By now you have probably seen or heard about no mow may, well here I go again upsetting people. No mow may was created in 2019 as a way to increase more bugs into the garden during the month of May, In theory, it sounds fantastic right? Here is where I'm not so sure about it... One month of no mowing is going to make your grass long and messy, one month of no mowing is NOT going to give you a stunning patch of wildflowers, but it may increase the number of bugs into the garden as the grass gives them somewhere to hide. If you have kids or dogs I would strongly advise against no mow may as some of the bugs that love long grass are not all good and long grass will most certainly have tics in it. In terms of food supply by May there's lots of forage around for pollinators, it would make more sense to not mow earlier in the year when dandelions and Daisys are in abundance and general forage is low. If you want to offer lots of feed for pollinators it would be more beneficial to set up succession planting throughout the year or turn a patch of your lawn over to wildflowers permanently. If you feel you need to continue to mow your lawn this month crack on there are no judgements here, I mow my lawn throughout may because I have a big dog that shits like an elephant and quite frankly trying to clean up dog muck in long grass is horrendous. As I said there are far more beneficial things you can do to feed and encourage pollinators into your garden without stressing about the lawn, this doesn't mean that lawns are a good thing.
We are seeing such high decline in wildlife because we have taken so much habitat away, houses are popping up on green belts up and down the country and then alongside the houses are chunks of land turned over to cut grass (the garden). Cut grass serves no purpose to wildlife, there's zero food source for anything or safe places to hide, it's a desert to wildlife. Turning parts of our garden over to nature really does help, you don't have to rip up your whole lawn just designate one area for wildlife, it's good for the mind, good for the soul and good for the planet. I'm not talking about doing it for one month, it's a long-term commitment, to create diversity amongst the plants and the wildlife takes time. There is so much you can do from bug and bee boxes to wildflower patches, even veg gardening and that has benefits for both you and nature.
This picture below is of a meadow in progress, it's really coming along and this is the first year the wildflowers have really popped.
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