is gaining traction in Wisconsin

https://www.nbc15.com/2022/04/19/local-cities-split-more-wisconsin-communities-embrace-no-mow-may/

What percentage of land in Wisconsin is made up of lawns ?

Sure wish I lived somewhere a govt. entity tells me when to mow my lawn.............not!

be way better if the same folks stopped spraying so much weed killers and such on the yards.

Not a bee expert, but how beneficial is grass to bees compared to flowers? Have to believe flowers are more bang for their buck..??

My wife or as we call her The Lawn Natzi would have a mental breakdown just thinking of No Mow May.

I'd like to practice this year round! I hate mowing. there are lots of other useful things I could be doing instead of mowing 1.5 acres every weekend all spring and summer long.

So I do it as little as possible. usually hold off until it gets so long the wife starts asking snide questions about whether I'm going to have the local farmer come in and make hay.

My mower freak neighbor on the other hand has mowed four times this year already. Okay, he hasn't actually mowed, he's driven his mower around with the blades turning but he ain't cutting anything because the grass ain't tall enough yet.

There is a large hay field between his house and mine. He let's the local farmer hay it once then mows it weekly the rest of the season. The guy spends all weekend, every weekend mowing!

I wish he'd get a life.

Get a wife. Mine mows and she also cleans and cooks. Lol

Those huge "manicured" tightly mowed lawns that mimic a golf course are Fugly.

Mark, if they are full of those bright yellow flowers bees will use them, but if as others are saying, the lawns are "weedless" no use...

It's the "weeds" like clover and dandelion found in lawns that pollinators use.

X2

Lol lol lol not happening

I'll bring my Beefers

We delay mowing on public right of ways here including the interstate and county roads to improve nesting opportunities for pheasants habitat.

Think I'd plant some trees/shrubs that flower early.

Family was getting a photoshoot done in a local park and after we were done, took a few pics of my own ... The bees were so thick that there was a persistent hum in the air you could heag a hundred yards away

Only way not mowing would help bees is if you got lots of clover in your yard Dandy lions mature too fast

Yeah, I get that. But I didn't know if they got much out of grass....there's a lot of clover and other "weeds" in my yard, and when it comes on I don't mow much until the flowers fade or the honeybees move on to other things. I like to give them time to do their thing

I think the 20 degree nights once a week bookend by 78 degree days would harm more bees than "mowing" Bet the same people that proposed this are like all their ideals. They have perfect cut grass and no weeds in their yards. PLUS what will all the land scapers do ? Sign up for 4 weeks of stimulus ??!!

Dandelions are the first nectar source for bees (around here anyhow). They also offer pollen but we have plenty of trees that have been blooming quite awhile by then for their pollen source. Dandelions get hit pretty hard as soon as they come up.

That said, I see far far far more dandelions in the ditches than in yards anyhow. Most people pluck them out of their yards or spray them so I kind of see this program as feel good propaganda. Now if you were going to leave that yard an entire summer, maybe different.

People forget, or don't know, that bees get a lot more resources out of the local trees than they do flower beds. Some trees provide tons and tons of pollen and nectar. If they are hitting your yard they are just trying to keep busy between blooms.

I need to convince my neighbors not to mow till June , that way I didn't look bad , I hate mowing so I put it off as long as I can

also my lawn is about 1/2 clover in the summer I mow half one week half the next if I can

good to keep those bees around for the garden

The link below discusses and denotes the data from the city of Appleton where this research study was conducted.

Bryce

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7518183/

I got no mow May through September for most of my place. Then I run over it with the bush hog and am done for the year

still getting snow so i'm all for it

Awesome

I always figure frost will get it come October and lay it down.

And how many use herbicides to eradicate those "weeds"?

No mow is a step in the right direction.
A better step would be eliminated lawns alltogether.

2 facts.
There 40 million acres of lawn in the US.
Grass is the most irrigated "crop" in the USA.

What a waste of land and resources.

I'll leave a picture of a better solution, my yard.





As people who are supposedly concerned about the outdoors and wildlife I ask you, which is better for wildlife a lawn like mine or a manicured lawn that is sprayed with fertilizers and herbicides?

We got a letter telling us to power wash the driveway and sidewalks!

I like your style.

