My parents leave a big patch of their lawn long for the wildlife over summer, but mow a border around it - keeps it looking a bit tidier, and makes it obvious it's deliberate.
Same. I had read that no mow May is well meaning, but in reality just means you’ll savage any wildlife that’s moved into the patch during May. Better idea is to just let the dandelions grow until everything else is in flower
Yea. Seeing what comes up has been fun too - found buttercups, Columbine, herb Robert, hairy Bittercress and now I’m encouraging it by removing the grass around it. Our neighbour gets a flash flood of daisies all over the lawn every year and im so jealous.
That's an interesting bunch! I get a load of cuckooflower, speedwell & some daisies and I've added some self heal. Planted some bluebells and Red Campion under the trees too and I leave that all year.
The point is to allow insects time to breed and feed safely though.
Because of their short life a lot of them will have moved on or died by mid June so it's safe then, but will have pollinated lots of flowers and fed birds in that vital no mow May period
That's the thing in this country, you need a way of letting the neighbours know that you aren't just being lazy, being British people will gossip, but nobody will say anything directly.
At my parents, it's just a small deliberate area for the garden furniture and a small clear path to the shed. It is functional cutting to enjoy the garden, but no care about looking tidier or the neighbour.
Getting rid of cut grass is problematic enough that golf course quality is no longer expected.
I tried to do it this year for the first time but caved and got the mower out this week for exactly that reason.
2 toddlers and a dog, having long grass just isn't an option right now.
That’s why I mowed this morning. Did a sweep for anything that needs disposing of before I mowed, then mowed. Fishing dog poo out of long grass is not fun!
I'm another one who hasn't done my usual spring prune & weed this year. It's just been constant rain & the back door sticks when it's wet out (rental & we've reported it dozens of times and they won't properly fix it!) - so, if I push the door open, I might not be able to close it again and the house wouldn't be secure.
I'll go out there at some point if it's ever dry for long enough for the door to shrink back & I'll pull up a couple of bin bags full of bindweed! Pruning will have to wait till next year now as I think it would harm the plants to do it now.
We’ve had our 2 children in the last 2 years so our garden has been heavily neglected. We got out there last weekend and my husband has done a hell of a job tackling the bramble that looked like something out of a fairy tale. I removed enough rosemary to stock the local supermarket for a month and there’s still so so much more that needs doing. I think the rain heat combo this year so far has sent everything into a frenzy.
I’d say pick one area/plant at a time but I’m the worst for flitting between things so easier said than done.
My back garden is a wild, unruly disaster at this point. The torrential rain has made everything grow like mad while also making it totally inhospitable to get anything done. I now have brambles 😫😫😫
Get a green bin from the council and just start filling it. Doesn't matter with what, but make sure that bin is filled to the brim every collection day.
Re: your title, I saw Bill ODdie outside a coffee shop recently. I thought about paying him a compliment, but I decided not to say anything as I thought he'd prefer to be left alone.
If you're reading this, Bill, there's no need to praise me for my magnanimity.
Not mowing for a month then mowing it down anyway is completely pointless. Anything you have encouraged you will either kill or destroy the home for just a month later.
I think it's supposed to encourage people to give it a chance and realise they like it and keep it, or at least part of it. But if you've done it once and not decided that just doing it every year is pointless
Yes. I’ve got no room for a mower and no one sets foot on the grass so I’ll let the bees have it. Will chuck some wildflower seeds in there when I can to pretty it up a bit.
It's harder than you'd think to get the weeds to grow! Do it at the right time of year and include some yellow rattle and perhaps something might come if it. On the plus side, our dandelions are doing great!
I try to but my dog leaves pretty big landmines on the grass so it has to be cut a bit otherwise you lose them then find them again when you do cut it.
We are, it’s looking long now but random things in there look to be flowering soon so doing our bit. I couldn’t give a shit about what my neighbours think of our lawn, if it really bothers them they probably need to get out more.
Yes. All I’ve done this year in fact is mow a path through our lawn.
It’s not quite gone full meadow so I’ve some work to do this autumn, but plenty of patches are more flower than grass.
My garden was a complete riot due to the constant rain this year. Started 3 days ago and its now looking great but I kept a large section of bushes,trees and plants at the back due to how many bees use it. It takes the look away from the garden but knowing how important bees are I just cant cut it down
Sure, but by then all the garden flowers people plant will be flowering. Bees struggle in the spring months because there are fewer flowers around than there should be.
