No Mo May Sign, photo by Stana Weisburd
No apologies are necessary! You may have noticed peoples’ lawns looking a little wild lately. Well, there is a new trend in town and around the world, “No Mow May.” Homeowners, or anyone with a lawn, can get a break from all that effort and also do great things for the environment and do their part to tackle climate change. Simply put, stop mowing large parts of your lawn, yard, or property, and save the world!
In practice, many mow much more property than we practically utilize on a regular basis. With “No Mow May,” you can let it go and let it grow. Allowing your grasses to grow, as well as all of the associated plants that pollinators use enables ecology to do its natural best. Clover and Dandelions become our friends. Untold creatures utilize dirt and grass and nutrients when we stop mowing, and it creates a healthier environment for humans. A bonus effect is the reduced use of fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides that can leach into our groundwater (i.e., drinking water) and our food via farm fields, as well as possibly harming our wholeheartedly loved pets. The birds and the bees want us to do it naturally!
Another approach is to mow the areas you actually use and leave the rest alone. You can mow a couple of times a year or once a month. For those concerned about ticks – you would mow paths wide enough that a person would not brush against the tall grass and endanger themselves when walking. (And remember, you can also make “tick tubes” with Picaridin, NOT Permethrin). When my mower broke one year, I had such a menagerie of life in my grass; every day was an adventure for my kids and me. So don’t be shy, don’t be embarrassed, and don’t apologize! Be proud to do your part for the environment and restore “Wild Gardiner” to its natural state. Maybe those hippies were onto something.
“The suburbs are designed to hide the workings of the natural world.” – Bill McKibben, founder of 360.org
Here is how I do mine: I keep the front yard mowed once a month because it is my septic field, I lay about two feet of mulch around the foundation of my house and mow a wide path around that. In the back and a wide path from the deck to the pool, shed, etc. and around the pool and shed and well. I was able to leave a large section unmowed which provided me a bit more privacy and increased the bird population. I’m going to try to not mow until fall when I mulch the leaves. Now that my kids are older and don’t use the yard, I may decide to just let the trees grow there and stop mowing it completely as it’s extra work and never used.
For more information, visit: plantlife.org