Observe No-Mow May
I love my neighbors, really. A compact street with kind folks who care for their homes and hearths, have good hearts and are fun and thoughtful.
However, every year, almost to the day, you can catch the gleam in the eyes of the guys on their seated tractors just waiting to let loose to create what is the beginning of an Arnie Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Ernie Ells testament to the “great green suck.” I watch in dismay with ear plugs and shake my head. Just one more month I muse, if they could only wait just one more month.
Why you ask, because May has become the month of “No Mow May.” Arggh, someone telling me what to do with my yard! Oh the misery…Nay nay I inject. No Mow May is a harmless, very narrow framework that allows many pollinators to begin to do their stuff. You know, stuff, like making the flowers bloom and getting a head start on those rows of veggies.
I “do’ my own lawn once in May. I like to see all the violets come up, and watch the bumble bees deciding upon which next stem to perch. It is fun to watch the rabbits chomping on various assorted greens and scampering in delight at the occasional weed that might lend a new taste sensation.
In the Autumn I wonder at the patches that have turned my lawn into waving yellow and white wild daisies. Those clomps would have been long mowed under in May in the quest for the perfect manicure.
No Mow May came into our consciousness about four years ago from a movement begun in England. Just as there is usually two plus ways at looking at a certain concept or idea, No Mow May is no different. Proponents claim that roots will grow stronger and deeper and therefore not be so subject to drought during the height of Summer. Others feel that it would be unintentionally harmful for pollinators providing only temporary safe haven. Grass would grow almost a foot higher and mowing equipment is not equipped to handle the height. Weed wackers might handle some of the chores but really they are surely destructive, not to mention noisy.
We might help pollinators by planting more native species, whereby the insects might stand more of a chance against the “machines.” Our insect population is failing due to the ubiquity of non-native plants.
Sustainability writer, Margaret Renkle, who writes for the New York Times, said, “To smother everything in pursuit of a pure yard would mean also smothering the spring beauties and the spring morning bees.”
So perhaps we leave a part of each yard to rewild a bit and we can practice the concept of partial No Mow May and see how it goes. Just a thought
Susan Spooner, Fairhaven
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