My experience of No Mow May

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In my opinion, there’s a time and a place for this initiative…

No Mow May is an initiative whereby you don’t cut the grass during the month of May (or for a full 4-5 weeks) to allow the grass and wild flowers to grow to help the wildlife.

First launched in 2019 by the botanical charity Plantlife, No Mow May is a campaign that encourages gardeners to not mow their lawn during the month of May, in order to let wild flowers bloom and provide a nectar feast for pollinators such as honeybees, bumblebees and solitary bees, butterflies and moths, and beetles.

https://www.discoverwildlife.com/how-to/wildlife-gardening/no-mow-may/

In the last couple of years, I’ve been curious to try it to see what happens, and what it could be like, and this was the result.

Before

After

The wildflowers

The wildflowers and the plants that grow in the paths were really quite fascinating – particularly, where the acorns are starting to sprout.

At the base of the plot are two giant oak trees, and so not only do these self seed, but squirrels are also plant these.

There was a whole row of oak trees at the base of the plot.

There was also the usual fair of weeds (or wildflowers if you will) poking up here and there.

Conclusion

I’ll be honest, No May May, drove me nuts. The fact everything was looking overgrown and out of place just didn’t sit well for me, and I found myself resisting the urge to cut the grass on numerous occasions.

There was some good that come out of this however, and that’s the amount of grass cuttings you get out of letting it grow for a few weeks extra of the year. As you can see this easily filled the one of the compost bins.

Did you take part in No Mow May? If yes, let me know what you thought and how you got on.

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  1. Grass cuttings is definitely a nice bonus!

    We approach it a little differently, leaving patches of lawn to grow where we can already see some wildflowers emerging (daisies mainly), so it looks a lot more deliberate and we can keep the clean edges. Something else we’d also like to try is just mowing paths through the lawn (better with a bigger lawn though) – which also helps it look more deliberate and is easier to walk through.


    1. I think that’s perhaps the secret there – it needs to look deliberate! I have a similar path like that running through the wildlife garden. I have to admit, I do like the way the light hits the grass in the spring – it’s quite artistic! 🙂


  2. I don’t think a month of not mowing will do much unless you have daisy, clover and dandelion when you might get some flowers. It’s better to have a generous area of wildflowers, longer grass and even nettles for wildlife and a pond.


    1. I think you’re absolutely right – and making the wildlife garden certainly ticks all those boxes. I’ve got some more old logs too, and so I think another bug hotel is on the horizon.


  3. Guy Patrick.

    Wow you did that to a garden! Kudos. I was trying to get support for my site.




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