What is “no mow May”?
It means NOT cutting grass during May.
Why would I do that?
Arguably May is the start of spring, everything is really coming alive and the risk of frost is lower. Nature is springing back to life, growing taller and faster than it has in months. After being mostly dormant over winter, plants including grass are waking up and doing their job. Their job?
To grow and support other lifeforms. So when we cut it we’re not just harming the grass but all sorts of other plants and wildlife.
Other life forms, what are you on about?Okay, a healthy ecosystem has lots of different types of flora and fauna (plants and animals), so the greater the biodiversity (different types of living things) the better! And, different living things like to eat different foods, so we need to promote all life. Grasses, wild flowers, worms, centipedes, mice, badgers, sparrows and owls; we need all of these guys and many, many more to have a healthy and happy ecosystem. So everyone has enough to eat, and can grow and be eaten.
You’ve seen the lion king right? It’s the circle of life (cue Elton), we’re all connected, we all impact each other. And if there aren’t plants for bees to get nectar from (and this is where they pollinate the plants), the bees will die, and if they aren’t around to pollinate the plants there will be no more plants, and we will die (because even if you only ever eat beef burgers in buns you need plants… the cow needs plants or it will die and the bun is made from a plant).
Cutting grass and killing weeds is harming wildlife, it’s interfering with the ecosystem. And it’s literally doing no harm to you, so leave it alone for a while.
One of my favourite things to do in May is to visit a meadow. A grass meadow that’s been left alone will be full of butterflies and bees. Gorgeous wild flowers (cruelly referred do as weeds) and different varieties of grass. This beautiful natural occurrence is vital to a healthy ecosystem, which obviously includes us.
Wild flowers are not just BEAUTIFUL, but they’re essential to a healthy ecosystem too. And they’re in our lawns and borders if we let them… why not leave them there and care for them as though they were your prized Iris and even grow more! The bees and our planet will thank you for it.
It’s not just our own grass that helps, more and more public grassy areas are being left alone. Areas in parks are left alone to give more space to nature. Roadsides and roundabouts are being left alone, but more can be left too (our gardens).
So get involved with local groups, sometimes it just needs some pressure to get councils to do something we’d like and what the planet would like too.
Summary: manicured lawns are so 1660!
For more info see below…
Pollinators:
https://friendsoftheearth.uk/bees
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=528
Wild flowers:
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/wildflowers
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/plants/wild-flowers/
Disclosure: I’m not a trained horticulturist, botanist or ecologist but I’m a passionate environmentalist!
Chillcott's Circular Thoughts 