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Are you doing no mow May

bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 1,973
edited May 2022 in Plants
This came up again on GWT. Are you doing part of it or all of it for your lawn?
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  • UffUff Posts: 3,199
    I haven't heard of that bertrand-mabel what is it about and the aim please?
    SW SCOTLAND but born in Derbyshire
  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 1,973
    edited May 2022
    @Uff it is from the charity Plant life to make us look at what we are doing with our "lawns". If we don't cut them as we have done then the wild plants will come back and this will allow the insects etc etc. Have alook at the link to plant life.
    www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/about-us/news/no-mow-may-how-to-get-ten-times-more-bees-on-your-lockdown-lawn
    We are doing it and have daisy, plantains, clovers, bugle, violets, .....to name just a few.
    The bees are abundant. And we will continue to do so. However we understand that many people  will not want to have a "lawn" like ours and it will look "untidy" for some weeks. But that is part of our......we need to bring wildlife back into our gardens.
    Give it a go especially as energy prices go up the wall.
    Hope @Uff that gives you some info.
    It should have said GQT on radio 4 today episode .

  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,130
    No. I leave the wild parts of my garden untended and they’re wildlife rich but I like the lawn to be well tended. I don’t want to have to take the strimmer to it in June, and I don’t want to risk harming the wildlife that took temporary residence there for four weeks.
    Rutland, England
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 82,771
    It’s been so dry our lawn is hardly growing so it may not need mowing this month 😂 
    “I am not lost, for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost.” Winnie the Pooh







  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 21,007
    I do as @BenCotto in my French garden. It's big enough to have wild bits. If I leave the lawn the wild life will move in and then what will they do when it's eventually cut? It will be hard to cut and the texture will be spoilt. I want to be able to walk barefoot with out treading on some poor bee and getting stung.

    At OH's house in Norfolk the garden isn't very big and we like it tidy. There are plenty of flowers for insects and a wild flower patch at the side of the drive. There are fields at the back with hedgerows for wildlife.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • UffUff Posts: 3,199
    Thank you bertand-mabel. Quite an interesting project. I don't have a lawn as such, the grass I have is in the woodlandy bit and I only cut it about 4 times during the season. It had its first trim today, that will be it for a while now. 
    SW SCOTLAND but born in Derbyshire
  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 1,973
    Our "lawn" is now small after children up and gone. We have increased plantings but kept a"lawn". We are in a rural area and whilst we would like to feel that wildlife has an advantage...they don't. We are trying to do a little in our garden to encourage flowers and insects that will also pollinate our fruit trees and veg plants.
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 21,007
    Growing flowers in your borders that bees like, such as lavender and salvias, will encourage insects.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • cooldoccooldoc Posts: 607
    I have observed that the grass appears a bit brownish once you cut them down after growing them longer than usual.. It does recover with time..
    A rose lover from West midlands
  • B3B3 Posts: 24,482
    No. There's plenty of wildflowers in my grass that lie flat under the mower and my garden is mostly wildflowers anyway 
    In London. Keen but lazy.
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