No No Mow May

I mowed the lawn today. The front lawn and half of the backyard. It's No Mow May again and Becky and I had a laugh. For us it's No No Mow May again. Until today our front lawn did look a bit overgrown and some neighbors may have thought we had embraced the no cutting lawns in May movement. We had been our of town for most of the previous two weeks and then it rained for most of the week since our return. Thus a lawn in need of mowing.

So several people in the neighborhood did ask us if we were following not mowing our lawn this spring to help save the bees but of course we assured them that our gardens had plenty of plants for the bees without needing to fill our lawn with weeds. This is the second year of NMM in Buffalo and the third nationally. The City of Buffalo recently issued a proclamation supporting it and the Parkside Community Association is selling NMM signs. Now there has been a lot of articles in the press and online arguing that NMM is well meaning but misguided and misinformed. Letting your lawn become an out of control meadow for a month probably does more harm to the insects, the plants and the environment in general than doing careful lawn maintenance. 

A lot of this NMM stuff was originally focused on the perfect manicured extensive lawns of the suburbs and not the urban gardeners with our plant diversity and careful planning. 

Well, it was a beautiful day today and perfect for getting started on our spring gardening including mowing the lawn.