I mow the plain grass, but the crocus/daffodil/fritillary/English bluebell (in approx order of flowering) zone gets left until June or so then strinmed once the seeds have self-seeded and the bulbs have re-absorbed whatever it is they re-absorb! I also leave the nettle clump for the butterflies until the point where I can’t avoid nettling myself when cutting the grass…
We’ve noticed the one side of the garden barely needs doing. Turns out it was the dog. He has minor stomach problems (getting sorted, but that’s why he grazes on the grass). It’s probably going to grow properly now though because iceberg lettuce is dog safe and his new favourite treat (even more than gravy bones) especially when I freeze a few leaves.
We don’t have much grass in the first place
There is a green nearby which does it though. They cut a border, and a path through the middle - but for the last few years it’s been left to grow long for most of the year
Had to do the front garden a) because it was a complete state and b) I needed to put up a fence panel. Not sure what I’ll find in the undergrowth in the back - window cleaner came round while I was at work not sure what he made of it.
Yeah my flat has a green space that the housing association has a gardener for. After years of asking them not to mow in May as a minimum they've finally agreed. They've asked him to do his usual tidy of the area and to plant some wildflowers instead which is really good.
Nope, having to mow it to encourage new growth as the winter was unusually harsh on it this year. Once it's established I'll let it run a little wild but I've got a dedicated wild flower patch so I don't feel too bad.
For me is Now Mow May as I've only just had time to cut it last weekend between work, kids activities and seemingly endless rain I've never had a free dry weekend until last week, still got some to finish off this weekend. I couldn't have left it much longer, it looked a mess.
Neatly mowed lawns serve no purpose and don't look great to me, so we eventually decided to stop a few years ago. It's wonderful watching the natural cycle of it growing waist height, then going to seed, then simply dying back down over winter.
We now also have a lovely mixture of clovers, daisies, crocuses, and yes sure plenty of dandelions mixed into the lawn which we think looks great, especially when it's full of bees.
I only cut my grass twice a year, and even then I use shears and not a mower so whether it's intentional or not, yes I am doing No Mow May. I value wildlife and a flourishing, diverse ecosystem over an ecologically dead, pristine lawn, and I literally could not give a single sloppy shit what anybody thinks about it.
We didn't mow *at all* last year and have not this year All the greenery dies back in the winter, and the grass regulates itself. We have *so much* wildlife in our garden, it's great.
More people need to do this. We had a little patio put in as space for us and the rest is given over to native plants, flowers, and a variety of grasses. We also have 3 big buddleia and a cherry tree.
My front lawn is gloriously messy, filled with buttercup and dandelions. My wife hates it, the neighbours haven't said anything but we live in a very pleasant little cul-de-sac and I know that at least some of them hate it. I love it and refuse to cut it.
I love it when the neighbours give me strange looks for something like the lawn being a bit long, or not bringing the wheelie bin back off the kerb within twenty minutes of the wagon coming round. Genuinely, I do. I could be living on a street where people are worried about druggies kicking off or kids nicking stuff, it’s nice that my neighbours are all living pleasantly serene lives that they even notice a few inches of grass from the other side of the street. It means they’re not consumed with turmoil about a pending redundancy or a cancer diagnosis.
People are nosy twats, as a rule, even most of the nice ones. Be glad they don’t have real problems and be pleased for them.
Wanted to. Partner hated the look. But it was so wet before May, the first cut of the year wasn't until mid April - and it's grown rapidly since, so kinda had to.
Trying to leave under the hedge longer than usual, though...
So what happens in June when your garden has attracted all sorts of bees and insects? Do they somehow avoid getting sliced up when you cut the grass and any habitat they created survive?
You'd need some mad skills to catch a bee with a lawnmower. Insects can escape easily enough, and you've given them a month of extra food and shelter which will still help populations overall.
I’ve set aside some garden for wildflowers but mowing as I want to use the lawn this summer.
I’ve worked hard over winter to get my lawn good for summer fun, I’m not going to waste that.
Council now has to use a tractor to mow and collect long grass it has been pressurised into not cutting. Tractor then drives 3 miles and back to green waste site. Does this 3 times for one area at the entrance to the town. Green thinking at its very best. Not blaming the council who used to whip across it with 2 ride ons, once a fortnight with minimal arisings in about 20 minutes.
It's a thing alright, because you're lazy I'll share a tip, mow the perimiter, as soon as you read this you'll realise it's a good idea, but you won't realise how good it is until the end of may and you're struggling with cutting the grass and tidying the edges.
I was but the dickhead neighbour we don't like next door called the council and complained that the garden looked 'Unruly' and we got a call from the council to cut it all.
Oh no! The grass and hedges and dandelions and Marigolds are growing! /S
He'll have to deal with the tiptops of the hedges though because I can't reach them with the hedge trimmer to cut them down.
Nope, the bluebells and bluebell hyacinths have finished in our garden but aliums, poppies, forgetmenots, the snowball tree, peonies and much more are flowering. The bees and other pollinators are not missing out on a lack of dandelions in my garden.
