Sorry about the paywall link. There are known ways to avoid it. From the article:
—
Your vibrant green lawn may look lush, but it’s actually an ecological wasteland.
“The idea for that ideal lawn is that nothing else can live in it,” said David Mizejewski, a naturalist with the National Wildlife Federation, a nonprofit conservation organization. “It’s like a dense, eternally green carpet.”
But let your grass grow a few inches, and some of that wildlife starts coming back. This is the idea behind the “no mow” movement, a push across the United States and Britain to stop the use of herbicides, pesticides and gas-guzzling mowers during the month of May.
It’s a good first step, but there’s plenty you can do to make your yard more inviting to pollinators and other critters.
Step 1 of 5: Let it grow: First, stop treating your lawn with herbicides and pesticides. If you don’t want to stop mowing your entire yard, pick a spot. Ideally, a patch of grass in a lower traffic area. You’ll see the grass grow longer, with the blades lengthening at different rates. Soon, the lawn takes on a more uneven look. Common flowering weeds spring up — typically hardy, nonnative species that seed prolifically and grow quickly. In the Mid-Atlantic region, for example, small bunches of white clover, dandelions and wild strawberries bloom
…
Prior_Ordinary_2150
But it’s not letting my “grass” grow. It’s letting sand burrs take over. 😂😭
Letting your grass just grow invites all sorts of things to enter your lawn, and that can be interesting to see no doubt. But planting an intentional prairie or native landscaping is significantly better. You’ll get more native species and fewer invasives. And it’ll look nicer and you don’t need to worry as much about code enforcement.
3 Comments
Sorry about the paywall link. There are known ways to avoid it. From the article:
—
Your vibrant green lawn may look lush, but it’s actually an ecological wasteland.
“The idea for that ideal lawn is that nothing else can live in it,” said David Mizejewski, a naturalist with the National Wildlife Federation, a nonprofit conservation organization. “It’s like a dense, eternally green carpet.”
But let your grass grow a few inches, and some of that wildlife starts coming back. This is the idea behind the “no mow” movement, a push across the United States and Britain to stop the use of herbicides, pesticides and gas-guzzling mowers during the month of May.
It’s a good first step, but there’s plenty you can do to make your yard more inviting to pollinators and other critters.
Step 1 of 5: Let it grow: First, stop treating your lawn with herbicides and pesticides. If you don’t want to stop mowing your entire yard, pick a spot. Ideally, a patch of grass in a lower traffic area. You’ll see the grass grow longer, with the blades lengthening at different rates. Soon, the lawn takes on a more uneven look. Common flowering weeds spring up — typically hardy, nonnative species that seed prolifically and grow quickly. In the Mid-Atlantic region, for example, small bunches of white clover, dandelions and wild strawberries bloom
…
But it’s not letting my “grass” grow. It’s letting sand burrs take over. 😂😭
Personally I disagree with this approach and feel closer to Ben Vogt’s opinion on it: https://www.monarchgard.com/thedeepmiddle/just-say-no-to-no-mow-may
Letting your grass just grow invites all sorts of things to enter your lawn, and that can be interesting to see no doubt. But planting an intentional prairie or native landscaping is significantly better. You’ll get more native species and fewer invasives. And it’ll look nicer and you don’t need to worry as much about code enforcement.
Edit: I wrote a wiki page for no mow may last year: https://www.reddit.com/r/NoLawns/s/oGT1FgHGQo
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CwD3n10tUDr/?igsh=MTdsNWl5am8xZHUzaQ== Kyle from Native habitat project talks about grasslands a bit here and how they differ from an overgrown lawn.