No Mow May

[Blaze]

We leave some small areas uncut (it eventually dies down in the autumn) and give a long cut from time to time using the mulcher. The various small flowery areas seem to have created more and more insects. They seem to particularly like the big daisies which appear every year : I photograph them and am amazed at the variety of species that come to them.
I cut just one small patch shorter, where we like to sit out.

@exile I certainly understand about the ticks, they can be a nightmare - impossible to sit on the grass. The mozzies/midges were bad at our old place and we never put the table and chairs on the grass. We'd see the people in our gite doing just that ... and then moving fast !!
Fortunately we don't have that problem here - no ticks and for the moment, no mozzies.

[DominicBest]

I really can’t see it making any significant difference. My grass is a mown meadow not a grass lawn and less than 24 hours after cutting the ‘grass’ there are flowers everywhere. There are also flowers in my herb garden on many of my fruit trees and on my strawberry plants. Then there are the swathes of rogue wild flowering plants around much of the perimeter and the wisteria. My neighbour’s garden is full of flowers then of course there are the rape fields opposite us and the grazing land all around used for the cattle and horses are a sea of yellow. As others have pointed out, if I didn’t mow in May I would be making a rod for my own back as this is the month that the grass grows non stop. I’m sure no mow May is a catchy slogan made up by people with good intentions but it’s certainly not a worthwhile practise in the real world.

[Hotrodder]

Our largish patch is similar to Dominic's, not intended to be a manicured lawn by any means but we try to keep it cut often enough to not lose control. Mowing here is always a case of waiting for the rain to stop long enough to get a decent cut without clogging the mower. I managed a cut several days ago and two days later it could have benefited by another. If I could physically manage it and if the fuel cost of three hours on the mower wasn't a factor I might have done it. It looks like most of it is growing at about an inch (25mm) a day. If I left it for a month I would have to engage a local farmer to come in and cut it for round bales. The last time I did that it made nine round bales and the tractor, etc. made a proper mess of the rest of the garden getting to the area.

[Bayleaf]

We've cut down (sorry, pun alert!) on mowing the areas around our house big time. That began mostly when fuel prices rocketed, and we were so busy mowing other people's gardens, we'd had enough! Now, just a small garden between house and barn is kept short, and a perimeter around the house, ie, areas of regular use. As a result, some of the further areas, the grass growth has slowed in general - with just a cut down at the end of June time, or when it looks like the grass has seeded. Areas too steep/too long for the mowers will get strimmed. It has certainly increased the orchid/marguerite daisy population, along with some other surprises.

Most of our clients only want their lawns cut monthly as a maintenance cut (and they don't want to pay for more frequent cuts). So, it does get difficult sometimes. We try to aim for 3wks or we say we'll just charge more, but the weather rarely co-operates with our time scale. I've actually cried on seeing a "lawn" that we couldn't get to for 6 weeks! Thankfully our really old faithful Kubota rarely lets us down, and the little push-along does amazingly for areas where to ride-on can't get to.

I think the no-mow May can be taken to extreme. If it just encourages people to leave more areas for wild flowers, rather than having scalped lawns everywhere, that's something.

[DominicBest]

I’ve been away for the weekend, four days and three nights. I cut the grass before leaving. In five days the grass has grown so much I’m going to have to try to cut in front of the house today before the rain returns later. Lots of rain followed by hot sunny days is perfect for the grass to grow. Luckily my strawberry plants are also thriving in the conditions.

[Bayleaf]

Apparently, grass grows on average 1" per week, in perfect conditions. I want a recount!

We generally cut grass on the mowers' longest setting. Any shorter, and it sounds like you're constantly chasing your tail!

"The theory that cutting short lengthens the time between cuts also doesn't hold up. Grass grows faster after it's been cut short as it tries to rebuild itself to its genetic norm. A good in-season height for most turfgrasses is 2½ to 3 inches — typically the highest setting on mowers."

[Hotrodder]

And I suspect doing a longer cut doesn't discourage the wild flowers too much. Ours always pop up quickly after mowing. Adds a bit of colour in a sea of green.