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No Mow May was begin in 2019 bycitizen scientistsin the United Kingdom as part of a conservation study to support fight pollinators . Homeowners were advance to impart their lawn mowers in storage through the month of May and allow their lawn skunk to grow and bloom . The idea was that participants ’ lawn could then produce essential pollen and nectar for bee and other pollinator during the decisive period in which they were emerging from hibernation .
issue in the U.K. ’s initial survey included a massive increase in floral diversity when thesebeneficial bugsneed it most . A year later , residents of Appleton , Wisconsin , organized their own No Mow May , and the result were impressive . Researchers describe a threefold increase in bee species diversity and a fivefold increase in the telephone number of bees in no - mow yards compare with neighboring K that were mowed as common . Since then , the crusade has gained a life sentence of its own , with supporters and opponents trumpeting an endless train of social medium plug , opinions , and fake - science .
As a backyard home ground enthusiast , unskilled beekeeper , and someone who is generally singular about nature , I decided totry No Mow Mayin my own K . Having spend ten in the landscape gardening and nursery industry , selling , installing , and assert all kinds oflawn grasses , I knew that lease my lawn produce a month without mowing would not kill it , and any trivial harm could be lift within a few weeks . The heavy jeopardy would be establishing a gage ejaculate camber , but that is kind of the point ; if you really hatelawn weeds , this project probably is not for you . Here ’s what go on in my yard .
Photo: istockphoto.com
I started No Mow May in March.
Where I live in Georgia , the climate is different from that of the U.K. or Wisconsin . Pollinators emerge long before May , so I adjusted the “ no haymow ” full stop to fit the local climate and environmental science . I normally get down mowing in mid - March . Based on when the sens started arise and looking “ ready ” for its first cutting off of the time of year , I began my “ no mow ” month on March 19 . daylight temperature were consistently reaching into the 60s , and nightlong depression were ranging from around freezing to the mid-40s .
In a month I saved about 6 60 minutes that I would have spent on mowing and trimming the edge .
My lawn is a admixture of centipede gage , Bermuda Gunter Grass , and improbable fescue gage . At this early point of the season , the fescue gage and coolheaded - season widow’s weeds were growing well , but the warm - time of year grasses were just slowly breaking sleeping . Flowering sens like mouse-ear chickweed , henbit , dandelion , speedwell , and acerbic cress plant proliferate alongside annualbluegrass .
Photo: istockphoto.com
Tall grass and flowering weeds attracted lots of wildlife.
I admit that I did not go all - in on this labor . My lot is just under anacre , with about half extend by the sign of the zodiac , private road , landscape painting bed , and avegetable garden . Of the remaining or so 20,000 satisfying feet of green goddess , I pout the 5,000 solid feet nearest the front and back of the menage . I ’m beaming I did .
Mowing eliminates cut through for gnawer , snakes , and other wildlife that most of us do n’t want inside our house . While my unmowed area brought in significantly higher numbers ofbumblebees , carpenter bees , various small bees , hoverflies , butterflies , andmoths , as the grass and sess grew taller I also had more migrating and nonmigratory songbirds , chipmunks , domain mouse , and on two occasions , king snakes . Judging from impressions on the grass , especially near my compost mass , vegetable garden , and close to the wooded area behind my property , I suspect that we had an increase in nocturnal visitor like deer , phalanger , raccoons , Fox , and coyotes , too . It ’s probably best to always cut down a roadblock strip show around the house to reduce the risk of exposure of undesirable wildlife require up residence in the basement or attic .
I adjusted my “no mow” timing for the weather.
As the closing of the 4 weeks approached , I wanted totime the first mowingso that it would be as tension - free on me and the pasture as potential . temperature were already approaching the upper 80s , and the weather had been dry . At about daylight 26 , I saw a cooldown and rain in the prognosis for the next workweek , so I get it go a few redundant Day . At this point of the season , the other spring dope were going to sow , and our local tulip poplar trees and dwarf whitecloverwere come into their peak flush time . They and other floriferous mid - spring plants would offer plenty of forage forpollinators . The grass was close to knee - high school in some places , but mostly around 10 to 12 inches marvelous .
I enjoyed the break from lawn upkeep.
If there is such a thing as an objectively beautiful landscape , my pace was not that during the “ no mow ” menstruum . It was scrawny , seedy , full of random peak , and the overall people of color was a hodgepodge of common and tans . But in a calendar month I saved about 6 hours that I would have spent onmowingand shave the edge . I used that time for working on the vegetable garden and get up on a petty light pruning that I omit during the winter .
I also spend quite a bit of fourth dimension looking for visiting pollinators , watching out for snakes , and identifying green goddess . It was a pleasant way to expend the former spring , and the green goddess was not so grandiloquent as to be a major fuss when it was metre to mow again .
Here’s how and when I started mowing again.
Because I mop with alawn tractor , it was not hard to make the first baseball swing of the season in the quaternary week of April . On a semi - cool , dry even , the day after a decent rainfall , I doublemowed the yard . With the deck on its highest setting , I mowed back and forth in one direction . Then , without adjusting the deck superlative , I mowed back and forth in a vertical direction to the first cutting . The double cut eliminated much of the dust , but I had to crease and collect clip in a few blot . I ’m sure that the mental process was made easier thanks to the dryer - than - middling springtime atmospheric condition and circumscribed lawn development rate .
The lawn looked ragged until the grass recovered.
After a calendar month without mowing , the newly exposed lower role of the lawn were pale and somewhat sparse . To get it back in shape , I mowed again 5 Clarence Day after the first cut , then again 6 days later . I lowered the deck a couple of notches each time to get back to the proper maintenance height . Three mowings in 2 week and another rainfall event had the lawn pretty much back to normal by mid - May .
I will do No Mow May again.
I hold up in a non - HOA neighborhoodoutside the city limits , so there are no covenants and few ordinances governing myapproach to horticulture and lawn care . But I do want to be a good neighbour and respect other homeowners ’ concerns about weed impact and the potential difference for attracting pests into their plate . In this environment it was reasonably soft to let the M get shaggy-haired for a few workweek with only a few raised eyebrow and point scraping from theneighbors .
It is not accurate to say that I reduced the use of fertilizer , herbicide , or irrigation by participating in the No Mow May initiative , since I do n’t use those products in the first piazza . My pre - existing peaceful approach to lawn care mesh well with the program . I usually mow once every week or two throughout the growing season . Going forward , I can just wait an supernumerary 3 to 5 week before beginning my unconstipated routine .
In my immediate area , this initiative may not provide a noticeable difference for pollinator . Our small neighborhood is ring by a mix of woodland , wetland , infrequently mowed wayside and utility rights - of - path , and a with child hobby farm with several acres of pasture . But I consider No Mow May more akin to setting up abird feederin that it may not be necessary , but doing so admit me to see nature up near .
Photo: istockphoto.com
There are alternatives to No Mow May.
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Photo: istockphoto.com
