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?

No. Had new lawn laid in January and grows so fast. If left longer than 2 weeks when it comes to mowing my mower just tears it to shreds. I cut it weds night and its already 6 inches long!

Been doing it a few years now . We mow paths through our lawns it looks great. Lots of wild flowers and polinaters. Local council are doing it in our local parks too it looks great .

Yes - any excuse. Couldn't we extend it into June?

Yes. We only have grass at the front (weird-shaped plot) but it's a big area with a pond, several trees etc. We moved in 2 years ago and have never mown it, it just does its thing. I've scattered wildflowers, bunged in a few random bulbs, planted clover, campanula etc. It's lush and green, full of muscari, daisies of all kinds, dandelions, herb robert, buttercups, honey garlic, acquilegia etc. I think it looks lovely, although I will introduce yellow rattle next year too to ensure the flowers don't get too drowned out.

We also have lots of pots, climbers etc at the front of the house to show that it's not just that we can't be bothered with any gardening 😁

No.

We have areas of the garden that are devoted to wild flowers - those will only get cut when they have seeded. The rest of the lawn gets cut every 2 weeks, albeit not particularly short, which still gives other flowers an opportunity to flower and seed - particularly dandelions at this time of year.

Dh does the mowing. I think he's going for the no mow decade.

No, we have flowers along the fence line that I mow around. Daisies and dandelions are back in a day anyway. I want the grass clippings to earth up my potatoes.

No - front and back lawns mowed. However we have an orchard and further 6 acres of paddocks which are wildflower/wildgrass havens so no guilt in mowing my lawns (well DH does it)

Yes, and also have lots of wild flowers. The garden is buzzing with bees!

No way, dog poo hunting in long grass is not fun. Cutting it weekly, it could probably do with twice weekly.

Yes my Guinea pigs are loving jumping about it. They are almost hidden from view

Same here. Plus I don't want to wade through long, damp, shit-ridden grass to hang out my washing.

We were doing it. Then FIL popped over to do some jobs, saw the law looking a bit long so he cut it for us 😂

No pets and fenced off thankfully, our neighbours don't even have cats. It would be grim with dogs though.

So heartening to read about all these fantastic spaces for nature. We have lots of wild areas for nature, fields adjoining, but have gradually left more and more lawn to grow. Just one year of not mowing resulted in orchids and so much wildlife: butterflies, bumblebees and masses of different wildflowers. We used yellow rattle in area of field and it’s made a big reduction in grasses and more prolific wildflowers so agree with PP.

Yes and I also did no mow April (apart from a couple of paths). I'm booking a lesson and buying a scythe in June. 😁

Hadn't mowed since last year but had to do it this week as it was getting to be dog poo roulette in the garden - if I took my eye off where she'd been for a moment to get a poo bag I couldn't find the damn thing the grass was so long.

We are the only ones doing it in our immediate area and have done years before the idea was put out there. We're not trending just rebelling for nature.

I did it last year and grew wild orchids. I'm hoping they return this year, there is a rosette of leaves that looks promising.

Yes we do it . Then we mow pathways around the edges and to the flower bed and just leave until late summer .

Those of you adjoining fields, and thinking that that means they're "wild"- have you been to have a look at the kind of wildflowers that are growing there? If they're "improved" fields- ie, the farmer fertilises them in order to improve grass quality- it's likely they won't be at all rich in wildflowers, which will have been crowded out by grass. Although funnily enough, if they are areas of waste ground or "unimproved" fields, they could be surprisingly species rich.

If you're managing a grassland area for wildflowers you need to reduce fertility. Practically, this can be done by not leaving grass clippings on the lawn- if you've got a box on your mower that collects them that's pretty easy.

You can leave a bit of your lawn, it still counts.

We're not - I didn't realise it was a thing, but we have huge borders and an incredible amount of wildlife. My youngest has taken a real liking to the birds and the oldest is incredibly happy we get so many varieties of butterflies.

Our local parks have lots of pollinator friendly areas

Yes we are doing it. A good friend does:
no mow May, too soon June and knee high July 🌱

Yes. We have so much hidden cat poo now.