No mow may

I find just leaving an otherwise well kept lawn uncut for a month does nothing for biodiversity in the garden. No wildflowers establish in that period and it lets coarser grasses get a hold. Personally, I'll keep the lawn neat and enjoy the wildflowers in their designated areas and pollinators throughout the flower and shrub beds.

The half acre under wild flowers is enough for me I think. I'm keeping the other half under a nice pristine lawn that can actually be used.

If I left the rest of it unmown for May it'd be some chore to cut it again.

its a collective effort, not just you

you could be an island surrounded by farms who do spray for instance

or a flower garden in the middle of an estate full of cut grass

I think the bigger environmental impact especially in urban areas is not whether to mow or not mow but people ripping up their lawns and gardens to put in concrete etc for parking cars . It is much better to leave lawns in place for nature and as a way of allowing rain water to soak away. Whether the lawn is mowed or not is a side issue . I've noticed that alot of gardens in Dublin have been ripped up for concrete or tarmacadam in the last decade. Putting a wildflower patch in beside a concreted garden does not negate that

did you not read your own post, you aren't convinced by the no mow may... in general

its not just about you

its a collective thing, an ecosystem

if you live on a bog this isn't targeted at you is it per say, unless you mow that bog

its not a dont mow do concrete over

a tightly mown lawn isn't much better than a concreted one for the likes of bees

I left mine for the last 3 weeks out of laziness.

Did it yesterday evening and what a pain in the crack.

If I wasnt to mow it for all of May it would be some horrible job to do the next time.

We live in the countryside with rough grazing fields, forestry and ditches, rivers below in surrounding valleys etc. Whatever is causing the loss of insects in particular round here is not lack of habitat. Only a few years ago you'd be plagued by flies buzzing about your head in summer as you walk the road. Derek Mooney and his friends discussed it last year in general and they seemed a bit mystified as well.

A mowed lawn maybe poorer for the birds and bees but it is not equivalent to a concreted driveway because you still have all the soil with worms and everything. If you see what happens to put down concrete or tarmacadam , up to a foot of top soil and subsoil is removed and taken away, that is a garden that will never grow anything again , no urban garden, no growing vegetables, no birds , no bees. Trying to tar someone just for mowing a lawn is completely over the top.

With respect, you keep trying to shoehorn what I'm writing into your own agenda!!

Yes, parts of the countryside are heavily managed and partic those associated with intensive tillage and dairy operations.

But that's not everywhere - the land around here is mostly classified as 'disadvantaged' in old money. There is forestry nearby, planted 25 years ago and if it was sprayed then I can't recall but certainly not since. So forget that.

About a third of the roadside ditches are cut anyway regularly. Mostly around December and into January.

Rivers have fish in them, dragonflies in summer and wildlife along the banks. I know because I swim in them in summer.

There is no lack of habitat here for insects, yet they have declined notably. I think the local honey bees might have been affected by virus, all we see now are the solitary types.

So why is there a small fraction of the number of butterflies & moths say that there once was when conditions were very similar? I really don't know.

i'm not shoe horning anything

it may be disadvantaged, but it is still farmed, the landscape is shaped by it

i've given you the reasons why this has happened

its not rocket science

the forestry nearby is an offender, it is monoculture at its worst

rivers have seen a massive collapse in fish life and water quality

when honey bees die off theres nowhere for them to come from, same with butterflies

this is why habitat areas and lots of them in proximity are important and why not mowing is a good idea, rather than a bad one

these are the answers to your mystery

Sure.

I followed the process that wildflowers.ie outlined, combined with knowledge from friends of mine who do this for a living.

Killed everything with Round Up in my knapsack sprayer in late Aug. Took everything up in the ride on a few weeks later. Waited til late April and sprayed anything that came up over Winter and into Spring. Waited two weeks and ran over everything that had died with the mower to remove it and leave clean soil.

Sowed the clay/damp mix from wildflowers.ie and waited....Fairly muted the first year, but to be honest the clay/damp mix can be slow to show colours. Cut everything back in early Oct with a scythe and removed all cuttings. Spring comes late here because there is so much water in the clay soil that it takes an age to heat up, so I don't tend to cut in Spring as is advised. I tend to cut once a year in Sept/Oct.

Various years have been more or less colourful, last year being brilliant. So it is paying off, but it's slow enough going. I think it's 4 years now.

I'm going into my second summer of not cutting my grass, last year was the first summer of my new build house. I have a big site 1.25 acres so there was no way I was going to cut it all. Just sowed No. 2 lawn seed after the build and let nature do the rest. I have cut paths through the lawn and even my teenage kids love the paths, it invites people to walk down them. This picture is from a few weeks ago so its after getting more lush and I have planted a load of fruit trees in the most sheltered part of the site.

What is the harm with thistles and a bit of gorse they have a job to do also. I was actually very surprised as the amount of little birds were attracted to the the thistles... they were feeding off the thistles all summer and into the autumn (either the seeds or insects on the thistles!) . Don't know was it my imagination but the amount of bats I had during the summer evenings was crazy. I am putting it down to the amount of insects my garden attracted them but I put it down as a good sign the no cutting works.

Regarding the gorse as you can see I have a load of it along the boundary and I just pulled up the young plants in the winter before they got too big in the lawn, half hour job. But I am in one section letting the gorse grow and it will provide me with some screening and shelter and a bit of colour.

Wild flowers/weeds can be seen as the same thing....

Might post a few more pictures later to see my progress.

Sounds too much like a 90s feminist movement

We have a back garden. Last year I only cut it a few times. Was fine. Nobody died. I also leave the edges and islands to go wild.

I think of you have terrible soil etc then leaving something un mowed can end up looking awful. I'd say this is why a lot of front gardens end up getting paved over.

Our last house I had to get loads of top soil. Still had to cut regularly as the grass never grew right there.

Also ... Anyone getting houses, extensions, etc ... make sure the builders do not take your top soil.

Is there anyway around using the roundup? I just have a bad feeling about using it .What would happen if rotavated the soil and planted seeds and yellow rattle from wildflower.ie? I know it wouldn't totally get rid of weeds and grass but would they over time dominate the seeds sown?

Did the rotavation on a little patch at side of house, planted seeds the next day and so far so good( then again it's only been a year).

Have convinced my brother in law to turn a large site into a wildflower meadow,but he's only doing it on basis he won't have to cut grass and can pay a farmer to come in once a year to cut and take away. His wife will want it looking pretty too. He's oo about paying someone to come in year one for initial setup but I know if there's alot of stages to it,he will back out

He's prepared for that, happy to pay someone to come in and cut once a year

I might contact guy in wildflowers website to ask his advice. I just had the thought of using roundup , have myself brainwashed that chemical use is a no no but if for the greater good, then I guess will have to use

The amount of roundup you use will be a drop in the ocean compared to what farmers use. Make your life easier. You are not going to make any difference to the amount of roundup used.

You know all that lovely golden wheat you see in the fields at harvest time. Guess how that happens.