No mow May

We’ve had a no mow section at the end of the garden for a few years. It always starts off looking great – long grass etc, but slowly large weeds take over and then they die back in autumn leaving bare mud (having shaded all the grass to death).

The trouble with any ‘gardening’ is habitats take decades to millennia to develop, with species getting a tenuous foothold then over time they compete with each other and play dirty to win. Whether that’s blocking the sunlight to anything below them, to changing the pH of the soil or actively adding chemicals that only they can tolerate. So gardening is always a loosing battle because you’re always going against what nature would actually put there (which is usually a tree).

A natural meadow can only exist if you’ve got a healthy population of herbivores to eat all the saplings which will grow for example. The meadows in the fields behind our house are absolutely packed with oak saplings until the deer get them (or the farmer mows it, whichever comes first). Give it a few years left alone and it would be the beginnings of woodland. Chop those woods down and you’d get nettles and brambles take over as they’ll outcompete anything.

The local sailing club has an annual battle with nature. The islands have been cleared of trees, which no means they grow a 10ft tall dense thicket of brambles. The lake is a shallow gravel pit, which means unless they put huge quantities of blue dye in it, then it will be choked with weed.

Crudely cut some of the ‘lawn’ with long shears the other day, to reduce the length, because I’d accumulated loads of wild flower seeds while out walking over the last year or so, and scattered them everywhere, hoping that some will take, then spread themselves, like the violets, cowslips and primroses.
I’ve now got violets growing everywhere, including between the patio slabs, and there’s cowslips growing up between the slabs with the violets. There’s more and more cowslips appearing across the lawn, and I’ve just received a box of yellow rattle which I’ve planted randomly, including in the centre of a couple of clumps of couch grass, which had spread out and killed the regular grass underneath. I’m going to get some packets of native grass seeds, like quaking grass, and spread that around as well. Bluebells are starting to spread out into the lawn, and snowdrops seem to be starting to spread out as well. I’m giving up on the dandelions because it seems they’re particularly beneficial to bees. Less work, more colour and more insects the better.
The more wildflowers I can encourage to grow, and native grasses, the better, the violets and cowslips literally appeared from nowhere, all I’ve done is leave them alone, the only ‘gardening’ I do now involves looking after the plants in pots around the patio, in particular my apple tree. I had lots of issues with aphids last year, causing leaf curl and other damage, although I did get a lot of apples, quite small ones, as it’s a small tree in a pot, but very tasty and juicy.
After some reading up, I’m using a mixture of vinegar and baby bath soap, (which I used at work for decals), in water in a pump-up spray bottle, and caught the aphids early, a couple of weeks ago, when I spotted ants on the tree. Works really well, nuked the aphids and the ants, so there’s no ants taking messages back to the nest.
A lot of flowers showing, and the tree’s leaves look healthy, so hopefully some nice apples later in the year.

Got some raspberry canes in a pot as well, so hopefully bowls of raspberries and cream later on.

Wow you guys must have some good weather. My grass hasn’t grown much yet this year. Not enough to warrant a mow anyway. It may well not need cutting until June. Does that count as a no mow May? If Spring doesn’t come to the highlands until June 😂

Have proudly left the bottom third unmown and won’t touch till June, but the rest has not been too vigorous, two mows all year. Getting some wild flowers in the borders but the millions of seeds I’ve popped into my wild patch down the bottom have done next to nothing. 🙁 Think it’s pretty dead soil under a big old laurel, but it gets sunlight, I hoped for more. 🙁

The cowslips and violets have spread spectacularly next to the drive and on the bank next to the busy A61. Cowslip seeds I scattered on the opposite verge have now spread very well too and hopefully distracts from the large area where NEDDC napalmed the verge last year. Hopefully the ladysmock will return up the garden as food for the orangetip butterflies- I’ve already seen one. The woodland is carpeted with violets, emerging bluebells and campion will be lovely soon. The managed neglect has taken over 30 years, but, the wildlife oasis in the midst of gardens where the sole objective appears to be cutting everything down is thriving with wildlife.

If I could get this to work but with other stuff other than dandelions, I might do it, but dandelions are crap. So I’ll mow the grass and I’ll plant insect-friendly verges

When we relayed the lawn last year we used a wild flower turf round the edges, seems to have taken really well with Great Burnett being a particular favourite of mine.

We are lucky enough to have a large garden, so have left a big square unmowed. Probably will end up patchy and full of moss but it keeps the wide happy. She want to make it a permanent feature….

We’ve sown wildflower seed around the pumptrack, still have to cut the grass but will hopefully have a flower border.

Undoubtedly a grumpy park walker will complain.