Our bees were flying a bit today. We have been feeding them all spring to keep them alive. Hope it stays warm. Went into winter with 7 strong hives . Now down to two. Have a couple of new queens bought for mid May, hope to split them out. Interesting bugs. old 243

I like your lawn Dirty D. Around here I might have a challenge keeping Wild Parsnip out of that though.

Sniper your correct. Early flowering is very important for bees. There hive stores are running very low in early spring and fruit trees are very early flowering.

Yea but little hard for the grand babies to play soccer or baseball In that mess. Plus tick fever wrote all over that . No way a persons (Yard) should look like that . Now the field out behind the house yes. THAT yard is someone too lazy to mow.
Heck How do you find your house? I can't see it from the WEEDS .... where do you park? Only yards around here that look like that are meth heads and cat ladies........ NO NOT CALLING YOU EITHER !! Just stating the facts.

I'll bet the grand babies would love a walk thru the flowers, see all the butterflies, bees, birds and it would be a great teachable moment on the value of nature and its magnificence.
I'll bet the grand babies would rather watch the prescribed burns than play baseball.

No ticks in there, I get more ticks in the woods, maybe 1-2 a year is it. Do some research into the effects of prescribed burns on tick populations.

I'm sure your not serious about mowing that yard, or finding my house or parking.
No meth heads or cats around here.

Its sad when some is so blind that they can not see.

were you lost in a field one time and now the sight of anything other than a mowed law scares you?
Or did you fall down and cut yourself on blade of grass once?

Wondering why you can't see the advantage of a yard that is beneficial to nature rather than one that is mowed, and sprayed with chemicals.

Once the native stuff that you see in the picture gets going the vast majority of invasives can't get a foothold in it.
That and prescribed burns also keep them at bay.

My house sits in about 3 acres of field like the picture. There is a small boarder of mowed grass about 20 ft around the house. That was a concession to my wife. If it was up to me there would be no mowed grass area.
Its not work free. I watch for and keep after invasives.
I pull sweet clovers, cut and spot treat other invasives with a couple of drops of herbicides on the cut stems. Very targeted and no damage to plants growing right next to them.
It gets easier every year as they are getting less and less.

No wild parsnip here.

What a nut job, but I think it is explainable.

I've got a theory about landscaping fanatics. It begins;
Genesis 1:28 "God blessed them (mankind) and said to them, be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it...."

I've noticed that urban folks, and especially those folks from the UK are extremely driven to control their environment and subdue their yards, etc..
I think this is a manifestation of the command we see in Genesis. Hunter gatherer people don't seek dominion and control over their yards, they manifest that command by hunting, trapping, fishing, etc..

I think those bunny hugging Brits, and other like them, are actually compelled by that God given desire to have control over their environment, that desire is expressed by the only means that many of them have; lawns, vegetable gardens, and window planter boxes.

In the case of my neighbor, he has no kids and his wife is a real shrew. If she sees him sitting idle she'll make him do stuff.

So he avoids her.

He leaves the house at 4:00 each morning to have breakfast at the local diner then heads to work. When he's not mowing or weed-whacking or driving his tractor around the hay field pretending to mow it he's in his garage tinkering around and he's in bed by 7:30 every night.

It keeps the shrew off his back I guess

I can't remember if that was said on the old Duckmen collection or duck dynasty? But I remember hearing Phil say that. Lol

Ol dad

DD yep

I'm like you in that I rarely mow but I do focus strategically on weed/invasive removal.


So far I've made it thru 'No Mow May' without any temptation to mow, & I do not foresee trouble making it until June.

We keep grass mowed down here so it dosnt get snakey.or so you can atleast se em.dirty D,no offense but I would never in a million years let kids walk through a yard like that.i myself wouldn't eaven.not without snake chaps.had a first cousin who picked cotton for a summer job once.he said every morning they would put snake chaps on.he said it wasn't unusual to get bit a couple or more times a day.rattlesnakes mostly

Dirty D, I expect y'all don't have chiggers in your neck of the woods.

I've bush hawged stuff like that.usually a copperhead or 2 before I'm done.yep and don't get off the tractor,you'll be eat up with chiggers for shore in stuff like that down here.

The big take away "We found that homes that participated in No Mow May had more diverse and abundant flora than regularly mowed green spaces throughout the city. No Mow May homes had three times higher bee richness and five times higher bee abundances than frequently mowed greenspaces."

