, we need to stop tidying things that don’t need tidying.

Lilacwall · 27/05/2024 17:58

TheSandHurtsMyFeelings · 27/05/2024 17:56

Can't be arsed, or are not interested in having a boring, useless monoculture? Lawns are entirely unnecessary in many cases.

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Agree

Lilacwall · 27/05/2024 17:57

RuddyNorma · 27/05/2024 17:55

Where is the spare fields and space to do that?

Anywhere in the 93% of the UK that isn't built on would do.

That'll be farmland to you know, to grow crops on and graze livestock. You're really not thinking this through are you

midgetastic · 27/05/2024 17:56

It helps insects survive which helps everything else up the food chain - including you survive

But hey who needs food ?

TheSandHurtsMyFeelings · 27/05/2024 17:56

Sillystrumpet · 27/05/2024 17:54

It’s a pile of shite generally used as an excuse by folks who can’t be arsed mowing their lawn.

Can't be arsed, or are not interested in having a boring, useless monoculture? Lawns are entirely unnecessary in many cases.

Lilacwall · 27/05/2024 17:56

RuddyNorma · 27/05/2024 17:48

We've eliminated most of the wildflower meadows in the UK, which is disastrous to insects. Insects have a really important role in our ecosystem, including for farming. Insects pollinate crops, increase yields, decompose organic material.

Surely a better way to address this would be to plant wildflower meadows that can be meadows all the time? Rather than having paths and roads obscured for a month and then chopping it all down after and killing off the insects anyway .

Well given that we've destroyed 97% of meadows since the Second World War I don't hold out a lot of hope for that. Anyway, for all the reasons given on the last 2 pages there should be as much space as possible given over to it. Obviously not dangerous around signs, road turnings etc but leave the rest of it to nature (you do realise that includes us... and our ability to survive?)