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No mow May followed by massacre June seems daft to me but better than nothing I suppose. Not that I think everyone in every circumstance should have to turn their lawn into a wilderness. If you have the right area which doesn't need to be used for leisure purposes then just leave it all summer.
I started a few years ago with my front lawn which is a chalky slope and on the edge of the South Downs National park with a meadow further down the street so prime candidate. The bank is shared with the neighbour who has a grass cutter shave their half own to an inch every 2 weeks and is mainly moss.
I've gradually seen more variety appearing including one year a bee orchid. I got more proactive last year by scattering loads of yellow rattle and poppy seeds and was pleased to see that a few areas have yellow rattle flowering now and lots of poppies about to come out.
It's so much less hassle than cutting the awkward slope and beautiful blowing in the breeze and sunshine. Lot's of insect life too. I'm disappointed all the other semis in the row haven't followed suit seeing how attractive it is. I'm thinking of having a small information board about the meadow and some of the species to see if it inspires passers by.
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Indeed, we tend to hold out as long as we can on our bank - I am aiming for one cut this year if I can...
It seems that fibre installers think they can dump all their work stuff (pipes, barriers, tools etc) on my grass now - pretty sure they wouldn't have done it on an immaculate lawn ☹️
We too will be keeping the lawn un-mowed until late August. I do trim the edges of the veg plots.
I’m thinking of having a small information board about the meadow and some of the species to see if it inspires passers by.
What a great idea.
Walking around to a friends house last night, I noticed a lot of previously perfect gardens, with little areas of wildness, this trend is definitely gathering pace.
Oh and to all the people watering their lawns last Sunday in a heat wave, at the hottest time of the day - nooo. Your lawns will survive, just keep them long and stop using up precious drinking water.
'Plant life' has continued the 'No mow May' with 'let it bloom June'.
I've discovered more red clover, plenty of white clover and the rattle starting to flower.
‘let it bloom June’
We’re embracing this, I’ve got much better things to spend my time on than cutting grass. There loads of life in the garden now, bees are all over it and seem to be enjoying themselves 😎
It might go a bit too wild once it starts raining again, it’s been dry for weeks apart from a couple of heavy showers last night.
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Even more places are embracing it. This is my office location at Stirling university.
https://twitter.com/mattoutandabout/status/1666828013378457600?t=KiGas2pyPmhYoeuFHzI7Dw&s=19
Well I left a section of the front garden, it looks terrible and I've dandelions every where. I did nothing to it other than not mow it
The uncut verges are looking amazing.
Horticulturists assemble! My very small lawn has steadily been taken over by clover, which I'm happy with and for the last month I've left it all alone as the bees love it. Unfortunately, horsetail has been invading too and it's taking over everything. Any recommendations for weedkiller that you've actually used to good effect to control the horsetail but not kill everything else?
Our garden bird feeders are usually just visited by sparrows, recently Gold finches have taken to visiting but they only feed on the seeds of the black napweed we have growing.
Our goldfinches will eat sunflower heart chips from one of our feeders.
@fanzzini - I personally don't like any form of weedkiller. It will affect other creatures if poisons eg slug pellets are used.
Apart from trying to pull it up by hand, it's hard to know what to do.
Our own lawn has only been cut once since' no mow May'. I used the hedge cutters to trim the long grass, then the mower on a high cut. The 'wild bit' is just left bang in the middle. There are two short mowed paths through the lawn. The amount of extra moths, butterflies and other insects has been noticeable. More bats, more mammals, more birds. A few more wild flowers have popped through: yellow rattle, red clover, cornflower,ragwort and lacy phacelia.
Our hedges won't get cut until mid August.
@fazzini pro gardener here. There is not a selective weedkiller that would only kill the marestail. You would have to clear the whole area which obviously I wouldn't recommend. If you have marestail in a lawn area unfortunately the only way to control it is regular mowing. It will weaken it but not eliminate. If it's in borders regular digging out and you could carefully spot treat young growth with weedkiller but better to have someone qualified to apply. If you have neighbours you like definitely don't just let it go wild. It's nightmare stuff that will push up through tarmac if left unchecked.