You have to keep in mind that this is an urban initiative and only May. Hence many of the comments about ticks / snakes / parsnip etc aren't very relevant to the topic. The homeowners can choose when they want to mow if they feel the grass is too long. The whole point is to have something available to pollinators before other traditional sources like trees blossom. The bee people I know in Green Bay think it is making a major difference.

I'm with you, sir.

Thanks for the post, Green Bay. To me it just makes sense for a lot of reasons. Luckily I doubt I have poisonous snakes on my property, so that isn't much of a concern (though I do try to watch my step).

Pawnee, we must have married sisters, Bruce married a good one too.

The more I mow the more clover flowers cover the yard. Yard clover likes being mowed. The yard used to be Buffalo grass. The chicken and turkey pens are at the highest point, leeching all the goodness over the yard. A real transformation. The deer seem to enjoy it too.

I made it till last weekend my yard was knee high

I like to let it go to seed every year before I cut it but that 90s week made stuff grow very fast

I figured when all the trees were in blossom and the lilacs I was ok to mow

I have a lot of clover and areas covered in the little blue flowers the flowers had finished on those when I mowed

I cut and raked it up had enough to collect up my yards worth of hay and get all the tomatoes mulched with it

I am thinking about doing 2 areas in prairie the 2 most open areas in my law

I mowed today. I mowed every 14-15 days and clipped it high to let the grass dry on the stubble. I was comparing my lawn to our neighbors who all mowed 2 to 3 times more than I did and compared it to several lawns in our small villages that did not mow. I feel I got about 60-70% of the benefit of those who did not mow at all. The dandilions have a tendency to reflower quickly when clipped high. I also had quite a bit of blue grass heading at about 6-7 inches which creates pollen but not the massive growth of waiting. a couple of warm weeks and the blue grass will slow down pretty fast in growth.

Bryce

If you have to mow do it early in the morning before the it warms up. T he bees don't like to fly to early if the temperature is cool.

Trying to convince my brother in law to lay off mowing but he is brain dead, everybody cares about bees and the environment but just not in their yard.

This sounds like an aoc or biden "green deal" policy... lawn is mowed and looking good!

Remember and thank those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to secure our freedoms and this beautiful country.

Around here, it must be "NO Mow May-June-July-August". Or, perhaps, folks are just lazy? I prefer less bugs and weeds. I doubt our postage stamp sized yard is going to make or break the world bee/bug population.

If I didn't mow the month of May, I wouldn't get the mower through it after that.

Not that it's much of a lawn, mostly clover, ground ivy, misc. weeds and a little actual grass, lol, I keep the green stuff cut high as the mower allows.
The bumble bees hit it hard, haven't seen many honey bees at all anymore...

I was planting trees in a back yard last week and the next-door neighbor did the no mow May. The client burst out laughing when I commented,"The granola bars were out admiring their milk weed and got 3/4 ticks embedded on their bodies". Now they are afraid to go in their yard!

I could never live in a municipality ever again

37 years on a dirt road and farm life

A.O.C. thanks you all, Next is June is dairy month so please stop your cows from farting for A.O. C. s agenda. Just kidding the bees here are doing very well, the apple ,plum ,lilacs,ect are loaded with honey bees now.

My neighbors participated in No Mow May but they also have a yard service which sprays their lawn multiple times a year. There was nothing in their grass to pollinate! Can't fix stupid.

We would all be better off if people quit putting chemicals on their lawns Our waterways would appreciate not having all the nitrate run off.

I have a brush hog 4 sale, little far away though.

Had a neighbor busy body, softly whine how my grass was big.
Since he moved, I been giving it the crew cut lol.
At that time my work trumped my yard.

Funny I mow around my bee hives.

I also plant for my bees and leave several acres after the early spring bush hog unmowed all year because in late summer early fall the golden rod and milkweed is great for the pollinators.

I wonder how restrictive those places are in keeping bees in the back yard in town or keeping some chickens?

I bet keeping bees would not be allowed.

I am pretty much over lawn care. I am questioning the validity of spending time, money, effort, and resources to manicure a patch of earth... And the only return for my trouble is that it "looks orderly."

