Did anyone, like us, decide to give No Mow May a go this year? We have two areas of lawn, one front and one back garden. They produced quite different results.
Our front lawn is quite small, and surrounded by flower borders. Over the course of the month of May, the grass grew tall and lush, but we noticed no wild flowers sprouting up to take advantage of the grassy cover. We had left the flower borders to flourish as well, and were interested to find that quite a few species of wild plant emerged: Ox-eyed Daisy, tall purple Toadflax, yellow Welsh Poppy, bright red Avens (Geum coccineum), yellow Wood Avens, and lots of Orange Hawkweed. See photo above.
A rather different story emerged in the back garden. Because of the very wet weather over the winter, the grass was smothered in moss. Bill scarified the area at the end of April, then we left a very bare looking lawn to do its own thing throughout May. As we (now distantly) remember, there was a long spell of glorious warm sunny weather for several weeks. This meant that the grass hardly grew, except round the periphery. We did note, however, that several species of wild plants began to flower: Black Medick, Meadow Buttercup, Yarrow and lots of Clover, which attracted the bees. See Photo below.
The merry month of May is now over, and the weather returned to cold, wet and blustery. Time to get the mower out and cut the grass.
If you have also tried No Mow May, do let us know your findings.
Anne and Bill Gray
Photos of other member’s lawns after not mowing
Paisley Natural History Society 