Thanks @myti, it's mostly arrived from next door's paved 'jungle', but it's common in all the surrounding area. Only had an issue with it over last 2 years. It's now spread from their back garden through ours and into our neighbours on the other side. Mower coming out once the rain sods off.
@Bunnyhop - me neither, just wanted to leave the good stuff for the bees, butterflies etc in my tiny patch of garden, but not let the horsetail get out of control. Was hoping there might be a solution for both.
Just mowed for the second time since, well probably the start of the year! It was all grass by this point, no blooms and knee deep. Took a couple of runs with the mower to sort. Hopefully did the local wildlife some good 😊
Long grassers: thinking ahead to pre-winter cutting (I'm in central Scotland so that happens earlier than many on here). We've left one quarter of our grass uncut this year - completely uncut. It's developed nicely and the garden's all the better for it.
Should I cut the really long stuff back before winter?
Or, just leave it to do as nature intended?
We'd like to continue the same long-grass approach next year and beyond but I'm unsure what the best action is NOW (if any) that'll help that. If I don't have to attack it with the trimmer then I'm more than OK with that...
@a11y I usually, and have, cut mine once in late summer -a week ago. I put the mower on the highest setting (I’ve tried a scythe but I’ve not got the rhythm) then I leave the grass to dry for a few days. I collect it with a rake and I shake it round to scatter seeds and invertebrates. I then loosely pile it on one of my animal shelters up the garden. Some areas I don’t cut at all and the result is quite different- big tussock’s develop which are very popular with small mammals but less flowers in summer - cow parsley does well though!
There’s more info on the let it bloom June thread - I’ve searched for a dedicated wildlife/gardening thread but can’t find one - perhaps we need to start one?
I’m at the same stage now too, I plan to cut the top half of the garden to the longest mower setting I think but not sure what to do with the bottom half.
It’s got a lot of dandelions in which I’d Leila fewer of next year.
I’ve also thought about scattering some low height clover (if that’s a thing) on the top half in the hope that over time we end up with a clover lawn that doesn’t grow too tall.
Last night I cut the lawn on the highest setting, but still left the 'long meadow bit in the centre' for another week. I'll hand cut this with shears, remove the long grass, mow on the highest setting, rake, then try and sprinkle the seeds from the long grass back on this patch (very much as wheelsonfire1 has done).
I tend to leave the side wild nettle bit, because dead nettles have lots of hiding places for insects (hollow stalks in the winter).
We've got hundreds of baby frogs this year, which have been beneficial to the veg beds.
Previously I’ve been just cutting once a year in autumn, but reckon that won’t really hack it for a proper meadow as the herbaceous perennials are starting to take over. Do others do a summer cut too? I did belatedly chop everything in late august this year but probably that’s not very different from the autumn cut anyway.
Last year I left the Autumn cut until the Spring. That resulted in a lot of dead patches which took a long time to recover. This year I'll do a long cut when the grass has dropped its seed.
Another wildlife gardening Q. Previous owners were very 'golf course' about the lawn so the back is a bit of a monoculture (front is improving). We get a lot of moss here, which I killed off with ferrous & scarified in the spring hoping to expose a bit of dirt for seeds to take hold in. Is it worth doing again or am I wasting my time? I'm not looking for full-on meadow status - even a few daisies and dandilions would be a good start.
am I wasting my time? I’m not looking for full-on meadow status – even a few daisies and dandilions would be a good start.
Mine was almost half moss early this year. I raked it in about march when we had a spell of good weather - didn't bother with ferrous or anything - then left it to it, various gasses, clover, selfheal and buttercups have taken over the clear patches and there's little moss in site.
Birds were quite pleased with the pile of lose moss I left for them too.
