British gardeners encouraged to take part in No Mow May

Last year’s No Mow May participants reported over 250 plant varieties in their gardens, including rare species like orchids, meadow saxifrage, and eyebright. Others found tasty treats like wild strawberry and wild garlic growing amongst the grass.

Participants counted over 465,000 flowers and also reported seeing over 100 different insect species, including 25 kinds of moths and butterflies and 24 types of bees.

Although I’m not the biggest fan of insects, conservationists called these sightings encouraging, as the UK has seen 41 percent of its natural species listed as ‘in decline’ since the 1970s, with 15 percent at risk for extinction.

In one area of south London, local officials hope to double the amount of grass left to grow this year, as they allow Wandsworth’s public parks, sports pitches, road verges, and cemetery gardens to grow wild.

If seeing your back garden teeming with weeds, long grass, and insects sounds like a nightmare, you may want to simply cut a neat path through or grow out only one small section of a garden.

Even the slightest efforts can have a big impact, for example – only eight dandelions are needed to produce enough nectar to fuel an adult bee as it carries out its mission to pollinate. A 100 square metre area could fuel up to six!

Once the month-long event is finaly over, Plantlife encourages people to take part in its Every Flower Counts survey to help construct a picture of what plants and animals have been found in participants’ lawns.

So if you’re looking for a sign to abandon one of your house chores for a few weeks, this is it! Those interested in taking part can sign up at Plantlife’s website.