No Mow May 🌱

Anyone participating? My city didn’t participate this year but I’m hearing more and more cities are jumping on this bandwagon. The goal of “No Mow May” is to allow your grass to grow for the month of May, creating habitat and forage for early season pollinators. This is particularly important in urban areas where floral resources are often limited.

“No Mow May is a campaign to raise awareness of the importance of spring flowers for bees” said Elaine Evans, extension educator at the University of Minnesota. “In May, many bees are coming out of hibernation and need flowers to feed themselves and their babies.”

My lawn would be WAY too long to mow if I held off until the end of May (which is bad for the lawnmower) so I am mowing, but just not as often and not picking the dandelions yet. Pollinator friendly landscaping is gaining momentum and it’s fun to see the great ideas that people have to keep our lawns and gardens looking nice, but still allow for habitat for our pollinators! Check out their FB group for more info: http://www.facebook.com/pollinatorfriendlylandscaping

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I would have had to bale the hay had I not mowed by the end of the month.

mojogunter wrote:

I would have had to bale the hay had I not mowed by the end of the month.

That’s exactly what I said. Shoot, mine has been needing mowing 2x a week recently. I can’t imagine how bad it would be if I let it go all month.

I do like the idea, though.

Well I haven’t mowed yet… My next couple of weeks are very busy, so I’ll participate!

My sandbox of a yard looks like a 9th grader trying to grow facial hair. It’s patchy at best

I bought a new mower. I’m mowing every other day. The more I mow the more the dandelions grow. So the bees luck out there. I think they have plenty of feed up by us.

I mowed last weekend and its so dang long now I might have to go over it twice. I like the idea, but a lot of times those well intentioned ideas dont work out in real life.

We generally never mow until after the morels and wild strawberries are done. We ate some of both last night. I will have to mow before the end of the month though, it’s getting carried away.

The first time I mowed was a couple weeks ago.
If I didn’t mow in may and all the rain we have had. I would have grass 2’ tall by June.

I held off as long as I could, but woofta have we been getting a lot of rain.

On that same note, we replaced the strip of grass between the sidewalk and road with native pollinator plants. We started them from seed, and this is year two, so we’re excited for everything to bloom this year.

I havent mowed yet but if a bee drinks my dandelions hes gonna get a huge shot of 2-4D that i squirted them with last night.

Any reason for me to not do yardwork count me in.

I mean yeah…..I love bees and stuff.

I plated 3 apple trees to help the bees and have 5 mason bee homes around the yard. I must mow. It would drive me crazy if I didn’t.

At the beginning of May I thought No Mow May would be mandatory for most everyone bc of the weather, now I’m going to post a Marketplace ad to see if I can sell the hay in my yard. It’s not much but it’s honest work laziness!

Rodwork wrote:

I plated 3 apple trees to help the bees and have 5 mason bee homes around the yard. I must mow. It would drive me crazy if I didn’t.

We also added a white crab apple tree, that claims it will not have fruit. I also hate mowing but could not leave it alone that long.

We don’t really have a lawn with the ongoing build, but I’ve left the ditches and water runs in the fields completely alone for now. Later in the year we keep them mowed fairly neat, but if it helps the bees, birds, whatever else and saves me hours on a tractor for now…count me in.

Feathers wrote:

I hate mowing. Cuts in to my fishing time. Been tempted to turn the whole yard into native tall grasses and flowers and just hack it down once a year in the fall.

Agreed!!

I’m fully on board. Also on board with no snowblow December.

I don’t mow until the dandelions have died back from the initial burst. By then the other flowering plants and trees are blooming.

Please refrain from spraying your yard with pesticides and herbicides. Ever wonder why there are so few frogs and bees compared to when you were a youth? There’s your answer.

Snake ii’s wrote:

I don’t mow until the dandelions have died back from the initial burst. By then the other flowering plants and trees are blooming.

Please refrain from spraying your yard with pesticides and herbicides. Ever wonder why there are so few frogs and bees compared to when you were a youth? There’s your answer.

Good point Snake ii’s. Most outdoors loving people would agree we need to reduce the chemical usage for healthier woods and waters. I’m trying that organic regimen from Sunday this year for that very reason. Have friends whom have been very happy with the results so will see.

tswoboda wrote:

I’m fully on board. Also on board with no snowblow December.

I do no shave November and my wife supports me by doing it all Winter long.

Mine is growing like gangbusters. I currently technically own two houses about 6 miles apart. My previous yard is immaculate. The new one…not so much.

I’d rather mow it than water it, that’s for darn sure.

I honestly think its a silly deal. If anyone wants to help the bees and our system they would be standing at the corporate doors of Monsanto and TruGreen. Monsanto has killed more bees and affected our eco system more than any of us know. To target small homeowners and make them feel guilty because they mow their lawn is silly. Energy wasted IMO. Sorry.

However if media and big business pointed a finger at Monsanto they would be out of a job. Weird..

I get everyone doing a little part makes a big difference but I not on board with this one. We have about 200 other spring flowers at our place the bees can use. I do my part by not spraying and think that is better for the bees.

No worry for me this year up here, no where near having to mow yet. I live in the middle of the woods so mostly filtered sunlight in the yard.
And with lows of 36, 34 and 36 the next few days I will easily make it past June 1 before I have to even think about it.

My old neighbor lady told me about no mow may, told me not to mow my lawn because she isn’t. The next day I get home from work and she’s mowing. Now I have no choice but to mow.

My neighbors sometimes call me Hank Hill. So, some of you can assume if I participated in it or not. Not that I’m against bugs, I’m just a sucker for a fresh lawn.

I mow, but luckily for the pollinators (but not my neighbors) my lawn is half creeping Charlie and that’s budding beautifully right now…

I’ll also add when I saw the post “No mow May” posted by the lady of the forums my immature mind jumped somewhere a little more dirty…

No mow for me-gettin’ long

If I didn’t mow for a month the grass would be beyond my mowers ability to deal with it. We have 2 apple trees, a rhododendron plant and a 60′ wind break of lilacs all in bloom for the pollinators to chow down on. I hope that they are tastier than dandelions.

No Mow May? Haha yeh right. I mowed on April 28, one week earlier than previous years. Mowing twice a week and for the sixth time today.
Picture is of the 1st mowing

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I spray every that they are interested in.