Gardeners told not to mow lawns until July after expert’s stark warning
Gardening experts have told Brits not to mow their lawns at all for the next two months to help ‘nature and the climate’ after a stark warning about your garden’s ecosystem
You shouldn’t mow your lawn until at least the end of June (
Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Put away your lawnmower – you’ve been warned not to cut your grass for the next two months.
With the miserable and wet April we’ve had, many of us will be itching to break out the lawnmowers and cut back our grass now that the rain finally seems to have stopped. But experts have urged Brits to continue holding off on mowing the lawn for at least another month – with some even suggesting we leave our grass long until the middle of July.
The initiative, called No Mow May, asks people to leave their gardens alone until a date in June at the very earliest, and it has been backed by renowned naturalist Sir David Attenborough and other wildlife experts. The idea behind No Mow May is that insects like bees and butterflies use lawns – and the weeds and daisies among the grass – to breed, pollinate, and maintain a healthy ecosystem at this time of year.
Once you mow your lawn, you interfere with that ecosystem and can end up killing off lots of insects that are an essential part of our gardens. What’s more, if insects like bees die off, eventually we all die too.
UK wildlife organisation Plantlife said: “We’ve lost approximately 97% of flower-rich meadows since the 1930s and with them gone are vital food needed by pollinators, like bees and butterflies. But your lawn can help! A healthy lawn with some long grass and wildflowers benefits wildlife, tackles pollution and can even lock away carbon below ground.
“With over 20 million gardens in the UK, even the smallest grassy patches add up to a significant proportion of our land which, if managed properly, can deliver enormous gains for nature, communities and the climate.”
And Sir David Attenborough echoed those comments on BBC’s Wild Isles documentary when he urged people to delay mowing their lawns until “mid-July”. He added: “It’s all about the timing. Delaying mowing until mid-July allows birds and insects to complete their breeding and flowers to set their seed.”
Experts have differing views on when you should start mowing again. David believes mid-July is the best bet with a ban on mowing in place until around July 15th, while gardening expert Monty Don suggests June 21st. However, the consensus is that the longer you can go without mowing, the better.
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