No Mow May is not just laziness

It may be the wrong time of year for this subject but I recently read that councils adopting the 'No Mow May' policy have received complaints. I have adopted it for our rear garden for a few years now. Have you? Did it work for you?

No mow May was ‘invented’ by Plant Life’ to promote biodiversity

https://www.plantlife.org.uk/campaigns/nomowmay/

 

The idea of no mow May is to increase biodiversity by not mowing your lawn during the month of May which is an important time for insects and wild flowers. Not cutting your lawn allows wild flowers to grow and set seed. Wild flowers are an important source of food for insects.

Granted, at least in my case, I have adopted no mow May partly from laziness. However, it really is effective in increasing diversity. I noticed new wild flower species in the lawn when I started it.

 

Studies show No mow May really does bring benefits in particular for butterflies.

https://butterfly-conservation.org/news-and-blog/boost-garden-butterfly-numbers-by-up-to-93-with-one-simple-step-new-study-reveals

Also, apparently some butterfly species like flowering ivy in particular – so if you have ivy in your garden you might like to allow it a bit more room. Sadly, though, I know from personal experience ivy does tend to take over if given the chance.

 

No mow May is popular among gardeners

https://butterfly-conservation.org/news-and-blog/gardeners-back-less-frequent-lawn-mowing-poll-finds-as-no-mow-may-begins

When it was first introduced, nearly half of gardeners said they would go for it and others intended to reduce their mowing frequency.

Some local councils have tried it for public spaces …

https://new.newcastle.gov.uk/news/2025/council-helping-environment-no-mow-may

 

…but they tend to get complaints because long grass looks untidy or greenery overlaps pavements

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c897lxy4dy4o (Council reviews No Mow May scheme after criticism)

 

Beauty is preferred over sustainabiity.

https://www.durham.ac.uk/news-events/latest-news/2025/11/public-prefer-pretty-looking-wild-spaces-over-perfectly-mown-lawns/

There is strong public support for rewilding and other environmentally friendly land management practices, provided these spaces are pretty and look neat. 

 

One way to achieve neatness is to keep a strip cut around the edge.

 

It is best to have a mix of long and short grass.

https://www.plantlife.org.uk/campaigns/your-no-mow-may-lawn-guide/

In any case, some wild flowers prefer short grass as otherwise they get crowded out. So keeping some strips or areas short improves biodiversity even more.

Keeping the edges short does not take up nearly so much time as cutting the whole lawn so this still allows for some laziness.

If you have a garden with grassy areas, do consider adopting no mow May if you have not already. However, you can still mow some areas short so the long grass areas look intentional rather than neglected and for even great benefit.

If you see an area that looks neglected in May, this may be intentional and beneficial to the environment. So please do not complain unless there really is a nuisance.