Thanks all, I’ll give it a trim with the strimmer I think, then collect it in.I already use the lawnmower’s highest height setting on the rest of the grass and that’d just rip the long grass out the ground if I tried (which I did briefly, just to see).
Do others do a summer cut too?
I cut a bit in Spring up to April then leave it no mow May -July. Then a summer cut in August and occasionally then-on until it stops growing for winter.
I also sowed a few yellow rattle seeds last autumn. They seem to have flowered well and as parasites they suppress the grass too.
There is a lot more detailed info at the RHS website:
https://www.rhs.org.uk/lawns/wildflower-meadow-maintenance
Thanks yeah I've got a great annual crop of yellow rattle after planting seeds several years ago. It's all worked out pretty well up to now with just the annual autumn cut, but the perennials are starting to take over a bit too much. Some of them I planted for fun but I'm not really looking for a herbaceous border 🙂
Think I'll aim at a bit earlier in Aug next time, this year I just didn't get round to it early enough. Spring comes so late here that doing it any earlier would risk chopping it down in its prime.
Not a chance of mowing in August this year without a snorkel for the mower.
Finally I cut the wildflower section of the garden. Cut by hand with shears, then a high mower cut and finally a good raking. The rest of the lawn has only been mowed on a high setting maybe 3 or 4 times this year. The lawn looks incredibly green and healthy.
The wild section was full of frogs, insects and wild flower seeds.
Next year I'm going to sow the wild flower seeds into plugs and plant these out, as throwing the seed has not worked as well as I'd hoped.
We're planning more seedlings into our wild areas next year. Certainly more heathers and heath's too.
Ms Bruce has some wildflower patches which she planted with help from volunteers on one of the green spaces she manages, we mowed them at the end of August and have found that scythes were a very effective method of cutting them. The problem with scythes is that for them to cut effectively they need to be sharp, properly set up and you have to aquire a reasonable technique.
Once you have got some basic skills it work well and is less risky to critters than strimmers and lawn mowers. Scything also is good for trunk rotation if you paddle a kayak.
Agree scything would be ideal but it’s just not that practical for most people.
I cut my meadow bank on Monday. Actually I scalped it with the petrol strimmer and it was much thicker than previous years due to the poor summer. Today I raked/scrapped off all loose stuff and chucked in a load of wild flower seed including lot's of yellow rattle that I collected over the summer. Managed to get some yellow rattle with this method last year so hoping for more next year.
Those of you who are intending participating in “no mow May” - try leaving that area entirely now without cutting? All the invertebrates and mammals that have been overwintering will thrive and you’ll probably get a different variety of grasses and flowers from last year. I’ve still not cut down the perennials and annuals in our front flower bed, this morning there was a flock of goldfinches again on the seed heads of the evening primrose and Japanese anemones- beautiful to see close up. It does look a bit untidy but the rewards are worth it now I don’t put bird food out anymore.
there was a flock of goldfinches
Correct term is 'a charm' of goldfinches, apparently, for info.
For anyone suggesting we all do it this year, are you prepared to come to me in June and mow my lawns?
are you prepared to come to me in June and mow my lawns
You don't need to leave the whole lawn, just pick whatever area you're happy to leave and crack on with mowing the rest.
Thanks for the reminder - I need to mow once or twice before late April. Hopefully we will get a long enough break in the rain to do that soon.
I've not mown all of last year - mainly due to the dog scrabbling about reducing most of the 'lawn' to mud
When we get a dry spell I’ll be mowing the paths I need, but leaving the rest. Re-opening this thread has reminded me to get going with the wildflower plugs.
Any lawn-biodiversity experts care to advise me about moss? Our lawn is in the process of recovering from years of golf style lawncare and I'm keen to encourage it to be more wild. Being pretty far North (Inverness) we get loads of moss in the lawn. Last year I killed it off a bit and scarified in the hope that it might expose the soil and we might get something else growing. Should I keep up wit this or just leave the moss and see what happens?