@northwind – please leave the dandelions! Apart from the promise of summer that they bring, they’re a very good early food source for insects. If you don’t want them to spread too much then dead head them before the seeds develop.

thanks to having 2 puppies over the last 8 months we have little lawn left to worry about cutting!

If I could get this to work but with other stuff other than dandelions, I might do it, but dandelions are crap. So I’ll mow the grass and I’ll plant insect-friendly verges

Insect friendly? Dandelions are great for pollinators.  I’m under strict instructions from Mrs Bloke who is a beekeeper to leave them in the verges, especially early in the season when there are fewer other sources of pollen about.  A weed is just a wild flower with a poor PR team.

Does that count as a no mow May? If Spring doesn’t come to the highlands until June 😂

Couldn’t do NMM in Perthshire last year as we had the house on the market. Wasn’t a big deal as we’d sold by June and I think No Mow June is more beneficial if you’re further North. No mow July was good too.

We’ve moved to Inverness now so will follow a similar pattern. The previous owners of this house had a bit of a ‘golf course’ approach to gardening so we’ve got a few years of work ahead to get more life in the garden. I got rid of some of the moss in the lawn so hopefully have a bit of space for some daisies, dandeliions and clover to spring up in there. Over the next year I’ll figure out which bits to leave unmown all year.

We pretty much had a nature enforced no mow March- it rained nearly every day. Definitely won’t be doing no mow May.

I have done a couple of cuts this year already. Plenty of dandelions and bluebells out front.
On the habitat front, the pond dug last autumn has now got lots of tadpoles and water snails. Going to get a few more oxygenators in there this weekend as a couple didn’t make it through the winter.
Unfortunately I had to fell our old apple tree as it was leaning towards the house and 2/3rds fell off anyway. So offset that with 3 new apple trees and a cherry. These were bare rootstock and 2years old, so got some way to go before being good for bees etc, but they are budding already.

Haven’t mown the lawn for a year. The wildflower mix put in last year is doing well this year so far. Grass lawns are dull as a dull thing. Bollocks to neatness. I’m now up to around 500 native and mixed narcissi planted and flowering in the verges nearby and 10 apple trees, a plum and a filbert planted around the verges too. After getting over the fear of being told off for planting I am now setting to with a vengeance.

Just cut the lawn, and the trimmed the bushes back away from the garden path, walking to the garage is less of a lottery now.

We have a large 40ft Prunus XXX which has exploded which needs lifting, shaping & thinking and a very large 12ft Pyrocantha which needs reducing. Along with some general shrubbery thinning the first quote was £1400! Second guy coming Tomorrow, he has a great reputation locally some I’m hoping he’s cheaper.

I think No Mow June is more beneficial if you’re further North

I also think this applies.

And we’re off.

My WI has asked me if I would be their wildlife adviser in their gardening group. Well chuffed. I’m not an expert in any way but I’ve had years of experience.

…and there was I thinking this and the Waxers thread were somehow related…

Oops just pushed the mower round this afternoon. In fairness I have devoted one of our mini lawns to full scale wilderness a few years back, which is going great. But I do like having a small patch of grass to sit out on, on the rare occasions that the weather permits.

My lovely friend Mark has mowed an edge around the front lawn and left the centre long.
This seems to be a good compromise if the neighbours are fussy.

Going to give this a go

Which wild flower seed box/packet should a get please ?

I have to say, I will be mowing, but given we’re about 50 square feet of lawn surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands, of acres of moorland, I doubt it’ll make much difference in the grand scheme of things.

Which wild flower seed box/packet should a get please ?

TBH probably a bit of a waste of time if you have a reasonably well-established lawns. The seeds won’t amount to much. Whatever you’ve already got a bit of in your lawn will probably fare best, there will probably be stuff there that will sprout if left to do so.

@Ro5ey – You can get wild flower seed mixes at garden centres, even places such as DIY shops, or the best thing is to start off with yellow rattle and plug plants. Botanists suggest that seed is sown relative to your area.
Clover, cornflower, umbellifers, poppies, oxeye daisy seeds (or plugs) are great to start off with.

The ground you plant or sow on has to be rough. Get rid of any grass and sow your seed mixed in with sand. Water and tread down.
Apologies if you already know this and you’re just asking about seed.

In our garden we have flowers that will feed the bees from late March through to late October, some are wild, some are plants such as lungwort, Valeria, lavender, cosmos.

This seems to be a good compromise if the neighbours are fussy.