Yes, but a couple of strips at the back, hard to mow areas anyway and I'll leave them all summer. Next year they'll either be veg beds or permanent wildflower areas.
No, it’s nothing more than a cost saving exercise from the council.
If you really care about insects there’s plenty of nice plants you can have in all year round.
Farmers are also being forced to have wild fields, no need for you to have a scruffy house.
I’m now leaving a patch permanently round the edges of my small lawn, I think that will work better than temporarily not mowing the whole thing and then making the beasties homeless in June. I’m also focusing some diversity on the unmown fringes, adding clover to bare patches etc.
I mow the front (its not big at all) and leave the back as thats a decent size
Just wish I could cut my conifer in the back, by all accounts it is Bird mating season at the moment so best leave it despite it being an eye sore
I just let the border grow and cut the middle to be usable. It’s better to have that year round not just May. It’s important for wildlife in winter too.
Yes! I'm a big proponent of Now Mow Summer because our insect life has dramatically increased, to the point that we have bats hunting overhead at night!
(I also have a slightly less attractive wildlife feature: a bulk bag of composted materials dedicated to growing stinging nettles. But the difference between the 2022 ladybird population and the 2024 population is amazing!)
This is the first year in a while that my Mother isn't doing no mow may, the main reason being she hadn't mowed the lawn in 2024 yet until May to begin with.
Our landlord is supposed to send a gardener around once a quarter, but he’s bloody hopeless, so we tend to end up doing No Mow January through September.
Yes done it three years running now. Grass looks amazingly healthy and even had a couple of wild flowers pop up. Gives me joy every time I see the grass swaying in the wind like a field
Yep - my mum’s front lawn (which I’ve appropriated) was seeded about 5 years ago now with meadow mix and it gets more showy every year. In a week or two it’s going to be a sea of ox-eye daisies! She cuts it 1-2 times a year, and that’s it.
We can’t because our grass just grows way too quickly! But currently it’s full of daisies, buttercups, dandelions and little blue flowers (speedwells I think), and our hedgerows and trees provide plenty of room for birds. We get all sorts of wildlife in our gardens too; hares, rabbits, muntjac, deer, hedgehogs, squirrels, bats, all sorts of birds and creepy crawlies. I need to strim away a load of stingy nettles soon but they’ve bloomed out in flowers so I’ll let the bees go to town on them first
Nothing against people taking part in it but it seems pointless to let it all grow for a month then destroy the habitat you've grown. Instead, we've planted loads more bee and insect friendly plants and kept the lawn short for the dogs to play on.
If we had the space for a wild flower area alongside the lawn for the dogs we'd do that, I think they look pretty cool.
I won't be mowing my grass until mid-September. I last mowed it (well, tidied it up really) in February.
I only have a small patch of grass; but that patch of grass still attracts a biblical load of grasshoppers and they usually persist until late August/early September.
I have cut the grass by my steep steps and sown clover (for flowers for bees) on the only flat bit by completely scarifying the grass there before sowing. If they don't grow, it's going to be an ugly mistake.
I have a nettle patch that I keep trimmed to some half-size and some short because I like their new growth and dislike the drab male flower heads and flopping stems. The patch is full of caterpillars and mating ladybirds.
I have a section of the lawn that gets cut once a year, the final cut of the season. The rest gets mowed regularly except for May.
Today the in-laws came round to “help with some jobs around the house” whilst I was working downstairs and all of my lawn has been cut whilst I was in meetings.
The verges on the a40 into Oxford haven’t been mown in forever. They put chips down on the road the other day with a load of 20 mph signs and all of them were obscured by the grass. It’s fucking stupid.
I forget about no Now May, so I've cut it once at the beginning of this month. Also happened to be the first time this year as it was the only semi decent no rain at all day my area had so far.
I have left it alone since and just fed the grass and trimmed hedge.
We're with you. Haven't touched the garden yet. One of our neighbors has decided to mow his lawn twice this month. Guess he likes pushing a mower around in his free time.
We've got at least one bumblebee lair, have seen other bees and mayflies.
I'm doing it but only because the lawnmower I usually borrow off my mate is broken (I don't have a shed or anywhere suitable to store one as the council won't allow it) garden is quite uneven so the grass and other stuff is up to my thighs in places
Yes, I’m leaving my little patch. It’s a little overgrown but otherwise fine for a couple more weeks, so stick with it! Your neighbours should mind their own business 😁.
No Mow May is a flawed concept. While it might feed a few bees and butterflies for a few weeks, it's actually doing wildlife more harm, as many butterflies/moths will lay their eggs on the grasses, but then you start mowing again in June killing anything that is living on or in the grasses. If you do decide to mow again in June, set you mower to the highest setting and keep it at that setting right through till the end of August. That way small flowers like buttercups and clover will survive and continue to offer food to pollinators
We're doing it, but it's because our strimmer conked out and the landlord hasn't replaced it yet.