I would rather turn most of it into a garden and realize a true return on my investment... The pollinators and I both get to fill our bellies.

And with things headed in the direction they are... It just makes sense.

Mike

Your first 2 sentences I agree with. I have no clue on the honey bee population.

My wife would have a stroke. She loves mowing. She’ll mow ours, then head across the street and mow my sons. She won’t let anyone use her lawnmower…even me, lol. She goes on cruises and takes the keys!! I get stuck with the weed-eater, lol!!

It went well. I finally mowed June 1st. I don't like to mow, so this worked out ok for me. I think the key to my success was not fertilizing. I'm thankful to live in a municipality that let's me decide when to mow. I'll probably try it again next year. My yard looks pretty nice right now. It's not for everyone, but I think it is worth considering.

I think a no mow summer would be a good thing. Hate lawns. I don't care what others do with theirs, but why am I expected to do so,as well. To each their own, I say.

Yeppers, try telling that to the County Health Dept Inspector!

What's the Health Inspector have to do with it?

Around here the Insp has a little ruler mounted on stand, if your grass exceeds 8-10 inches you get a nasty letter, then if not taken care of the county sends a crew of bloodsucker lawn care scum to do it at a cost of $250 min, that they hang on your property tax bill. Being disabled I've gotten the letter, but never a visit from the crew. They claim the tall grass will attract rodents, (maybe so), and will cause disease!
St. Louis County, libtard central.
I'm sure the only thing they care about is keeping property values up, so they can stick it to you with higher property taxes.

I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around that one. It makes about as much sense as putting the outhouse uphill from the well.

Anyone ever let their grass go to seed?

My wife is the same way. She says “I don’t care enough when I mow. I’m just doing it to get it done” dang right I’m doing it to get done! Only mowed a couple times in 25 years

I'm finding I am getting a lot of other things done by not mowing this year. I mowed June 1st, that was it. I think my grass is thicker this year, maybe it went to seed & is suffocating the weeds. I have pulled a lot of weeds though. I haven't seen any snakes yet this year, though I do try to watch where I step.

Gibb has a good youtube about the benefits to his honey bees with this practice.

I believe it.
I'm going to do it again this year.

I did it last year, no mow May turned into no mow June, I mowed in July then again in late August, it worked out fine, lots of insects like butterflies in the yard.

I practice no-mow July, August, September, October, November, December, January, and February. I usually start mowing in March stop the end of June.
Saving the planet ya know.

If I didn't mow in May I'd have to get someone to cut, rake and round bale my yard. We have to mow from March to November around here. And I don't like it one bit.

I haven't had a lawn or a lawn mower in twenty years

I don't like to mow either

I'll do "No Mow May" again this year. It's getting increasingly popular in cities around Wisconsin. It works particularly well for people like me that don't like to mow.

Bob I thought you guys had friendly government in Missouri where I live no one cares if your grass is 5 foot high I cut to suit myself my point being the government sucks to an extent no matter where one lives

NO BS official would tell us when to mow our yards. Not if he wants to stay employed anyway. We had a dog Catcher that was going around shooting strays. Until one too many times they were Hunters Hunting Dogs. They torched his truck and he was fired and prosecuted. I own a weedeater but not a Mower. Why should I ?? I have 6 head of Horses. They MOW and FERTILIZE at the same time and I do not have to buy the Fertilizer!! Show me where TORO or any others can do that while I sit and watch.

I hate to mow when there are thousands of honeybees in front of my mower. I started to carry a piece of lathe wood on the mower to scare those away when they get thick on the clover. I know they won't fly away in time. Sure has slowed down my mowing when they get that way.

I have a neighbor like Lugnut down the road that has nothing better to do then ride around and act like he is doing something. I am off in the woods so no one can see my place from the highway. I hate to mow and waste 3 1/2 hrs. of my time. I am thinking about not mowing an acre or two maybe once a month. It will give the deer, turkey and ghogs more grazing and pecking area.

Who says trappers aren't conservation minded folks?

Had a neighbor that religiously mowed his yard every Saturday, took him hours, then off to the volunteer fire dept. Sunday was wash the cars, all morning, then off to the FD clubhouse....
Anything to not spend waking hours with his wife...

It's a suggestion, not a requirement.

I would have no problem complying with No Mow May since my lawn will still probably still be snow covered in May if this weather keeps up.

