May is a brilliant time in the garden, warmer days are coming and lighter evenings make it easier to lose yourself to nature for a few hours after dinner. Our gardens are beginning to really come alive as the perennials emerge and the shoots of early seeds we have sown start springing to life. I love this time of year, it’s also my birthday month so I am a bit biased.
May is also a great time to put away your lawnmower, strimmer or those scissors and your magnifying glass. ‘No Mow May’ is an annual campaign by Charity Plantlife, ‘calling all garden owners and green space managers not to mow during the month to help liberate your lawn and provide a space for nature’. I don't have a lawn, I got rid of it as soon as I moved into my house for reasons you will understand below, but many of us do and I want to encourage you all to mow less.
I am sure many of you are aware that we are in a biodiversity crisis. Our natural world has taken a battering over the last few hundred years and we risk the destruction of many natural habitats and many species of animals and plants we currently take for granted. The best thing you can do in your garden to help improve biodiversity is to create more habitats for wildlife. Longer lawns are a jungle for critters and you will find the longer the grass gets, the more you attract. Wildflowers will appear and provide a rich nectar source for pollinators and birds will feed off the seeds. Plus, I think longer grass looks better. You see it at all the fancy garden shows. I personally can’t stand neatly trimmed lawns and would much rather look out over a tapestry of daisies, buttercups and clover when I have my morning coffee.
I do understand that it can be a bit of a change. If you are apprehensive about letting all of your grass grow long that’s fine, just let a small patch grow by the shed or around the side of the house. It will still have an impact. There are over 20 million gardens in the UK and even if you have a very small patch of grass, it all adds up to a significant proportion of our land.
Now that your garden is attracting more pollinators and other wildlife you can continue to support them by providing permanent shelter for them to call home. TK Maxx and Homesense do a huge selection of bug and bee hotels. Place a bug box in a cool, shady spot and make sure it doesn't get drenched by rain. Your long grass will attract more birds, feasting on the delicious buffet of creepy crawlies you have now served up for them. TK Maxx and Homesense also sell bird tables, window feeders and birdseed which will ensure you keep them coming, especially during the winter.
Leigh - Festival Place's Gardening Guru
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