When I first heard about No Mow May, I could not believe the idea. You should already know how I feel about lawns by now, but if you don’t you can read my article, Lawns Are A Relic Of Old-fashioned Thinking. If the title didn’t give it away, then I encourage you to read the case I lay out in the piece after you read this one.
Table of Contents
What is No Mow May
In case you didn’t know, the No Mow May concept is the idea that you will not mow your lawn for the entire month of May. In tropical climates, this may not be too much of a thing but in places like Canada that experience 4 seasons, the spring is when life begins anew. This could be around April or May depending on the year. In May, you will normally see the dandelions and other wild flowers popping up. The idea of No Mow May is that you let all the lawn flowers grow for the entire month of May.
What Are The Benefits of Letting Lawns Go Wild All May
Increased Biodiversity: Perfectly manicured lawns are close to mono-culture. They attempt to extinguish all other forms of life in order to allow the yard grass to thrive. It leads to less worms, less plant diversity, and increased presence of garden pests and invasive and hardy weeds. Therefore according to research out of the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, if you want to increase the biodiversity of beneficial species, let your lawn grow out!
Save The Bees: Remember those little buzzing insects that have made appearances in Disney movies. They also are kind of a big deal for plants and humans too. Bees pollinate the fruit flowers so that we can have fruits in the correct season. But in early spring, when the bees have exhausted all their winter supply of honey, they need to get to work making some more. They use the pollen they gather from wild flowers that come up in spring.
Free Time: No Mow May gives you the excuse.. um, I mean, the reason to give the lawn mower a rest for an extra month. With the price of gas so brutally high in Canada, it makes good financial sense to put off mowing when you can. It also gives you back a free time in May to work on other things that need to be fixed around the house.
If I stopped right here, I think we have a pretty good case to case to join in on No Mow May. Let’s take a look at some of the negatives.
Angry Neighbours: If you live in the city or the suburb of the city, you’ll most likely receive the wrath of your neighbours if you leave your lawn unkept for the entire month of May. If they didn’t like you to begin with, then they will have more of a reason to not like you if your lawn looks like it belongs on the set of Jurassic Park while their lawns are 2 inches high.
City By-law Officers: If you leave the grass to grow wild, you run the risk of running afoul of the local city by-law officers. Yes, some of them in their earnest to earn money at the literal expense of other people will see your lawn as a violation, and an invitation to get a warning or a ticket. A Ryerson University ecology and urban professor, Nina-Marie Lester, doesn’t mind taking on the Toronto city bylaws as a champion for biodiversity. You can become an Eco-hero just like Nina-Maria or an Eco-villian depending on who talks about you.
Less Business for Lawn-care Businesses: If you decide to let your lawn go wild for No Mow May, then you’re going to make so many lawn care people unhappy. According to a Greenpeace article, the lawn care industry in Canada is worth roughly $3 Billion (that’s a B). Imagine if all of Toronto decided to jump on the No Mow May bandwagon. All the businesses that make money from fertilizers, seeds, sprays, equipment, and gas, will not be pleased with your tightness of wallet.
It seems obvious that if you do decide to indulge in the No Mow May movement, then you’re not caring enough about the three negative perspectives above. (lol)
Conclusion
These are tough economic times along with an ongoing climate crisis. You can see that you will definitely have benefits from letting your lawn grow all May for No Mow May. You can also see that you can potentially upset your neighbours, by-law officers, and businesses profiting off the sale of garden things.
So what should you do? I personally would say rip out your lawn and grow an edible garden. Grow edible flowers. Grow vegetables. Grow berry bushes. These options also help with biodiversity and you get the benefit of getting some return on your investment of time, effort, money, and patience.
However, maybe you are not ready to take that big step yet. Growing your own food is a big step for someone who has never done that before. If you’re plow-shy then I would encourage you to participate wholeheartedly in No Mow May. When you see how good it feels then you can consider adding a No Mow June, July, August and September too!
Until next time, continue to learn and grow!
References
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ecologist-new-bylaw-natural-garden-1.5752995