Our neighbours are fans of No Mow May and posted enthusiastically on FB to that effect. Oddly they have a back garden covered almost entirely with plastic grass. In the past they’ve posted enthusiastically about never shouting at your children, despite regularly yelling at them so loudly that we can hear every word. And just after buying a brand new, super-sized family car they told the world that it was entirely unnecessary to have the newest, latest, top of the range car. There’s some weird dissonance going on there.

Anyway, it feels like we’re not mowing for two 🙂

Had hoped to partake this year but grass yet to have it’s first cut due to timing – hasn’t been dry whenever I’ve had the time*. Weekend past was a wash out. Garden is stupidly huge and at least a quarter (plus about a metre perimeter) will be left to go wild from now on. But being at 56deg N I think slightly later in the year probably works out better. Planning a cut tonight/tomorrow night if it stays dry.

* it has, but whenever it’s been dry I’ve chosen to ride my bike instead…

I’d like to do it, but we have a dog. I keep the lawn cut so I can find and pick up the poops.

I have to say, I will be mowing, but given we’re about 50 square feet of lawn surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands, of acres of moorland, I doubt it’ll make much difference in the grand scheme of things.

Yeah, i’ve got a bigger garden than that, 350-400sqm ish, but i’m in the middle of several hundred hectares of forest between the motorway, two rivers and the nearest golf club and trail centre. Several of my neighbours “own” chunks of it, up to about 80 hectare patches.
A huge amount of it is classed as ancient forest/SSSI/Nature reserve so, limited felling (and you have to leave the felled wood) and an utter shed load of wild animals and plants.

mower broke last month so its going long – but surprsingly this has meant we’ve now got a patch of st georges mushrooms which have now popped up in the wild grass – and theyre delicious. Would be £90 a kg to buy!

Don’t get the hate for dandelions. They’re beautiful – my fields are green in the morning, they blossom in the day and shut up in the evening. All parts are edible too – the young leaves are nice in salads (presuming you haven’t chem’d the crap out of your lawn) – and the bees love ’em. (And my geese).

When I had a garden, as opposed to fields, I’d just cut a path down the middle and a place for us to put a blanket down to sit. The rest I left. It was frankly astonishing how much life grass left to itself supports. Planting in the verges just doesn’t do it.

It’s a mental shift really. It’s what you find pretty. And you can learn a different “pretty” to the one you’ve got.

Frankly, I see well-kept lawns for what they are now: Ugly deserts, bereft of life, death traps for animals that have to cross them.

This morning goldfinches and sparrows feeding on the dandelion seeds left in our lawn. :0)

When I had a garden, as opposed to fields, I’d just cut a path down the middle and a place for us to put a blanket down to sit.

This is what I do. We have 3 Paddocks that total about 5 acres – I used to cut 2 of them regularly and leave the biggest one with just a path cut through it for walking the dogs.

A local farmer comes and takes this field for hay twice a year.

This week I decided I’ve had enough of cutting the other 2 paddocks so all three now have paths cut through them.

Less time and fuel costs for me and more hay for the farmer.

You lot must all live in mansions or something given the descriptions of gardens 😂 unfortunately my tiny patch of grass is getting overrun by horsetail, not helped by the next door neighbour and their fully paved back garden space where you can barely see paviors for horsetail and rubbish. 😢 Still, thanks to weather and lack of time when it’s been dry I haven’t cut the grass for at least 3 weeks

Saying something nice about Rochdale Council for once – rather than mowing the verges flat round Edinburgh Way they’ve done a 12″ strip at the kerbside and left the middle to grow. Was full of dandelions a couple of weeks back, now other stuff coming up.

Anyone know what Highways England do with the motorway verges?

I saw that Sheffield council are ‘considering’ giving a council tax, water bill reduction to people who – go a bit wilder with their gardens, don’t use pesticides, pellets or other chemicals that damage our soils and wildlife, don’t pave over their gardens or use astroturf

Yet despite this, yesterday, the council contractors massacred the verges down our street with the petrol ride on mower as usual. It WAS full of dandelions. It’s now mulch about the same length as the 3 day stubble on my chin. Joined up thinking. Not.

@JonEdwards Same everywhere. We theoretically have elected representatives to moan at about this…

There’s a cracking article by Alys Fowler in The Guardian today about a more considered approach to gardening, worth a read.

We only have a small garden, so I’ve got a 5x3m bit that is actual lawn, for sitting on, and that has been mowed about 5x this year and is now being mowed every three days. To compensate, the rest of the garden is packed with flowers selected to be pollinator friendly.

I have used some spray on a rose that was becoming overwhelmed with greenfly, and on others I’ve manually removed them. I know in theory birds like to eat them, but they don’t eat them enough and our roses become a few pathetic straggly twigs with three flowers a year if I don’t take care of the greenfly.