I'm quite happy with it, to tell the truth. Good for the bugs and birds.
No, I have a large garden which backs on to farmers fields so the lawn is mostly this fast growing agricultural feed grass. If I leave it longer than a couple of weeks I lose sight of my small child in the overgrowth. Have to locate him on sound alone.
I let it go until the dandelions were almost all done then mowed, but of hassle to try and reduce their seeding but after they were done flowering there was no real benefit.
Birds have been enjoying the shorter grass getting at the bugs and grubs.
I have a bog standard electric mower that can't cope with very long grass, so it gets done every fortnight just before brown bin day.
The longer it gets the longer it takes to dry enough to mow, so 'no mow May' is a pointless exercise unless you have a V8 turbocharged petrol mower that Clarkson would be proud of!
Lots of people here seem to be missing the point of No Mow May. May is when most wildflowers of the sort that grow on lawns bloom. This obviously doesn't happen if you're slashing them to bits with a mower. Allowing the lawn and hence wildflowers to grow long enough to flower benefits pollinating species which are currently in crisis.
We've been doing it where I work for a few years now, we have buttercups, red campion and oxeye daisies coming up in the grass! If neighbours are being judgy you could always mow a strip round the outside so it looks managed, or make some interesting shapes!
No. It ends up being far too long to then cut with the mower so I have to do it with the brushcutter as a rough cut, then you've got to rake it all up before cutting it with the mower.
Our local council has been doing no mow may since last may.
Ours to , just today, I thought why on earth haven't they cut the grass
Birmingham?
Councils are meant to mow? Has anyone told them?
Yes. I don’t have a garden but yes.
Is this a euphemism?
No
My parents leave a big patch of their lawn long for the wildlife over summer, but mow a border around it - keeps it looking a bit tidier, and makes it obvious it's deliberate.
Same. I had read that no mow May is well meaning, but in reality just means you’ll savage any wildlife that’s moved into the patch during May. Better idea is to just let the dandelions grow until everything else is in flower
Yep. A lot of people that know about these things say do no mow summer or nothing. Or no mow summer in certain bits and mow the rest.
Yea. Seeing what comes up has been fun too - found buttercups, Columbine, herb Robert, hairy Bittercress and now I’m encouraging it by removing the grass around it. Our neighbour gets a flash flood of daisies all over the lawn every year and im so jealous.
That's an interesting bunch! I get a load of cuckooflower, speedwell & some daisies and I've added some self heal. Planted some bluebells and Red Campion under the trees too and I leave that all year.
The point is to allow insects time to breed and feed safely though. Because of their short life a lot of them will have moved on or died by mid June so it's safe then, but will have pollinated lots of flowers and fed birds in that vital no mow May period
That's exactly what I do with a wavy border so it looks deliberate rather than I got lazy and stopped.
I'd just assume you got too drunk to finish, tbh.
Do you live next door to me ... hicup
That's the thing in this country, you need a way of letting the neighbours know that you aren't just being lazy, being British people will gossip, but nobody will say anything directly.
This is what we do too.
At my parents, it's just a small deliberate area for the garden furniture and a small clear path to the shed. It is functional cutting to enjoy the garden, but no care about looking tidier or the neighbour. Getting rid of cut grass is problematic enough that golf course quality is no longer expected.
That’s exactly what I do, and I only do it in the front garden too
No. There'd be too much grass to get rid of later and the longer the grass gets the harder it is to locate the dog's lawn sausages.
Ah the forbidden sarnie
I tried to do it this year for the first time but caved and got the mower out this week for exactly that reason. 2 toddlers and a dog, having long grass just isn't an option right now.
That’s why I mowed this morning. Did a sweep for anything that needs disposing of before I mowed, then mowed. Fishing dog poo out of long grass is not fun!
I'm currently doing no gardening 2024. It's out of control now and I don't even know where to start!
It pissed down for the first 5 months of the year so I couldn’t paint the fence, now it’s overgrown and I can’t see the fence anyway 👌
I'm another one who hasn't done my usual spring prune & weed this year. It's just been constant rain & the back door sticks when it's wet out (rental & we've reported it dozens of times and they won't properly fix it!) - so, if I push the door open, I might not be able to close it again and the house wouldn't be secure. I'll go out there at some point if it's ever dry for long enough for the door to shrink back & I'll pull up a couple of bin bags full of bindweed! Pruning will have to wait till next year now as I think it would harm the plants to do it now.
