More on No Mow May and meadows<\/strong><\/p>

Think \u2018No Mow May\u2019 is not for you? Try these neat ideas<\/a><\/li>
No Mow May 2023: Why you shouldn\u2019t mow the lawn in May<\/a><\/li>
Expert tips for designing a meadow<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>
How to mow the lawn after No Mow May<\/h2>
Disturb the grass<\/h3>
We have heard reports of people mowing over frogs and slow worms when mowing long grass. Before you mow a patch, try to disturb the grass a little by batting it or wandering through it so the animals get a fighting chance to escape.<\/p>
A higher cut first<\/h3>
Don’t just go straight in with the lowest cut on your lawn mower. If you put your mower blade on a high setting first then you will help alert the wildlife so they can escape before any blades coming their way.<\/p>
Recommended cutting lengths: <\/strong><\/p>
Short grass and flowering lawns: 2.5 to 5cm<\/p>
Mid length grass and meadows: cut just 2 to 3 times a year outside of April and August<\/p>
Year round longer grass areas: left un-mown from spring to autumn.<\/p>
\u00a9\u00a0 Sarah Shuttleworth – Plantlife<\/figcaption><\/figure>Mow high traffic areas first<\/h3>
Mark Schofield, road verges<\/a> advisor to Plantlife has some very handy tips on how to avoid harming wildlife when mowing after No Mow May. The main thrust is that you should always allow space and opportunity for the wildlife to escape to habitats. Always mow from paths and high footfall areas towards boundaries. “it allows disturbed wildlife to move towards cover gradually”. He also suggests you should mow in parallel to the shelter wildlife can move towards.<\/p>
Here’s more on how to attract wildlife in your garden<\/a><\/strong><\/p>
Rake your cuttings<\/h3>
When you cut you should try to rake back your grass cuttings, as leaving them on the lawn can stop the regrowth of wildflowers, which prefer less fertile soil. Leave your cuttings in certain areas of your lawn if you like, to get the lush grass you want, or use the cuttings as mulch on your vegetable beds to stop weeds growing and retain moisture.<\/p>
Redesign your lawn<\/h3>
While we realise that leaving the grass long all over for a month at a time just isn’t right for some people<\/a>, there are a few ways of incorporating mowing less in your garden that will look lovely. Find a little corner of for a wildflower<\/a> and grass patch that you can leave longer that has a path through. It’s likely that the longer patches will not dry up over drought and will keep a handy home for lots of insects throughout the year.<\/p>
We love the natural look of grass and flowers encroaching on boundaries and these can be great areas to leave grass and plants a little longer. Rather than strimming<\/a> at the edges, perhaps experiment with what it looks like leaving things wilder.<\/p>
$\"(c)$
\u00a9 Matt Pitts – Plantlife<\/figcaption><\/figure>
How about a meadow?<\/h3>
Have you ever dreamed about lounging<\/a> and relaxing in a beautiful meadow? If you have the space, you could encourage the grass by mowing only twice a year outside April to July. Left for longer, grasses with wildflowers support the lifecycles of the insects that need them.<\/p>
Here’s some expert tips on designing a meadow<\/a><\/strong><\/p>
For more information on No Mow May and how to encourage wildlife in your lawns head to Plantlife.org.uk<\/a><\/p>
Looking for mowers? <\/strong><\/p>
Push mowers<\/a> are good for the environment<\/li>
Ever tried a scythe?<\/a><\/li>
Here’s our round up of lawnmowers to buy<\/a><\/li><\/ul> <\/body><\/html>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Plantlife campaign No Mow May has ended, but how do you protect all the wildlife that has got used to your long grass? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":36293,"template":"","categories":[1,17],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/06\/no-mow-may-is-over-but-what-now-heres-how-to-mow-in-june-scaled.jpg",1920,2560,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/06\/no-mow-may-is-over-but-what-now-heres-how-to-mow-in-june-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/06\/no-mow-may-is-over-but-what-now-heres-how-to-mow-in-june-225x300.jpg",225,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/06\/no-mow-may-is-over-but-what-now-heres-how-to-mow-in-june-768x1024.jpg",768,1024,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/06\/no-mow-may-is-over-but-what-now-heres-how-to-mow-in-june-768x1024.jpg",768,1024,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/06\/no-mow-may-is-over-but-what-now-heres-how-to-mow-in-june-1152x1536.jpg",1152,1536,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/06\/no-mow-may-is-over-but-what-now-heres-how-to-mow-in-june-1536x2048.jpg",1536,2048,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The Plantlife campaign No Mow May has ended, but how do you protect all the wildlife that has got used to your long grass?","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/36292"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

How to mow the lawn after No Mow May<\/h2>

Disturb the grass<\/h3>We have heard reports of people mowing over frogs and slow worms when mowing long grass. Before you mow a patch, try to disturb the grass a little by batting it or wandering through it so the animals get a fighting chance to escape.<\/p>

Disturb the grass<\/h3>
We have heard reports of people mowing over frogs and slow worms when mowing long grass. Before you mow a patch, try to disturb the grass a little by batting it or wandering through it so the animals get a fighting chance to escape.<\/p>