Not mowing in May means more flowers and nectar all summer long for struggling pollinators. A wildlife organization is asking us to put lawn mowers aside until June.
April rains bring May flowers, and if you love food, you should leave those flowers alone. Not mowing in May results in a greater diversity and number of flowers throughout the summer, claims a UK conservation organization called Plantlife.
The organization ran an experiment last year in which hundreds of homeowners agreed not to mow their lawns until June. The participants’ lawns produced a greater variety of flower species and enough nectar to feed ten times more bees than normal lawns. The longer the grass grows, the greater the diversity of flower species, Plantlife said.
This is why the organization recommends mowing no more than once a month throughout the summer. If you can’t wait that long – maybe you want a place to sunbathe or for the kids to play – mow in sections or pieces. Make a cool pattern if you like. Plantlife suggests an Iroquois cup! Just leave plenty of long patches for pollinators.
Trevor Dines, botanist at Plantlife, explains why longer lawns lead to more diversity: “We have found that plants like daisy, white clover and birdsfoot trefoil are perfectly suited to growing on shorter lawns. These short-grassed, “mower” plants stay low, with stems well clear of the mower blades, but continually produce large numbers of flowers every few weeks. If these flowers are cut by the mower, it stimulates the plants to produce even more flowers, which increases nectar production.”
“In contrast, tall grass species like white daisy, red clover, field knautia and spotted knapweed grow straight and take longer to reach flowering size. They can’t stand being cut regularly and therefore only flower in grass that hasn’t been mowed for several months or more. Our results show that these areas of long, unmown grass support a greater variety of wildflower species, complementing the narrower range found in areas of short grass.”
If your neighbors complain, explain to them that you are doing this for bees and biodiversity. But very soon it will become the right thing to do. The phenomenon is already gaining momentum: some cities in the world even offer to pay citizens not to mow!