This Spring, Do More by Doing Less: Low Mow May

written by Yvonne Malone & Steve Ruffolo

Late Winter and early Spring are messy here in the Midwest. Garden beds look unkempt, twigs and small branches lie scattered on the ground, last years’ flower heads bend in the wind and slowly fall apart, grass is a dull brown. 

Almost instinctively, as temperatures start to climb and days lengthen, we begin making order out of the chaos: We start cleaning out garden beds, mow the lawn, and make plans for the season ahead. 

There are a couple of good reasons, though, to slow down those clean-up tasks, according to the experts. 

What We See Above Ground Belies What is Happening Below in the Soil

There is a lot of activity happening in all that debris we are anxious to clear away. Leaf litter, small branches, hollowed out stems from last year’s flowers, all provide a good habitat for insects that overwinter, as well as a safe harbor for those in the egg or larva stage. And, the emerging landscape provides a food source for pollinators (assuming bloom times are aligned with the pollinator’s needs).

Do More by Doing Less

Here’s what you can do to help the native bee, butterfly, ladybugs and other beneficial insect populations get established…

• Hold off on cleaning out beds, adding a new layer of mulch, and mowing the grass until temperatures are consistently above 50 degrees overnight. And, if you can leave a garden bed alone longer for those species that emerge later, all the better.

  
  

  

  
  

• Limit mowing to every 2 weeks. In years past, there has been a lot of discussion around No Mow May, a movement that started in the U.K. which advocated for not mowing during the month of May. The ever-evolving science around this approach suggests that for those of us on this side of the pond and in the Midwest, we should instead adopt a "Low Mow May" practice.

  

  
  

• Focus on making plans for the new season, especially ones that result in attracting and supporting pollinators and other wildlife throughout the growing season. Whether you are turning a little-used area of the lawn into a new garden bed or changing up an existing bed, consider planting native species with varying bloom times, colors, heights and shape to attract a wide range of pollinators.  

  

  
  

Learn More

Here are several resources to tap into as you make garden plans this year. To learn about others, be sure to connect with Greener Grove on Facebook and Instagram and sign up for

our e-newsletter here.

• “It’s Almost May; Is it Time to Stop Mowing?,” University of Illinois Extension Office 

• Homegrown National Park - Resources for using native plants in a landscape to create a more biodiverse ecosystem.

• Possibility Place Nursery - Native plant nursery in Monee, Illinois (approximately 45 minutes from Downers Grove)