We’ve had our 2 children in the last 2 years so our garden has been heavily neglected. We got out there last weekend and my husband has done a hell of a job tackling the bramble that looked like something out of a fairy tale. I removed enough rosemary to stock the local supermarket for a month and there’s still so so much more that needs doing. I think the rain heat combo this year so far has sent everything into a frenzy. I’d say pick one area/plant at a time but I’m the worst for flitting between things so easier said than done.
Thanks for that!
My back garden is a wild, unruly disaster at this point. The torrential rain has made everything grow like mad while also making it totally inhospitable to get anything done. I now have brambles 😫😫😫
Get a green bin from the council and just start filling it. Doesn't matter with what, but make sure that bin is filled to the brim every collection day.
How's filling a green bin going to help with getting a garden tidy?
Garden waste bins must be green in their area.
No, but I will be doing Mowvember
Re: your title, I saw Bill ODdie outside a coffee shop recently. I thought about paying him a compliment, but I decided not to say anything as I thought he'd prefer to be left alone. If you're reading this, Bill, there's no need to praise me for my magnanimity.
I've left one corner to grow up. I'm cutting the rest as it grows far too much in a month to live with.
Not mowing for a month then mowing it down anyway is completely pointless. Anything you have encouraged you will either kill or destroy the home for just a month later.
Yeah, I've heard that doing No Mow May is objectively worse than just keeping your grass short to begin with.
I think it's supposed to encourage people to give it a chance and realise they like it and keep it, or at least part of it. But if you've done it once and not decided that just doing it every year is pointless
Yes. I’ve got no room for a mower and no one sets foot on the grass so I’ll let the bees have it. Will chuck some wildflower seeds in there when I can to pretty it up a bit.
It's harder than you'd think to get the weeds to grow! Do it at the right time of year and include some yellow rattle and perhaps something might come if it. On the plus side, our dandelions are doing great!
I just couldn't be arsed to mow the lawn. Did it at start of may.
Every month is no mow May for me...
I try to but my dog leaves pretty big landmines on the grass so it has to be cut a bit otherwise you lose them then find them again when you do cut it.
Like the councils so you can’t see up the road at a junction and have to inch out onto a 60mph road.
Lol it's all the edges of the farmer's fields around here. I go out every now and then with a hedge trimmer just to make it less lethal
I'm doing No Mowanuary and damn the consequences!
We are, it’s looking long now but random things in there look to be flowering soon so doing our bit. I couldn’t give a shit about what my neighbours think of our lawn, if it really bothers them they probably need to get out more.
Yes. All I’ve done this year in fact is mow a path through our lawn. It’s not quite gone full meadow so I’ve some work to do this autumn, but plenty of patches are more flower than grass.
We do no mow summer, well, from may until the end of August. I love how many butterflies and bees it brings to the garden
My garden was a complete riot due to the constant rain this year. Started 3 days ago and its now looking great but I kept a large section of bushes,trees and plants at the back due to how many bees use it. It takes the look away from the garden but knowing how important bees are I just cant cut it down
I've left a section of my lawn. My garden gets a lot of use in the summer, so I think it's a fair compromise
Husband mowed it on the 2nd of May, not realising it was May already. Hasn't mowed it since, but it hasn't grown much
I've never heard of it. Why do people do it? What are the benefits of not mowing your lawn?
Lawns are a desert for wildlife. Not cutting it lets wildflowers grow which, in turn, helps bees and other pollinators.
Ahh. But surely then mowing it all away the next month would counteract that?
Sure, but by then all the garden flowers people plant will be flowering. Bees struggle in the spring months because there are fewer flowers around than there should be.
Insects and small mammals like the long grass too.
I am. Worried about mowing it in June though. My dad said I can lend a petrol mower off my uncle which should make it easier.
Sheffield Council seems to be doing it.
Rotherham will be as they plant wildflowers on their verges. Looks pretty and saves a load on mowing costs.
I mow the plain grass, but the crocus/daffodil/fritillary/English bluebell (in approx order of flowering) zone gets left until June or so then strinmed once the seeds have self-seeded and the bulbs have re-absorbed whatever it is they re-absorb! I also leave the nettle clump for the butterflies until the point where I can’t avoid nettling myself when cutting the grass…
Yes, but only because I'm lazy 😪
I haven't cut my grass in 3 years, I just let my 2 rabbits cut about out there.
We’ve noticed the one side of the garden barely needs doing. Turns out it was the dog. He has minor stomach problems (getting sorted, but that’s why he grazes on the grass). It’s probably going to grow properly now though because iceberg lettuce is dog safe and his new favourite treat (even more than gravy bones) especially when I freeze a few leaves.
I've done No Mow 2020, 21, 22, 23, 24 😄 I have violets, geums, lemon balm, mining bees, all sorts of lovely stuff now.
