That's why you should never mow your lawn during the month of May

    That's why you should never mow your lawn during the month of May

    A lawn that has been mowed and cared for can mean death for many wild insects, which are seen deprived of their habitat: this is why it is important to leave some uncultivated lawn.


    He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him

    It seems that winter, with its load of rain and cold temperatures, is now behind us. It is therefore time to dedicate yourself to outdoor activities, such as gardening and the care of our plants which are now seeing their moment of maximum explosion.




    But be careful to do it in the right way: in fact, if a beautiful lawn mowed in spring may seem like an excellent business card for those who look at our garden, this action can turn out to be useless and even harmful for wildlife, and mean death for many insects. Trying to protect the small animals that populate the gardens, the No Mow May campaign - May without pruning was born. But what does it mean?

    The trend comes from England where, for several years now, garden owners have left the lawn mower in the garage for the whole month of May: letting some grass grow overgrown allows wild plants to grow and multiply, supporting the survival of insects and other small animals. In fact, a lawn that is cut too short does not offer insects the ideal habitat for nesting or foraging for food.

    From the United Kingdom, the choice not to mow the lawn of one's garden is also spreading in Europe: in Germany, for example, the German Society of Horticulture explicitly invites the population to let the lawn grow without restrictions during the month of May, since investigations have shown that an up to tenfold increase in the number of nectar-rich flowers if shearing is less frequent.

    (Read also: Not just bees: how many species of pollinators does a lawn need?)

    Among the plants that most proliferate in uncut gardens we include daisies, clovers, dandelions, primroses - all species of high ecological value for the populations of pollinating insects who come to visit our uncultivated lawn (and too often mistreated and considered useless. "Weeds").

    But what to do if our uncut lawn starts to become an “overgrown jungle” and no longer looks nice? In these cases, it is not necessary to keep the entire lawn uncultivated, but just leave a small "wild corner" by shearing everything else: even a few square centimeters full of wild plants will represent a happy oasis for the life of insects.



    If every garden owner leaves even a small space available to bees and other pollinating insects, this will make a great contribution to the preservation of these species threatened with extinction from the climate crisis and from the spread of intensive agriculture, responsible for the destruction of their natural habitats. If the No Mow May principle also applies to public parks and community green spaces, the value of this gesture will multiply.

    Here some other advice to follow to take care of our gardens without harming the insect communities. First of all, it is good to mow the lawn starting from the inside and then moving towards the outside: in this way, the insects will be able to realize the danger and leave the garden. Other than that, we prefer a manual scythe or brush cutter to a rotary mower, which sucks and kills insects.

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    Fonti: German Horticultural Society / Plant Life


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