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?

We've had a wildlife area right at the bottom of the garden since we moved in a few years ago. Just leave it until the end of summer then mow it.
Also have lots of bee/pollinater friendly flowers in huge planters everywhere.
It annoys me more to see people cutting their hedges now when all the birds are nesting.

So far, yes... although not intentionally. I just cba mowing it 😂

onefinemess
There are 2 reasons No Mow May has been suggested:
To allow plenty of early flowers for pollinating insects;
To allow these early flowers to finish flowering and set seed.

But you are correct- it would be better to leave lawns until late July before cutting, but I guess they thought it would be a step too far to do that. Or to keep grass at 2 or 3 different lengths, to create a mosaic of habitats.

When I say 'this sort of attitude' I don't mean the choice to not do no mow may.

I mean the whole attitude of 'why would I do anything that is a little bit hard when I don't have to? Why would anyone?'

The problem in the comment is this:

"Why would you make a whole load of extra work for yourself, just cos somebody said dont cut your lawn in May."

Society would be so much better if more people actively did things for the greater good rather than just thinking about themselves and what is easy.

And actively judging people for NOT doing what is easiest, is just ridiculous. You don't have to do it - but why judge/ question those who are?

I don't think it's OTT at all for me to be scathing of that attitude.

Well now I'm just really envious of all these multi-acre gardens with their woodland areas and wildlife meadows!

Mind you, we can barely be arsed with the upkeep of our little north facing rectangle, so...

My brother is a gardener and he has a different attitude to No Mow May. He says it works fine where you have a lot of wild flowers and in rocky/croppy places, but for ordinary lawns, usually the main thing to grow during that time is dandelions and the other things that look like dandelions. He says they then have incredible roots under the lawn and eventually will take over the lawn, so he keeps mowing during May (leaving the grass a bit longer) so they don't seed all over this time.

If you are happy with a lawn full of dandelions and your neighbours aren't too fussy (mine aren't) then it works fine to do it.

Just another perspective.

We're not, but our garden is half an acre so we've got some lawn but most is either growing fruit or pretty wild

I like having the lawn for the kids to play on but I was determined to keep some of that rugged Norfolk wildness

We get a lot of wildlife including bats and even deer occasionally so I hope we're doing something right in terms of respect for biodiversity

Apart from the ticks, as a reason to keep the grass low, we keep a fairly low lawn all year round. However, we have several large trees, hundreds of feet of hedging, big beds. We have an abundance of mammals (hence the ticks), birds and insects. I don't think leaving the lawn will make much difference tbh. Most people doing it, and proudly showing off their efforts, just have long grass, nothing else, and completely sterile gardens. We'll stick with our cut lawns thanks.

DH caught Lyme a couple of years ago, it's not fun. And I get attached ticks every year, despite being careful, when I weed or clear the beds.

The sooner they ban it the better. Terrible stuff.

Do actually feel judged and lumped into your category of 'not caring about the environment' for not wanting to be covered in ticks in an area rife with Lyme.
There's lots of other things people can do to help the environment than not mowing their lawn for one month, great though that is if you can (albeit even better if you can provide a natural habitat that works all the year round in your borders).
I use reusable wipes and nappies and many other things to reduce my plastic waste and help the environment even if I can do no mow may!!

Definitely not. The DC like to play in the back garden and we have a dog so it would be impossible to keep it clean enough with long grass

What's with all the dogs' shit in the gardens? 😂🤣🤣 Do you people not take them for walks?? 🤔

Sometimes a dog needs to poo before or after their walk.

My parents dog won't even wee when out for a walk. She waits until she gets home and goes out in the garden.

Okay let's face it dogs and immaculate lawns are pretty much mutually exclusive!

@TabithaTitanium my dogs poo like 6 times a day so not always on a walk

Our ddog only poops in the garden if she’s poorly.
We walk her 3 times a day and she poops then.

Thank you.

@Superdupes @GoodChat
thank you.
We’re very lucky.

I'm loving my no mow may garden. My garden is full of flowers, daisies, buttercups, some very pretty delicate blue flowers and some very similar white ones. The garden is also full of all sorts of flying insects busy feeding on the flowers. It is really lovely and so much nicer than a neat lawn.