Hanging Long with No Mow May!
Happy May!
Is anyone else participating in the “No Mow May” movement? We lasted almost the whole month, but needed to start mowing this weekend. I definitely noticed more flowers and more bees in the three weeks we participated!
For those who might not know, “No Mow May” is just as it sounds, don’t mow your lawn for the month of May. This provides bees with food early in the season when they’re coming out of hibernation. First popularized by the UK organization Plantlife, it has gained traction worldwide. To get nerdy about it, lawns that participated saw three times as many species of bees and five times more overall bees than nearby parks that were mowed regularly. That’s a lot of bees!
It’s hard to tell from this photo, but our lawn is about 4” taller than the neighbors and it was still almost a week before we mowed it.
We lasted about 24 days before mowing, and only stopped since the lawn as getting so long. Even with the mow deck all the way up, the lawn tractor couldn’t mulch the grass and we just had to cut it and leave it to dry for a second pass later. But those three and a half weeks made such a difference! I saw a couple different species of bee, and after the first ten days, flowers were popping up around the lawn like crazy! I expected the dandelion and clover flowers, but the different types of buttercups and the pretty blue speedwell surprised me. I didn’t expect that much diversity without spreading any seed around. It’s pretty cool!
Clover, blue speedwell and yellow buttercups covered almost an acre of our property. So pretty!
Even though we stopped early, “No Mow” can extend beyond May. We typically mow every two weeks, which not only allows for the bees (and butterflies!) to have access to extra flowers, but there are other benefits. Less mowing means less water usage since lawns are more drought tolerant. It also means less use of fuels and less emissions from the lawnmower. Plus, lest we forget, we can gain an extra hour or two a weekend! I’d much rather spend my weekend enjoying the sun on a lounge chair on the beach than sweating on a tractor!
So the next time your neighbor is out mowing for the second time this week (because we all know that guy!) smile to yourself, drink in hand, and cheers to saving the bees!
