Hello , I would love to show you a picture of my garden but it’s a mess
It’s got cowslips, bluebells growing, large patches of clover and hopefully a few others beside
I can hear the silent tut-tuts as people walk up the path , I will take the strimmer to the front later next month , but with my knees not fully recovered from the tear in January , I am rather glad I did it
Is anyone else doing now mow in May ?
I’ve mowed the lawn once this year, and won’t be doing it again this month.
Last year it was very dry here and the grass barely grew at all through the early summer, so I didn’t mow it in June either.
We might be mowing a few of the lawns around the house (this will depend upon whether we get the necessary few dry days - not looking so good at the moment!) as otherwise it becomes unmanageable, but the paddocks don’t get cut until October as this allows the wild flowers and orchids to thrive. What will be cut is the main field as May is prime time for cutting Silage. The only caveat is whether the ground is firm enough to take the tractors. The farmer had a terrible time a few years back where one of the tractors got stuck as did another that went in to try to tow it out. It left a horrible mess and ruts deep enough for me to stand in up to my chest. Definitely something to be avoided!!
I won’t be doing that: in practical terms I think no-mow May isn’t a great idea. Either convert the lawn to a wildflower meadow or keep it a lawn, which requires trimming sufficiently often to be manageable. If left for a month this time of year our lawn would have about foot-high grass, and the only flowers in it would be dandelions. Cutting it after that would be hard work requiring strimming first then lawnmower before the robot could be used again, and I’d either have to use weedkiller on the dandelions or if done several years running accept them gradually replacing the grass.
The wildflower meadow idea is nice, however in my experience it is not simple, though I guess that depends where you live - type of soil, drainage, local climate, amount of shade, etc. in our garden I think it would need active cultivation and tending, at least for several years until well established, or else wild becomes whatever is naturally wild at one’s specific location, which might not be the wildflowers typically associated with the term.
When we first moved here we made part of the garden into a small “wild meadow”, sowing loads of seeds bought for just that, and also planted a couple of fruit trees. The area doubled as our apiary when we kept bees. Unfortunately none of the flowers thrived, and within four years bracken (ferns) had almost completely taken over except where we kept it clear enough to access the hives. Barely a flower in sight.
Already considered, but they eat everything (literally!), so there’d be no flowers, lawn or elsewhere, no vegetables, and no clothes/bedding! And my wife cannot stand the smell of goat (or sheep). Her answer is move somewhere with a smaller garden, but the robot has been a good solution for the grassed areas.
I’m hoping by June that I will have a postcard worthy, cottage garden lawn. Last year we just did the 3 cuts a fortnight and weed gunned the worst of the broad leaf weeds.
This year I’m going all out for “Croquet Lawn” standard (not that we play Croquet)
So, I will be mowing all year. 
I generally do the formal lawn areas before now and leave others to meadow until much later in the year.
It’s all so wet just now and the ground so soft, that the big mower will wreck everything and the small mowers are overwhelmed. No mow April was forced upon me and no mow May might be unavoidable!
We’ve done ‘No-Mow-May’ (and June, July and August) for the last four years. Last year we had five Bee Orchids appear on the back lawn and grassland butterflies galore (Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper ands Large Skipper) all in our small suburban garden. Cutting it all back in September/October can be hard work but it’s definitely worth it to help biodiversity.
This is what no mow looked like by August 2021 having left since October the year before for reasons I’ll leave you to guess.
No mowing yet, but digging: Requirement for action after inspection from the municipality, aeration of existing infiltration for the drain.
Yes, we try not to mow in May. We like to leave the dandelions for the bees. The front yard is full of dandelions, but the grass isn’t very long … just uneven.
I have to cut the back as it gets too long and unmanageable, but all the dandelions were right back up two days later and looking great. The city doesn’t spray the local parks or schoolyards anymore to help the bees, so they are all a sea of yellow dandelions this time of year. Looks great.
Our grass last year…in July
After No-Mow May…June, July and August…
Expect it will look much the same this July
I am surprisingly envious , this is what my lawn looked like on 13th June last year as a result of No Mow In May - this year the clover is rampant and I can’t wait
My gardener is coming on Wednesday and I hate to think what he will think
best wishes
Looks beautiful, Ian. I don’t much like mother nature to be too terribly tailored.
At the moment it looks awful 
, but it will shine
Thank you for your comments