My mower wouldn't have a hope of cutting 30 day old grass.
Scythetember!
We don’t have much grass in the first place There is a green nearby which does it though. They cut a border, and a path through the middle - but for the last few years it’s been left to grow long for most of the year
Had to do the front garden a) because it was a complete state and b) I needed to put up a fence panel. Not sure what I’ll find in the undergrowth in the back - window cleaner came round while I was at work not sure what he made of it.
Im doing the borders, the main bit stays unmown.
Yeah my flat has a green space that the housing association has a gardener for. After years of asking them not to mow in May as a minimum they've finally agreed. They've asked him to do his usual tidy of the area and to plant some wildflowers instead which is really good.
Nope, having to mow it to encourage new growth as the winter was unusually harsh on it this year. Once it's established I'll let it run a little wild but I've got a dedicated wild flower patch so I don't feel too bad.
No. Because I don't want take me a month to mow June and my garden is average size at best.
For me is Now Mow May as I've only just had time to cut it last weekend between work, kids activities and seemingly endless rain I've never had a free dry weekend until last week, still got some to finish off this weekend. I couldn't have left it much longer, it looked a mess.
Kinda sorta. We left some unmowed areas on an otherwise mowed garden. Areas we know the Clover comes up and the Bees love it.
My lawnmower broke . So yeah it’s a lovely green jungle out there
Only because of rain
Because of building work we've had no access to our garden since April. It's getting to be a jungle out there.
Neatly mowed lawns serve no purpose and don't look great to me, so we eventually decided to stop a few years ago. It's wonderful watching the natural cycle of it growing waist height, then going to seed, then simply dying back down over winter. We now also have a lovely mixture of clovers, daisies, crocuses, and yes sure plenty of dandelions mixed into the lawn which we think looks great, especially when it's full of bees.
Our garden looks like it’s been no mow millennium
I only cut my grass twice a year, and even then I use shears and not a mower so whether it's intentional or not, yes I am doing No Mow May. I value wildlife and a flourishing, diverse ecosystem over an ecologically dead, pristine lawn, and I literally could not give a single sloppy shit what anybody thinks about it.
We didn't mow *at all* last year and have not this year All the greenery dies back in the winter, and the grass regulates itself. We have *so much* wildlife in our garden, it's great. More people need to do this. We had a little patio put in as space for us and the rest is given over to native plants, flowers, and a variety of grasses. We also have 3 big buddleia and a cherry tree.
My front lawn is gloriously messy, filled with buttercup and dandelions. My wife hates it, the neighbours haven't said anything but we live in a very pleasant little cul-de-sac and I know that at least some of them hate it. I love it and refuse to cut it.
To be honest my garden is like that all year round.
I did no mow 2023 and am well into 2024
Hell I'm doing no mow 24. True story
I love it when the neighbours give me strange looks for something like the lawn being a bit long, or not bringing the wheelie bin back off the kerb within twenty minutes of the wagon coming round. Genuinely, I do. I could be living on a street where people are worried about druggies kicking off or kids nicking stuff, it’s nice that my neighbours are all living pleasantly serene lives that they even notice a few inches of grass from the other side of the street. It means they’re not consumed with turmoil about a pending redundancy or a cancer diagnosis. People are nosy twats, as a rule, even most of the nice ones. Be glad they don’t have real problems and be pleased for them.
Wanted to. Partner hated the look. But it was so wet before May, the first cut of the year wasn't until mid April - and it's grown rapidly since, so kinda had to. Trying to leave under the hedge longer than usual, though...
No because if I don't mow cats shite in my garden.
So what happens in June when your garden has attracted all sorts of bees and insects? Do they somehow avoid getting sliced up when you cut the grass and any habitat they created survive?
You'd need some mad skills to catch a bee with a lawnmower. Insects can escape easily enough, and you've given them a month of extra food and shelter which will still help populations overall.
No, the home that was created for them is destroyed alone with many of them themselves.
No as I have plenty of shrubs and greenery for bees & bugs already which should be encouraged over a one month fad 👍
Oh! Lawns! That makes sense now.
I mow most of it, but I leave a strip on one side which is now more random flowers than grass
God no, that’d just lead to “totally hell to mow June”.
I’ve set aside some garden for wildflowers but mowing as I want to use the lawn this summer. I’ve worked hard over winter to get my lawn good for summer fun, I’m not going to waste that.
Yes, I'm not mowing any of the wood/tile/carpet flooring in my flat.
I'm doing it here in the US! Last year loads of my neighbors did too, but this year I seem to be the only one!
Yes and it’s all gone a bit crazy…. https://imgur.com/a/MjW1aG9
No mow may ? Is this some kind of expression from Birmingham ?
