Are you doing 'no mow may' ?

[finallygotospeaktoSky]

We have large front and back lawns and doing the no mow may the grass is lush and imo flowers, bees, insects and birds visiting are fantastic. We've had goldfinches visit for the first time pecking on grass seeds and various visitors coming in for a peck about.
Our neighbour, on the other hand has started mowing his two lawns twice a week, normally does once a fortnight. PA or what? 😀
Personally couldn't care less what other people do with their gardens but it is amusing all the same.
Anyone else doing the no mow thing and if so, how's it going?

Some of the nay sayers might prefer plastic grass. No judging from me, each to their own.

No mow May seems to really upset some people. There is some kind of takeover of gardening where the status of having a garden is one that is kind to wildlife, has a few weeds and is less ".kept".

Very clipped, very tidy, immaculate lawn is... well old fashioned I think.

We've gone half and half (fortunate enough to have a large enough garden for this). The meadow is just long grass, which I do like, but I am not sure it is very biodiverse or is helping wildlife at all..

Partially. We have a grassed bank between the two levels of our garden that is only strummed once or twice each summer. That is full of cowslips at the moment.

We are unintentionally doing it on our side lawn as the mower stopped working. A rabbit was munching dandelions on it this morning.

We also have a patch of woodland that is left wholly wild. That is a carpet of wild garlic flowers at the moment.

Goodness why are you attacking. It could have been a nice thread.

But I might do other things you dont do?

The quetion was do you do no mow may the answer is no.

Didnt realise it was a debate/argument.

In theory we are...but we have pet rabbits so they have 'mown' the back garden for us. The front garden is untouched though

No, lawn front and back mowed weekly. However we have got a four acre field that we keep for the wildlife

I think it's also partly the same reason why things like veganism upset people. They think that people are being 'superior' by caring about this stuff.

No one is being superior, it's just that some people give a damn about biodiversity and the environment.

I don't have a garden but if I did I'd be keeping it wild.

The Sheffield University study on wildlife in gardens concluded that as broad as possible a range of plants ( as long as they were not sterile cultivars and so not producing nectar or pollen) supported the most diverse range of animal life.

I used to be a semi professional horticulturalist, so we have a vast range of cultivated and species shrubs, trees, herbaceous perennials , hardy annuals and some half hardies, mainly in tubs. We do not have nettles, ground elder, thistles or burrs.

We have many different bees ( including the huge ones which dive bomb the patio) finches, warblers, thrushes, blackbirds, several sorts of corvines, badgers, squirrels (😖) three sorts of deer (also 😣) and lots of insects both beneficial and not. The toad lives under the cold frame, the frogs seem to favour the bergenia as they can hide under the big leaves.

We also have two of the neighbours cats, because we grow nepeta and they come for their daily fix.

but we feel deprived, because we can’t virtue signal about our weeds.

You don’t even have a garden and you’re on here attacking folks who haven’t done no mow

We've given about 1/4 of our garden to maintained 'meadow' all year, and about another 1/3 of the remainder left to nature. When we first moved to this house we didn't hear birds. Now they wake me in the morning. Nothing as sweet as watching a finch land on a seedy bit of grass and seeing it dip down under the weight before it suddenly pops up, beak full.

The rest of the lawn is cut though.

Your answer wasn't just no, it was "Why would you make a whole load of extra work for yourself, just cos somebody said dont cut your lawn in May"

Pretty judgmental of people who are actually doing something in a very good cause. Why wouldn't you support them? You could have said "great that some people do this but it's not for me" - instead you said "why would anyone do this?!"

It's not a problem that you're not doing it, the problem is that you are judging/ discouraging other people from doing it.

Yes, that is what I am going to do too. The cat here also loves it!

Regarding ticks and just tucking clothing into socks...what every time you go into the garden?
Having lived in the Highlands in an area with ticks carrying Lyme, I'd mow as well.

We do, but then we like the excuse as we don't mow regularly anyway. Ours has got really long and we have some very tall buttercup style flowers. I'm desperate for daisies but maybe I need to cut it more over the summer from what others have said about daisies not being able to compete.

Our garden is small and mostly just grass so I like letting it go. It doesn't grow very well on the edges so I may just let those grow as long as they want anyway. I'd like to put some raised beds in but there's always something else to spend the money on.

We are but only because our lawn mower broke, it's away getting fixed. My dog and cats love it.

Unfortunately not for us, even with pemetherin spray on clothes , boots tucked into socks, and insect repellent spray on skin, and lint roller whilst coming in we still end up with ticks but mostly they've just crawled up to sit in my daughter's scalp, so it's just not feasible for us and most of the people in our community. You do not see a lot of long grass here councils keep really well on top of it.. It's just one of those things, but we do live near mountains/woodlands so I guess there is natural habitat around.

The poster was demeaning and discourging towards people who are doing it ("Why would anyone do this just because someone said it's no mow may, it's so much work, etc etc?")

I'm not attacking anyone. I am wondering why she has come on here judging and discouraging other people from doing something that is actually great.

No because we simply aren't as young as we used to be , why would you judge people for cutting their grass ?

We’re not but only because we’re rural and surrounded by open fields in all directions so us cutting our little square of garden and keeping it tidy seems largely insignificant!

Yes we are. The front garden has gone completely wild and the back garden we have mown a path through the middle. What’s a bit of extra work later on in the summer if we can help bees and other pollinators?

What really annoys me is the council keep cutting the grass around here, I’ve emailed them but they just ignore me 😡

A lot of "wildlife" support in gardens is theatre, ie for show in just the same way as an immaculate lawn. Bug hotels with no bugs, for example. Hedgehog houses...

If you really want to support wildlife, then look at what you plant say plants for pollinators being native (these are preferred) and avoiding double roses, double anything really because bees can't get into those, even if looks nice! Get a pond and leave some weeds (now branded "super plants" by the Royal Horticultural Society).

I started, but ten days in I had cat shit on my tiny little lawn four nights in a row. I cracked after that. But I only do it once a fortnight, and have an allotment which we make a real biodiversity effort, so I think I'm probably in credit.

Peri we only use 'jeans tucked into socks' for when we cut the lawns after a 4/5 week break. The washing line does not go over the grass so no need to walk on it normally between cuts.
We are very enviromental so looking after the natural world is very important to us. We don't judge those who couldn't care less about it, it's their choice.