AIBU to ask you to cut your grass?

[BadEyedManiac]

I know there's a movement around not cutting grass and not trimming hedges and so on which I have to say our local council has enthusiastically embraced to the point that road signs are partly obscured by various shrubbery.

However although this might be lovely for bees (although the absolute benefits are probably limited in the context of the age of industrial farming which no one is doing anything about) it is hell on earth for people with pollen allergies. And is particular hell on earth for people like me who have pollen allergies and a corneal condition.

I've just woken up due to corneal pain and have spent ten minutes pouring eye drops into my eyes and I know it's only going to get worse as summer goes on. The environmental benefits from people failing to tend their greenery in urban areas are negligible while the effects on the people around you can be absolutely brutal. Please, please cut your bloody grass. This is awful.

Minimal or no roadside litter! Sorry!

Astroturf everything.

I’ve had hay fever since I was a child. It was worse when I lived in London so if you live in an area with high pollution then I recommend you move! I live rurally now surrounded by fields and my hay fever hardly bothers me. Also, have you had allergy tests as mine showed that my allergy to tree pollen was much worse than grass pollen?

When I lived by the sea none of us had hay-fever. Now I've moved to a rural inland area its hay-fever central again. Any chance of .Oving to the coast? It makes a huge difference.

We only have a small patch of grass but its neatly cut. The bees and butterflies love the perennials that border it. They don’t need unkempt grass and weeds.

@Champagnesupamother Its your choice, but if you rent a property with a garden, there’s usually a clause about maintaining it. Having said that, on some estates where I worked, waste high grass and weeds weren’t unusual. I don’t think that was down to concern for nature…

Sadly. I own my property… so only myself to answer to. The front yard is completely paved so neighbours will only know about the back garden if they peep over the 6ft fence.

Also… I’m not sure what you were trying to insinuate by your comment but my situation is that of a single mum, working 50hrs a week… who just doesn’t have the cash spare to sort some overgrown grass out. And with the way the cost of living is going, I may very well not find the cash for a while. All family live abroad. No close friends or colleagues to borrow any gardening tools from.

Garden lawns are such a tiny proportion of the pollen generating plants in the environment I don't think it will make a jot of difference if people cut their grass @BadEyedManiac

Have you gone back to your ENT consultant?

I’m currently full of hay fever despite taking anti histamines daily. It’s a temporary situation. Hay fever season passes.

Tree pollen is the major issue at this time of year but I don’t want trees cut down. In the longer grass areas of the park yesterday I saw absolutely loads of bees and butterflies. It’s great.

@LaMariposa ooooh Sicilian honey garlic sounds amazing! Do you cook with it?

@BadEyedManiac I'm sorry you're having such a rough time and in pain. I haven't noticed many gardens around where I live letting their grass grow tbh but our council is generally a bit shit and our verges and roundabouts are very overgrown. But I'm afraid I think YABU still.

We think that "No mow May"was the cause for the first ever bee nest in our garden. We couldn't be more thrilled!

We cut most of our grass twice a week at the moment but we do have a couple of areas which we're encouraging into meadow areas. But then we're next to fields and pollen is everywhere here anyway!

You have a very poor understanding of why it is important. Bees, pollinators and insects are vital for the food chain and to stop larger birds and mammals from declining. The UK has the worst loss of biodiversity in the G7 and it raked in the bottom 12 out of 240 countries around the world for biodiversity.

I had a meeting with a policy writer for the Environment Act 2021 this week as I manage hundreds of acres of public open space, more of this is coming so I’d suggest you go to the doctor to get some anti histamine injections. I previously worked in agriculture and pretty large changes are being made rapidly there in things like biodiversity and catchment sensitive farming.

And I'm also limited in with your 25%, all adieu sufferers are not equal.

This thread doesnt make any sense at all

It wont make a difference to anyones hayfever, including mine to cut the grass. OP has been asked a few times why she thinks it will but hasnt answered.

Most people have answered in a way that supposes that it might make a difference but theres no evidence of that.

Cant you spend your anger sorting out a better treatment for you? Would seeing a private doctor help?

I will hopefully be mowing my grass tomorrow.. However yabu to think ayour hayfever will go away if people mow the lawns,
My ds has a phobia of dogs.. our life would be far easier if no one owned a dog however i would never dream of asking anyone to own a dog

I have really bad hayfever , I hate the summer because of it. This is the first year I haven't had it yet. Just realised it might be because no one is mowing their lawns! Long may it continue.

What makes you think your hayfever is affected or not affected by mowing or not mowing?

So sorry to hear you are suffering OP, I have also suffered terribly. It does seem better for me this year, but last year was I an absolute state.

I used to have the kenalog jab when doctors still prescribed it. To begin with it was fantastic, but after a couple of years it wasn't as effective so I stopped having it because the benefit no longer outweighed the associated risks. I've tried all the drugs, sprays, balms, eye drops over the years with limited success. It's grim.

People just telling the OP to get the jab need to do their homework. It's no longer given by doctors because of the risks on prolonged steroid use. People are getting it done in beauty places now and I've seen some bad reactions in a hayfever Facebook group I'm on. One woman now has a massive dimple in her bum cheek because the injection has been put into the fat instead of the muscle and the steroid has dissolved the fat cells. Once you've had the injection, it slowly releases into your bloodstream for 3 months, so if you have a bad reaction there's no way of stopping it.

Can I suggest you talk to your doctor about prednisolone. It's a tablet form steroid immunosuppressant which can be used short term. They prescribe it to people for exams, weddings etc when they just need some short term guaranteed relief. I was prescribed 5 days worth last year because I was completely overwhelmed by my hayfever. Every second of the day and night I was bunged up, sneezing, scratching my eyes etc. my doctor thought my immune system had just gone into overdrive and wasn't actually reacting to pollen anymore. He said immune systems have a memory a bit like muscle memory, and if they have been responding to something for long enough it will just continue reacting even when the pollen has been removed. I took one days worth and my symptoms were completely removed, which then allowed me to get on top of things using my usual sprays, tablets etc. Might be worth a try, it's just a much less intense and committed version of the kenalog jab I guess.

I'm not going to comment on the mowing thing. I do have an opinion as a sufferer of hayfever but it's obviously divisive and everyone is entitled to their own thoughts, but I really really sympathise with you and hope you get some relief soon.

Bees and insects have declined by 60%

@catwomando it's very worrying, especially as it's that large a decline in a relatively short period of time. I remember how 20+ years ago the car windscreen would be splatted with insects (poor things) after a rural car journey and now it's so rare. It shows how they just aren't around anymore 😞...or have suddenly got very streetwise and use the green cross code 😉

I'm on your side OP. DH is the gardener in our family and insisted on that No Mow May. By a week into June I had a very rare hissy fit and we had one of our once in five years rows. He cut it next day. I also have hayfever. We need balance in things like this.

Because the second I walk past a garden where the grass is being mowed I dissolve into a sneezing/ eye watering mess. When dh cuts the lawn I have to shut all the windows. Cutting the grass stirs up the pollen.

Oh and also the PP who suggested that lack of exposure is to blame is completely wrong. I'm one of 4 and we all grew up on a farm in rural Cornwall - 3 out of 4 of us became hayfever sufferers once we became adults and we spent most of of childhood outside in the countryside!

My hayfever starts with tree pollen. I don't expect all trees to be cut down because of this. It continues in the autumn from fungal spores. I have hayfever pretty much all year round apart from December and January but I don't want to live in a desert.