Why You Should Be in “No Mow May”
For those who don’t have traditional grass lawns, now is usually the time of year when they bring the lawn back into shape after a cold winter and wet spring. But what if we told you that in the month of May you could just relax and enjoy another month without mowing?
If that sounds appealing, you should be aware of “No Mow May” which is not only convenient but also helps your local pollinators like bees and other insects. Here’s what you need to know.
What is “Don’t Mow May”?
No Mow May is exactly what it sounds like: the decision not to mow the lawn during May. It’s similar in concept to “No Shave November” (also known as “Movember”), when people stop shaving their upper lip and grow mustaches instead. In this case, the front lawn is the mustache of your house.
No Mow May was launched by a conservation organization from the United Kingdom called Plantlife , and then spread throughout North America. In the US, the movement is led by the group Bee City USA .
Why participate in No Mow May?
The goal of No Mow May is to give your native pollinators like bees, wasps and other insects a chance to do their job. Because while a perfectly manicured, uniform green grass lawn is the standard in America, the practice is not only time and money consuming, it’s bad for the environment and the local ecosystem.
Here’s how Bee City USA explains it:
The traditional monoculture turf lacks flower resources or nesting sites for bees and is often treated with large amounts of pesticides that harm bees and other invertebrates. When we think of habitat loss, we tend to think of bulldozers and broken dirt, but acres of manicured lawn are as much habitat loss as any building site.
Lawns cover about 40 million acres, or 2% of the land, in the United States, making them the largest irrigated crop in cultivation.
How to participate in No Mow May
There is nothing official about what you need to do to compete in No Mow May, because it’s really more about what you don’t do (like mowing). But if you want to put up a sign in your yard to spread the word about mower-free May (or answer your neighbors’ curious questions about your lawn), Bee City USA has signs you can download for free, print, and share.