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.

I have a pollen allergy. I leave my grass long. Everyone else around here seems to have sterile plastic monstrosities and ours is the only garden buzzing with insects. I take fexofenadine, and accept that some people are snuffly in summer.

The difference in biodiversity in our smallish urban garden is huge since we started letting the grass be taken over by clover and created a wildflower patch. We even got a cluster of yellow garden spiders! There must be 200 here.

Take some antihistamines and have a day off. Our garden is pretty wild. I just make sure I've always got my prescribed antihistamines available. You don't get to demand that the whole country revolves around you.

Have you tapped the wall near them?
not them. Just near them.

if you’ve not. You should they are incredible little things.

Mine has always been like this! worse around grass being mowed/just been mowed.

Also I played in fields etc when I was a kid, so I defo was exposed to pollen and had hayfever at a very young age.

Being mowed at the time and being around grass while its being mowed - absolutely

But your post didnt imply that, you said that you thought that your hay fever was less because people were not mowing their lawns, implying that uncut grass was therefore beneficial to your hayfever?

OP seems to think that uncut grass is causing/increasing her hayfever.

There is no evidence for either stance.

The problem with prioritising the comfort and convenience of humans above all else is that it’s that attitude that has got us into the horrendous mess we are in right now and soon our planet will be uninhabitable.

I agree with you about the road signs although I personally think signage on British roads is shit and causes accidents not being put far enough in advance.
One by me you cant see anymore because of everything overgrown around it.

What about those of us who struggle more with tree pollen? Should all trees be cut down?

I love a wild looking garden. I did laugh on the first page when someone said that no one keeps their garden ‘nice’ anymore. I think wild is significantly nicer, personally. My dh likes mowing but there is a huge patch of daisies on our lawn which I insist he mows around. We are looking into (natural) alternatives to grass too.

Is there a direct relationship between the length of grass and how much pollen it produces?

I am another grass pollen allergic person and June is always the worst month for it. i do notice that I sneeze a lot more when the grass is being cut though, even the smell of it sets me off.

Fexofenadine is working for me.

Last part of your username is very apt

Op you'd like it where I live. They cut their grass far too much. There seems to be some sort of undisclosed shortest grass competition. One neighbour cuts it then the other one is straight out doing theirs when it is already short (especially common with the middle aged older men). One of them even cuts his neighbour's without permission which annoys said nighbour, as he likes to put fancy lines in. It then also makes other side of his front garden (the part he doesn't do) look uneven. The irritated neighbour then comes out and re-does it; absolute craziness!
This grass cutting bug isn't exclusive to front gardens either. Back gardens aren't out of the question with somebody doing theirs then neighbour cutting theirs yet again! 😂

Hay fever can be awful. I know as I have suffered with it my entire life. Some years are worse than others.

Last year was bad for me, but have been better this year. But am also on stronger antihistamines this year due to other issues.

Trees are bad pollen produces as are the fields of rape seed. Both necessary though.

I live rurally so for me people cutting/ not cutting their grass will make no difference. And while we do cut our grass, I also actively plant bee friendly plants ie pollen producers.

People out cutting grass makes my hayfever worse - always has done . The smell of freshly cut grass is often talked about as a favourite smell - I hate it as it reminds me of swollen eyes, constant sneezing and struggling to breathe.

The grass cutting sets my allergies off as well, all of it in air.

Have you got any pics please?
I’m looking into alternatives to grass like mosses, chamomile etc.

The smell of freshly cut grass is often talked about as a favourite smell.

this is actually the grass sending a warning to other grass and plants that there’s a problem, that they are under attack. That’s where the smell comes from.

we are only just learning about the links between plants. It’s truly fascinating. They can send nutrients to each other if they are struggling, warnings about pests and diseases. It’s amazing and a world we knew nothing about

Frankly plants seem more tolerant of each other then humans are.

No, people should not be cutting their Grass, no evidence this would help anyway. This planet is not here purely for the benefit of humans. Too many people live in a more and more sterile environment with only human produced pollution for company.

I have hayfever and it used to be so bad that I had injections. Sort out your hayfever, don’t expect the environment to be changed for your comfort.

Meant to quote @MrsTerryPratchett about grass alternatives. ⬆️

If all my neighbors cut their grass my hay fever would go mental.

Surely grass is better than alternatives for nature?

No, I love letting my back lawn go wild the ox eye daisies are such happy flowers and I love watching the bees, yes I have hay fever but I take tablets and snort a nasal spray daily from late feb.

They have all dispersed now unfortunately. What do they do?

I wish I was just 'a bit snuffly' rather than feeling ill most of the summer!

I have 'a sterile plastic monstrosity' in my garden (nothing to do with allergies, just the size and layout of the garden) but all the plants are chosen to be bee and insect friendly. I don't encourage too much wildlife though as the garden is cat proofed with netting and it feels a bit like inviting them into the lion's den!

Sorry OP, I have terrible hayfever too but I love watching the bees bumble around all the buttercups and daisies in our lawn! I do a combo of antihistamines + nasal spray + eye drops to keep on top of it.