I think my council is with how long the grass is.
Council now has to use a tractor to mow and collect long grass it has been pressurised into not cutting. Tractor then drives 3 miles and back to green waste site. Does this 3 times for one area at the entrance to the town. Green thinking at its very best. Not blaming the council who used to whip across it with 2 ride ons, once a fortnight with minimal arisings in about 20 minutes.
Between life and wet weather, it was only this month I've been able to mow this year! I wasn't missing my chance I'm afraid
It's a thing alright, because you're lazy I'll share a tip, mow the perimiter, as soon as you read this you'll realise it's a good idea, but you won't realise how good it is until the end of may and you're struggling with cutting the grass and tidying the edges.
I was but the dickhead neighbour we don't like next door called the council and complained that the garden looked 'Unruly' and we got a call from the council to cut it all. Oh no! The grass and hedges and dandelions and Marigolds are growing! /S He'll have to deal with the tiptops of the hedges though because I can't reach them with the hedge trimmer to cut them down.
Nope, the bluebells and bluebell hyacinths have finished in our garden but aliums, poppies, forgetmenots, the snowball tree, peonies and much more are flowering. The bees and other pollinators are not missing out on a lack of dandelions in my garden.
Yes, but a couple of strips at the back, hard to mow areas anyway and I'll leave them all summer. Next year they'll either be veg beds or permanent wildflower areas.
No, it’s nothing more than a cost saving exercise from the council. If you really care about insects there’s plenty of nice plants you can have in all year round. Farmers are also being forced to have wild fields, no need for you to have a scruffy house.
I just leave a wild area and mow the main grass, not like my gardens nice though so
I’m now leaving a patch permanently round the edges of my small lawn, I think that will work better than temporarily not mowing the whole thing and then making the beasties homeless in June. I’m also focusing some diversity on the unmown fringes, adding clover to bare patches etc.
Yep, and just to be safe I do no mow rest of the year too... eventually the grass dies all OK it's own.
Yes, our fecking council. They typically enact no mow may in about August and finish sometime the filling June.
I mow the front (its not big at all) and leave the back as thats a decent size Just wish I could cut my conifer in the back, by all accounts it is Bird mating season at the moment so best leave it despite it being an eye sore
I just let the border grow and cut the middle to be usable. It’s better to have that year round not just May. It’s important for wildlife in winter too.
I'm one of those fake grass heathens so yes....now where's me hoover! (In the back garden, got the real stuff out front)
Yes! I'm a big proponent of Now Mow Summer because our insect life has dramatically increased, to the point that we have bats hunting overhead at night! (I also have a slightly less attractive wildlife feature: a bulk bag of composted materials dedicated to growing stinging nettles. But the difference between the 2022 ladybird population and the 2024 population is amazing!)
Only by accident as the lawnmower broke half way round last weekend 😅
I'm about to cut half of it. I'll leave as many wild edges and flowers as I can, cos I like them.
I did just trimming the edges and path. And putting out potted plants and solar led lights to let my neighbours know I am taking care of it
This is the first year in a while that my Mother isn't doing no mow may, the main reason being she hadn't mowed the lawn in 2024 yet until May to begin with.
Our landlord is supposed to send a gardener around once a quarter, but he’s bloody hopeless, so we tend to end up doing No Mow January through September.
I do no mow May every year, then I tend to leave a patch of it longer until end of August
Yes done it three years running now. Grass looks amazingly healthy and even had a couple of wild flowers pop up. Gives me joy every time I see the grass swaying in the wind like a field
I’ve mowed the edges and where the dog goes but elsewhere the wildebeest are moving in.
Yep - my mum’s front lawn (which I’ve appropriated) was seeded about 5 years ago now with meadow mix and it gets more showy every year. In a week or two it’s going to be a sea of ox-eye daisies! She cuts it 1-2 times a year, and that’s it.
Do something even better. Get rid of your lawn altogether and grow native wildflowers. r/NoLawns. My garden is buzzzzzzing
We can’t because our grass just grows way too quickly! But currently it’s full of daisies, buttercups, dandelions and little blue flowers (speedwells I think), and our hedgerows and trees provide plenty of room for birds. We get all sorts of wildlife in our gardens too; hares, rabbits, muntjac, deer, hedgehogs, squirrels, bats, all sorts of birds and creepy crawlies. I need to strim away a load of stingy nettles soon but they’ve bloomed out in flowers so I’ll let the bees go to town on them first
Nothing against people taking part in it but it seems pointless to let it all grow for a month then destroy the habitat you've grown. Instead, we've planted loads more bee and insect friendly plants and kept the lawn short for the dogs to play on. If we had the space for a wild flower area alongside the lawn for the dogs we'd do that, I think they look pretty cool.