Stupidity just like all things made up by the govt overuse of insecticide works over pollinators , you take 1 ounce of Warrior and 15 gal of water and it will kill all the bugs on the acreage sprayed , mowing isn't even a factor in this equation in my opinion but what do I know

My experience is similar when it comes to clover. I don't know what buffalo grass is.

My thoughts as well.

I mow every week unless there's a drought and it's not growing. I watch and SMH at the clowns who do this "no mow May" nonsense try to mow after it's over. Some people never learn.
Of course the snakes, chipmunks, mice, rats, etc. love no mow May. More hiding places for them.

Haha

High grass brings snakes.

I just wait til the end of June and raise the deck. With the rain this year I may have to use the real tractor with the brush mower

So far I am no mow March, no mow April, and no mow May - if we dont get rain, might be no mow June.

I mowed a bit yesterday
my wife was like what happened to no mow may

I said you didn't volunteer to go pick all the garlic mustard out of that area of the yard so I mowed it before it seeded

wild violet , clover , even a few dandelions , plantain , lambs quarter I can live with

besides got to grow the bulk of the lawn long for that first harvest of mulch to put around plants in the garden

Well it’s May 10th here and there’s still not enough grass grown to mow.

I haven’t touched my yard in years but spend about 10 hours a week mowing for other people. There’s pretty good money in it.

Not at my house! The Simplicity put the first stripes of the year in my yard this afternoon!

I was mowing a couple acres of yard at camp yesterday. I have three hives here. I got mowing early before the bees started their day on dandelions. I know it’s insignificant in the big picture….but I still cringe when I run over my bees with the mower.

You have that much garlic mustard, wow--sorry to hear. I hear that's terrible stuff

The wife wanted to buy some weed and feed for our mini lawn. No way I said. She offered to put it on. Still no way, its a waste of resources, money and time. Time she could be in the kitchen making me snacks.
I did let her mow the mini lawn the other day tho, such a nice guy I am.

Know a woman that is doing no mow May. She is worried about the village getting after her. She asked me the best way to get rid of the grass and plant native grasses and forbs, I'll have to see if she wants some advice and help. Every lawn that goes away is a step in the right direction.

For all those afraid of snakes, bugs and what not what do you do when you go out in the woods hunting, trapping and fishing? Bring along a mower to clear a path so you don't get bit?

I have a section about 1/4 acre that I mow every week. If I don't, it gets too high.

The rest of the yard gets it about every other week or 2.

My wife likes to mow and is quite emphatic about how the lawn should look. She's also terrified of bees. She doesn't like to fill the mower up with gas. Soooooooo when I finish the lower yard I just don't fill it back up for her. I'll play the "I forgot to fill it honey" game for a few days when she thinks it's time to mow. She gets it from her dad who always had a well manicured lawn.

I don't go for a manicured lawn look. More of a mow 1/2 the yard per week, then half the next.

I have to go pick it out of my gravel pile next to the garage who would have thought it would grow so well in a pile of gravel.

birds sit on the eves of the garage and crap garlic seeds

Jayburd,

Is that there turf genuine Kentucky bluegrass ?

walleyed

Me neither. I have a lot on my plate so mowing is a low priority. That's why I don't fertilize my main yard too because I don't understand why I would want to mow more

I love you guys, but we are a dying breed. My neighbor cuts his grass 3 times a week. I am not kidding he puts at least a 100,000 mile a year on his mower a year. Even accused me of fishing to much. The quicker my yard burns out the better.

I mow my weeds when I get worried about not seeing snakes. Dont mow the pasture or food plots until end of july in case there are nesting turkeys or small fawns. Usually by end of july, fawns will run.

Now accepting bids on one 6' brush hog lol.
Been kinda dry over here.

here is some bonus value in not mowing till it is near a foot or better

I get about 7 plants mulched with each wheel barrow of grass down and back dump 3 times fills the wheel barrow.

He's 1 of those people that mows when it doesn't even need it. Perhaps OCD.

Recreational mowing, lot of that in our neighborhood as well. I cut about 2/3rds as often as the neighbors and I leave more stubble and I don't bag. I let it get longer 2-4 times per year and then rake up 3-4 garbage bags of dry lawn clippings and use it to make canine sets.

Bryce