No mow may

RainInSummer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120548739#Comment_120548739

Sure.

I followed the process that wildflowers.ie outlined, combined with knowledge from friends of mine who do this for a living.

Killed everything with Round Up in my knapsack sprayer in late Aug. Took everything up in the ride on a few weeks later. Waited til late April and sprayed anything that came up over Winter and into Spring. Waited two weeks and ran over everything that had died with the mower to remove it and leave clean soil.

Sowed the clay/damp mix from wildflowers.ie and waited....Fairly muted the first year, but to be honest the clay/damp mix can be slow to show colours. Cut everything back in early Oct with a scythe and removed all cuttings. Spring comes late here because there is so much water in the clay soil that it takes an age to heat up, so I don't tend to cut in Spring as is advised. I tend to cut once a year in Sept/Oct.

Various years have been more or less colourful, last year being brilliant. So it is paying off, but it's slow enough going. I think it's 4 years now.

screamer

We cut the lawn high in summer, and not at all if it gets too dry so we have lush grass when others have straw. Lots of daisys, clover flowers and dandelions usually out there. We’ve started to be less worried about the edges so wild stuff there is ok. Except nettles and thistles that would hurt the kids. Don’t believe in perfectly manicured football pitches of lawns, totally unnecessary.

ECO_Mental

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120548739#Comment_120548739

I'm going into my second summer of not cutting my grass, last year was the first summer of my new build house. I have a big site 1.25 acres so there was no way I was going to cut it all. Just sowed No. 2 lawn seed after the build and let nature do the rest. I have cut paths through the lawn and even my teenage kids love the paths, it invites people to walk down them. This picture is from a few weeks ago so its after getting more lush and I have planted a load of fruit trees in the most sheltered part of the site.

What is the harm with thistles and a bit of gorse they have a job to do also. I was actually very surprised as the amount of little birds were attracted to the the thistles... they were feeding off the thistles all summer and into the autumn (either the seeds or insects on the thistles!) . Don't know was it my imagination but the amount of bats I had during the summer evenings was crazy. I am putting it down to the amount of insects my garden attracted them but I put it down as a good sign the no cutting works.

Regarding the gorse as you can see I have a load of it along the boundary and I just pulled up the young plants in the winter before they got too big in the lawn, half hour job. But I am in one section letting the gorse grow and it will provide me with some screening and shelter and a bit of colour.

Wild flowers/weeds can be seen as the same thing....

Might post a few more pictures later to see my progress.

mojesius

Thanks @RainInSummer . Sounds like you did a lot of work to get there, glad to hear it's paying off. Appreciate the details of when you did what :)

EcoMental, your garden is fab. Grassy area looks very lush. Keep us posted.. We also have gorse on our boundaries and plenty of weeds! It was this one section I wanted to make pretty with wildflowers, a few trees and the paths like you have.

I'd like to keep that section gorse free as it's right beside our neighbours front garden that's quite pristine with just a young hedge separating us, and we are more elevated so everything from our garden will blow in :D Plus we've young kids and there's been a few gorsey incidents already here. I do love the colours from our gorsey boundaries at the back, just wish it didn't spread so fast.

Markus Antonius

Sounds too much like a 90s feminist movement

DC999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120550475#Comment_120550475

Class, lovely idea. And great to have a lot of space.

There is much of a social pressure to mow grass in housing estates I feel. Our garden is fairly wild now for 2 years but a chunk of people think it's just laziness. We are letting it do it's own thing on purpose. Got wildflowers at start of 2020 lock down and have thistles now and load of other stuff I would have pulled out as 'weeds' before.

Cut the grass maybe 3 times max last year. Was very dry so grew less of course. But amazing how slow it grows when left alone.

SuperBowserWorld

We have a back garden. Last year I only cut it a few times. Was fine. Nobody died. I also leave the edges and islands to go wild.

I think of you have terrible soil etc then leaving something un mowed can end up looking awful. I'd say this is why a lot of front gardens end up getting paved over.

Our last house I had to get loads of top soil. Still had to cut regularly as the grass never grew right there.

Also ... Anyone getting houses, extensions, etc ... make sure the builders do not take your top soil.

SuperBowserWorld

Ahem, with all that rain, heat and sunshine there will be some very interesting gardens at the end of no mow may 😁

ttnov77

Its interesting how many people confirm the decline of insect but claim there is no shortage of habitat.

Well some stats: 95% of meadows disappeared from UK and Ireland, Irish forest coverage one of the lowers out of EU- 11% out of which 9% is sitka and only 2% native forest. 80% of hedgerows are of poor quality and many are hacked down to stumps every year… Grazing grass fields everywhere looks green but not much use for insect.

Still think there is “plenty of habitat”?

Reminds me folk who was arguing about planting tree in our community estate claiming there are too many trees everywhere lol…,

GreeBo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120550475#Comment_120550475

looks lovely, but I'm not convinced that grass is doing any more for bio diversity than a well mown one?

Bellie1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120549464#Comment_120549464

Is there anyway around using the roundup? I just have a bad feeling about using it .What would happen if rotavated the soil and planted seeds and yellow rattle from wildflower.ie? I know it wouldn't totally get rid of weeds and grass but would they over time dominate the seeds sown?

Did the rotavation on a little patch at side of house, planted seeds the next day and so far so good( then again it's only been a year).