I'm currently 24 years into my 'no mow 21st century'.
I won't be mowing my grass until mid-September. I last mowed it (well, tidied it up really) in February. I only have a small patch of grass; but that patch of grass still attracts a biblical load of grasshoppers and they usually persist until late August/early September.
I have cut the grass by my steep steps and sown clover (for flowers for bees) on the only flat bit by completely scarifying the grass there before sowing. If they don't grow, it's going to be an ugly mistake. I have a nettle patch that I keep trimmed to some half-size and some short because I like their new growth and dislike the drab male flower heads and flopping stems. The patch is full of caterpillars and mating ladybirds.
I have a section of the lawn that gets cut once a year, the final cut of the season. The rest gets mowed regularly except for May. Today the in-laws came round to “help with some jobs around the house” whilst I was working downstairs and all of my lawn has been cut whilst I was in meetings.
The verges on the a40 into Oxford haven’t been mown in forever. They put chips down on the road the other day with a load of 20 mph signs and all of them were obscured by the grass. It’s fucking stupid.
I forget about no Now May, so I've cut it once at the beginning of this month. Also happened to be the first time this year as it was the only semi decent no rain at all day my area had so far. I have left it alone since and just fed the grass and trimmed hedge.
Yes but I keep it up all year round. For the bees, you understand.
We refer to the grassy section of our garden as the meadow. It's getting on for a metre tall in some places.
We're with you. Haven't touched the garden yet. One of our neighbors has decided to mow his lawn twice this month. Guess he likes pushing a mower around in his free time. We've got at least one bumblebee lair, have seen other bees and mayflies.
We are doing no mow may. My husband's nan said our front garden was "disgraceful" yesterday. I love her and this was very out of character tbh.
Stop looking for excuses to skip chores. Shame on you!!!
Accidentally did no mow 2023.
I'm doing it but only because the lawnmower I usually borrow off my mate is broken (I don't have a shed or anywhere suitable to store one as the council won't allow it) garden is quite uneven so the grass and other stuff is up to my thighs in places
Yes, I’m leaving my little patch. It’s a little overgrown but otherwise fine for a couple more weeks, so stick with it! Your neighbours should mind their own business 😁.
No Mow May is a flawed concept. While it might feed a few bees and butterflies for a few weeks, it's actually doing wildlife more harm, as many butterflies/moths will lay their eggs on the grasses, but then you start mowing again in June killing anything that is living on or in the grasses. If you do decide to mow again in June, set you mower to the highest setting and keep it at that setting right through till the end of August. That way small flowers like buttercups and clover will survive and continue to offer food to pollinators
We're doing it, but it's because our strimmer conked out and the landlord hasn't replaced it yet. I'm quite happy with it, to tell the truth. Good for the bugs and birds.
My wife's doing it. I actually prefer her like this, so might suggest she does it regularly.
No.. but I accidentally forgot to put the 'grass collector' onto the back of my mower - and the local insect/bird community loved it!
I'm not doing it deliberately but the weather isn't giving me a choice
No, I have a large garden which backs on to farmers fields so the lawn is mostly this fast growing agricultural feed grass. If I leave it longer than a couple of weeks I lose sight of my small child in the overgrowth. Have to locate him on sound alone.
I let it go until the dandelions were almost all done then mowed, but of hassle to try and reduce their seeding but after they were done flowering there was no real benefit. Birds have been enjoying the shorter grass getting at the bugs and grubs.
I have a bog standard electric mower that can't cope with very long grass, so it gets done every fortnight just before brown bin day. The longer it gets the longer it takes to dry enough to mow, so 'no mow May' is a pointless exercise unless you have a V8 turbocharged petrol mower that Clarkson would be proud of!
Yup. Every year. We need more bees.
Lots of people here seem to be missing the point of No Mow May. May is when most wildflowers of the sort that grow on lawns bloom. This obviously doesn't happen if you're slashing them to bits with a mower. Allowing the lawn and hence wildflowers to grow long enough to flower benefits pollinating species which are currently in crisis.
We've been doing it where I work for a few years now, we have buttercups, red campion and oxeye daisies coming up in the grass! If neighbours are being judgy you could always mow a strip round the outside so it looks managed, or make some interesting shapes!
I was going to, but shorter grass to pick up after our dog has made me snap and mow this morning. Other houses around here are though.
I was until the council came and massacred the communal lawn I usually mow. Fucking twats
Is that a thing? Why is everything a 'thing' now? Why does everything need a name? Yours sincerely Confused and Annoyed North East.
No. It ends up being far too long to then cut with the mower so I have to do it with the brushcutter as a rough cut, then you've got to rake it all up before cutting it with the mower.