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Saturday, May 14, 2022

May 14, 2022 Do Mow This May

 

Hi Gardeners

Fritillaria 

It’s a busy time for me as I’m sure it is for all of you.  We went from too cold and wet to work outside to too hot and dry in too short of time.  Thankfully it looks like spring is going to moderate a bit in the coming weeks. Don’t get too far ahead of yourself just because it’s been hot for a few days. In zones 5 and lower, frost and even a freeze could still happen. In these zones I’d hold off on planting tomatoes and peppers and bringing the houseplants outside for a week or two.

I am eager to get my houseplants outside. I have so many in the windows I can’t get most of the windows open in this heat until they are all moved. But I will be patient at least a week longer. I haven’t even started my veggie garden yet- things have been too hectic, but I hope to get lettuce planted this week and maybe a grow bag of potatoes.

Most of the spring flowering bulbs have burst into bloom here, only some alliums and late tulips (the few the deer left) have yet to bloom. The daffodils and hyacinths are actually fading away. My trilliums are blooming. The magnolia, redbud, flowering quince and clove current are in bloom. My lilacs are beginning to bloom. Apple trees are in bloom. The akebia and paw paw have big buds.

I haven’t bought any annuals yet, except the pansies, which aren’t liking this heat. I did do some on line shopping for plants on clearance- there’s some good prices out there now and many places are waiving shipping fees. I bought some nice fuchsias from Select Seed, and some salvias. Both of those are favorite plants of mine. (They have potted plants as well as seed.) I’m hoping I can get to the greenhouses this week some time for bedding plants and baskets. I’ll slowly plant them, keeping an eye on the weather.

All of the birds are back, and they are going through feed like crazy. I noticed that the rose breasted grosbeaks and the purple house finches are helping the orioles eat the grape jelly this year. The crows already have fledglings because I hear their noisy calls all around. The sand hill cranes have also been noisy, they must be in mating season.  The Canada geese have goslings already. I saw an immature Bald Eagle the other day, he makes that loud eagle scream that draws your attention.

I love this time of year and I’m trying to enjoy as much of it as I can, and I hope you are too.

Please MOW IN MAY

My lawn, 6 days after mowing

This No Mow May thing is truly silly.  It’s obvious some well-meaning but horticulturally- ecologically naïve people started this. Look at this picture of my lawn. It’s an unimproved lawn- it doesn’t get “weeded” it only gets mowed. And it was mowed just 6 days ago. It’s getting mowed today too.  Look how many flowers are down in that grass for pollinators. Dandelions, violets, selfheal, ground ivy, and a number of other lawn weeds are making a feast for pollinators. I mow so the lawn is never shorter than 3 inches, but I try to mow before it gets to 5 inches.

After I mow, many flowers are still visible. The plants will replace any flowers cut off in just a day or two. The birds will be right down there on the lawn after I mow looking for bugs I’ve stirred up. Everybody’s happy.

The flowering weeds in your lawn are able to bloom even after mowing providing you observe the 3-inch rule.  If fact if you let the grass get longer than about 4-5 inches those flowering weeds the pollinators love will be smothered and quit blooming. In the average May, a lawn could grow to 6-8 inches high easily, many will be a foot deep.  The longer the grass gets the fewer flowering weeds will be available to pollinators. Lawn weeds are adapted to mowing and mowing keeps them in bloom longer.

Yes, there are a few weeds that might bloom at a greater height but many of them you don’t want to encourage by giving them a good head start.  Thistles, burdock, stinging nettles, quickly come to mind.  If you give them the month of May without cutting them down, you are going to regret it. They are going to be very hard to control through summer.

Sapling trees, spreading plants like bamboo, mint, comfrey, Virginia creeper, trumpet vine, wild grapes and other aggressive weeds need early and frequent mowing to keep them in check. They will take over your lawn and soon any remaining grass and those smaller flowering weeds that pollinators love will be gone.

Most of you who started the month happily going along with the social media driven NO MOW MAY fad are probably looking at your lawn with a bit of anxiety right now. May is the month when lawns grow the fastest. It may look lush and full of flowers now but how long before the mower is going to have a hard time cutting through all that?  Just wait until the end of the month when you are cutting hay so to speak. It’s going to be a hard, slow go, and some mowers won’t handle it.

When you do cut that lawn and most of you will- it’s going to look very yellow and ugly for a week or so. The green chlorophyll laden parts of the blade are at the end- in the sun- and way down the blade near the ground you are going to have the yellowish, stem part of the grass. Eventually the plant will green up those cut stems, but it won’t be pretty for a while. And this is much harder on the grass than frequent mowing is.

Overly long lawns are good hiding places for adult mosquitoes, ticks, mice, voles, rats, rabbits and snakes. Many songbirds do not like really long grass as it hides predators and makes seeing insects and worms harder. They’ll move on to better edge habitat.

If you want to get rid of your lawn, and you legally can have a meadow instead of a lawn, do it. Just stop mowing. But if the leniency from your local government about cutting your lawn ends when June begins, you are better off with a weekly mowing in May. Plant beds of flowers for pollinators or leave an un-mowed strip near the lawn edge if you must.

Keeping your lawn about 3 inches long in May is actually better for the flowering lawn weeds pollinators love, and your grass, than letting it go all month without mowing. (And of course, you won’t use weed killers on your lawn if you like wildlife.) But I’m thinking most smart “lawn tenders” are soon going to realize that the NO MOW MAY movement is not so good for pollinators and people. It was a dumb idea that wasn’t thought through and didn’t have the input of horticultural experts.

 So get that mower out and cut your lawn. We’ve all seen what a lawn looks like when no one mows it for a month, and it isn’t pretty. And it certainly isn’t better for pollinators either.  Sometimes things that seem like a good idea just aren’t.

 

“I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day. When it’s cold outside, I’ve got the month of May.” – Smokey Robinson

 

Kim Willis

Contact me at kimwillis151@gmail.com

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