I like the idea of No Mow May not so much as an annual ritual, but as an awareness campaign that inspires individual gardeners/homeowners to make changes to their landscape. What I mean by that is, taking part can help someone see how leaving the land alone can benefit wildlife. Most of us would be unable to live with un-mown grass all year long, but we might be able to segment off an area that is left to go wild. Even a seemingly small action like that can help.
Yes, I think you’re right. It’s a really useful campaign in the sense that it shows just how quickly (at certain times of year) nature can grow abundant and claw back a bit of habitat. Not sure I’ll do it again next year, but that’s mainly because I hope by then not to have a lawn at all. I’d like instead to extend our beds (in a wildlife friendly way) and leave a small but useful space for people to enjoy. But we’ll see whether that idea gets the green light from the rest of the household…!
Well, I have to admit that by the time my husband and I undertook the enormous task of mowing yesterday (it had to be yesterday, because the only way we could deal with the amount of work was to make it happen on a day off, and it was Memorial Day in the U.S.), I was not so enamored with our little experiment. Raking up all the extra grass from TWO ACRES OF LAWN was humbling, and that's a nice word for it. I wrecked my back and got a terrible sunburn. It took my husband, even though he got to ride around on a motorized vehicle, twice as long to cut as normal, which made us both wonder about the pollution savings of not mowing for a month but then running the mower for four straight hours at the end. By evening, we were unable to even have a conversation about whether we will do it again next year. We saw a few more wildflowers -- and I swear there were more butterflies around than normal -- but otherwise it didn't seem to make a huge difference. (We have a lot of wildlife that travels through our yard to get to a large county park with a lake just down the road, so there are all kinds of animals regardless of what we do.)
I'm glad we tried it. But I will have to think long and hard about whether or not I'm willing to do it again next year (and it will take an act of God to convince my husband -- not impossible, I'm very persuasive 😉, but I need to recover first).
Wow. Getting two acres of meadow back to some semblance of lawn is a serious undertaking! Now that the proverbial dust has settled, how are you both feeling about it? I can definitely see why you’d be disinclined to give it another go next year. Then again, you could always keep some areas neat and trim and leave other areas to grow loose and wild. An edge, or a boundary, or less-used section of the garden, etc?
Thanks for sharing your experience though, and well done for persevering despite very real social pressures!
Our approach to No Mow May was about as much of a commitment as our mowing habit - patchy! We do keep an area overgrown all year round, though - at the moment the nettles are huge and rather resplendent in their own right. I'll call them 'structure'!
It's nice to have a meadowy feel to our plot when we let things go (grow....!) a bit. Have you seen the new book 'Meadow' by Iain Parkinson, which came out last month? It's gorgeous! It contains accounts by a variety of meadow specialists writing about the importance of wildflower and hay meadows. Worth a look!
Hi Rebecca, thanks so much for your comment, and for subscribing! Welcome to The Earthworm. Nettles provide incredibly important habitat for a wide range of species, many of which will ONLY lay eggs or feed on that particular plant, so good for you for leaving them to grow! If you want to keep them under control, it could be an idea to "chop the heads off" right about now, to avoid them setting seed. While you're at it, you could use the leaves to make a delicious nettle soup - have you ever tried it? A foodie friend prepared some for me once and it was a real treat. And finally, thank you so much for the book recommendation. I haven't read it, and it is going straight on the list!
Thanks for the tips, Dan! Good move to prevent them setting seed - that's a job for this evening once it's cooled down a bit. I've never made nettle soup myself before, although I've eaten and enjoyed it when others have made it - I've got no excuse not to give it a go now!
I like the idea of No Mow May not so much as an annual ritual, but as an awareness campaign that inspires individual gardeners/homeowners to make changes to their landscape. What I mean by that is, taking part can help someone see how leaving the land alone can benefit wildlife. Most of us would be unable to live with un-mown grass all year long, but we might be able to segment off an area that is left to go wild. Even a seemingly small action like that can help.
Yes, I think you’re right. It’s a really useful campaign in the sense that it shows just how quickly (at certain times of year) nature can grow abundant and claw back a bit of habitat. Not sure I’ll do it again next year, but that’s mainly because I hope by then not to have a lawn at all. I’d like instead to extend our beds (in a wildlife friendly way) and leave a small but useful space for people to enjoy. But we’ll see whether that idea gets the green light from the rest of the household…!
Well, I have to admit that by the time my husband and I undertook the enormous task of mowing yesterday (it had to be yesterday, because the only way we could deal with the amount of work was to make it happen on a day off, and it was Memorial Day in the U.S.), I was not so enamored with our little experiment. Raking up all the extra grass from TWO ACRES OF LAWN was humbling, and that's a nice word for it. I wrecked my back and got a terrible sunburn. It took my husband, even though he got to ride around on a motorized vehicle, twice as long to cut as normal, which made us both wonder about the pollution savings of not mowing for a month but then running the mower for four straight hours at the end. By evening, we were unable to even have a conversation about whether we will do it again next year. We saw a few more wildflowers -- and I swear there were more butterflies around than normal -- but otherwise it didn't seem to make a huge difference. (We have a lot of wildlife that travels through our yard to get to a large county park with a lake just down the road, so there are all kinds of animals regardless of what we do.)
I'm glad we tried it. But I will have to think long and hard about whether or not I'm willing to do it again next year (and it will take an act of God to convince my husband -- not impossible, I'm very persuasive 😉, but I need to recover first).
Wow. Getting two acres of meadow back to some semblance of lawn is a serious undertaking! Now that the proverbial dust has settled, how are you both feeling about it? I can definitely see why you’d be disinclined to give it another go next year. Then again, you could always keep some areas neat and trim and leave other areas to grow loose and wild. An edge, or a boundary, or less-used section of the garden, etc?
Thanks for sharing your experience though, and well done for persevering despite very real social pressures!
I think leaving a small area is a possibility. We will definitely have to discuss more before next year.
I look forward to seeing how that pans out, especially given your aforementioned powers of persuasion!
New sub here - hi!
Our approach to No Mow May was about as much of a commitment as our mowing habit - patchy! We do keep an area overgrown all year round, though - at the moment the nettles are huge and rather resplendent in their own right. I'll call them 'structure'!
It's nice to have a meadowy feel to our plot when we let things go (grow....!) a bit. Have you seen the new book 'Meadow' by Iain Parkinson, which came out last month? It's gorgeous! It contains accounts by a variety of meadow specialists writing about the importance of wildflower and hay meadows. Worth a look!
Hi Rebecca, thanks so much for your comment, and for subscribing! Welcome to The Earthworm. Nettles provide incredibly important habitat for a wide range of species, many of which will ONLY lay eggs or feed on that particular plant, so good for you for leaving them to grow! If you want to keep them under control, it could be an idea to "chop the heads off" right about now, to avoid them setting seed. While you're at it, you could use the leaves to make a delicious nettle soup - have you ever tried it? A foodie friend prepared some for me once and it was a real treat. And finally, thank you so much for the book recommendation. I haven't read it, and it is going straight on the list!
Thanks for the tips, Dan! Good move to prevent them setting seed - that's a job for this evening once it's cooled down a bit. I've never made nettle soup myself before, although I've eaten and enjoyed it when others have made it - I've got no excuse not to give it a go now!
Glad 'Meadow' is on your list - do report back!
Yes, once it's cooled down would be wise. I'm feeling hot and bothered just thinking about stepping outside...