Have convinced my brother in law to turn a large site into a wildflower meadow,but he's only doing it on basis he won't have to cut grass and can pay a farmer to come in once a year to cut and take away. His wife will want it looking pretty too. He's oo about paying someone to come in year one for initial setup but I know if there's alot of stages to it,he will back out

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120591074#Comment_120591074

The wildflower meadow will need cutting once a year too.

Bellie1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120591104#Comment_120591104

He's prepared for that, happy to pay someone to come in and cut once a year

RainInSummer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120591074#Comment_120591074

For a large area I'm not sure. Typically you'd leave an area under black plastic or carpet for a year to kill everything off. May not be practical depending on scale though.

Bellie1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120591635#Comment_120591635

I might contact guy in wildflowers website to ask his advice. I just had the thought of using roundup , have myself brainwashed that chemical use is a no no but if for the greater good, then I guess will have to use

looksee

I'm not going to encourage you to use roundup if you don't want to, I use it (when all other options are not practical) but its a personal opinion thing. However what you should not do is go for any of the vinegar/salt/washing powder etc ideas on the basis that they are natural. They are not natural, they are chemicals, but not chemicals that have been created to do a specific job with as little collateral damage as possible.

DownByTheGarden

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120591730#Comment_120591730

The amount of roundup you use will be a drop in the ocean compared to what farmers use. Make your life easier. You are not going to make any difference to the amount of roundup used.

You know all that lovely golden wheat you see in the fields at harvest time. Guess how that happens.

ECO_Mental

My no mow May (or mowing at all!!) is coming on grand. I seeded this October 21 so it really only has had only about 18 months of no mowing. As I mentioned I have a big site 1.25 acres so I was not going to mow all if it anyway.

Some sections are getting more wild than others this section for some reason has sprouted loads of Alder trees and they are flying up now. There is some alder trees in the hedge next to it. I am also letting the gorse grow here as I can section this off and not let the gorse go completely wild and take over the place

Here is another corner of the site and this is just No.2 lawn seed, the top corner though (with all the buttercups) is the old farm grass that was never touched in over 3+ years and is covered in buttercups and other wildflowers/weeds

This is a close up of the old growth farm grass, this has not been mowed or cut in three years or more.

@GreeBo I'm not an expert... but all the environmental and biodiversity experts say not cutting you grass is more beneficial and from my experience I can see it also. Maybe if you don't cut your grass for just the month of May and then cut for the rest of the year it might not have the same impact. But their theory is a lot of insect and bees rely on the early flowers in May for food and its a particularly sensitive time of the year.

magicbastarder

i can't remember much of the detail, but IIRC if you've a good sized area, you can be better off staggering your 'no mow' areas. favouring different plants which can flower at different times.

ttnov77

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120591074#Comment_120591074

Here is good article https://www.gardensforwildlife.ie/post/irish-native-wildflowers-area-preparation-sowing-and-maintenance

For large area rotavating and using yellow rattle is great or mow as short and use chain harrow, absolutely no need to use roundup. You will actually get money from farmer to get the hay, not pay or fence off the area and get some farmer to move in his sheeps or cow for winter to graze it down and take them away in january :)

Bellie1

Thanks a million. I hated the thought of using roundup, poor birds feeding for worms would surely be affected. This September before mowing, I can see a farmer taking away for free anyway. Future years with (hopefully!) mainly wildflowers mown can hardly be used for cattle feed though?

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120620870#Comment_120620870

Some of the best hay is full of wildflowers.

ednwireland

got a section of grass I haven't cut at all this year its mainly dandelion. had four bullfinches last night gorging on the seeds.

Dakota Dan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120584382#Comment_120584382

It’s a load of virtue signalling b0llocks dreamed up by some 1diot to push the climate narrative, like you said no wildflowers in peoples gardens and there are plenty wildflowers outside peoples gardens if bees want to forage. As for forests back in the late 1800’s there was easy more forest depletion than today for obvious reasons.

Jim_Hodge

I was looking at some no mow May lawns when out for a walk yesterday. Apart from Dandelion most had little or nothing in the way of wildflowers. The grass growth in May was tremendous and the owners will have some job cutting those lawns. It's a load of greenwashing nonsense. Grow flowers, trees and shrubs to help pollinators instead of this hype.

Field east

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120546733#Comment_120546733

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120546733#Comment_120546733

Who decided that a manicured lawn especially in the front of a dwelling is a must. Is it our culture - a tradition or what. Was there a time that we had a vegetable plot in the front of the house in the last. I noted a few years ago that a number of houses in Kerry had a veg plot in the front. Is the pristine kept front lawn a throwback to the past and we have gone from that era and have become much more progressive , rich and a perception as to what goes for nice

Dakota Dan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120546525#Comment_120546525

I still get plenty insects on the car number plate and bonnet maybe it’s the material used to manufacture number plates and the fact that people wash their cars more often nowadays, drive through a field of long grass at night and see how many insects end up on the front of your car.

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120649549#Comment_120649549

Nah there just aren't the numbers of insects around anymore. I can remember when any use of a car at night would have the windscreen destroyed with them and turning the headlights you'd see loads of insects flying around them. Now you hardly get a single splat.

Dakota Dan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120550475#Comment_120550475

But the dead grass from last year is matted under the fresh growth after a few years of no cutting you’ll have some mess, it must be a matted mess in winter when the grass stops growing .

Dakota Dan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120649565#Comment_120649565

I operate farm machinery at night with lights high up and there are plenty insects flying around the lights, also if you walk out a 5am in winter with a lamp you’ll see plenty wildlife from bats to owls, could be something to do with the fact that many people early go outdoors at night.