After No-Mow May comes Let it bloom June!
Some tips on how to manage your lawn for nature all year round from Plant Life’s Let it Bloom June campaign.
Things don’t have to get messy and you can still be in control while maintaining a space for your local wildlife. Think of your lawn as a canvas with you holding the paint brush.
Create different grass heights by mowing functional zones, like paths and recreation areas frequently, and the lawn once every 4-8 weeks. This will encourage clovers, golden trefoils, selfheal and yarrow.
Or go a step further, and mow only twice a year outside of April to July. This encourages taller flowers such as red campions, purple knapweeds and mauve scabious. You’ll never need to weed, feed or water this zone. and it’s more valuable for wildlife because invertebrates that depend on the flowers can complete their lifecycles.
Leave ‘sanctuary strips’ of unmown grassland around your plot. There won’t be so many flowers, but the tussocks and tall herbs provide another niche for wildlife, such as toads and voles as well as seedheads for birds.
How to mow your ‘no mow’ lawn: Furtle around in the long grass to displace any wildlife and use a mowing pattern that will allow wildlife to escape to safe areas. To help the mower cope with long grass, set the blades as high as possible and mow strips half the width of the mower. Then do another pass with the blades set lower to finish the job. Rake up and remove the cuttings for compost or mulch.This helps to reduce soil fertility, so there is less mowing work to do in following years.