[Help] Never cut the lawn in May - sage words or a load of old bolleaux?

[jakarta]

Have Greenthumb come & treat Lawn at Jakarta Towers every so often.

They just did their Spring Feed and they said it would be OK to mow 3 days later - presume they know of which they speak?

 

[Arthur]

Breed a daughter who should be roughly 11 years old at time of writing.

Get her to plead for a puppy every day for about six hours until you want to pull your own fingernails out with plyers.

Buy a cockapoo puppy.

Say "goodbye lawn, hello holes, toys and socks".

Sorted

I have a Cocker Spaniel bitch who tends to have a prefered spot to go and have a pee in. The result is I have a very patchy bit of lawn by my back gate. The odd thing is (and maybe one of you green fingered types could explain why this is happening) it turns the grass around said patches into super grass which grows at about 4 times the speed than the rest of the lawn.

I've cut once so far this year. Holding fire now though but that is more to do with the bin men being on strike and my garden bin already full.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Have Greenthumb come & treat Lawn at Jakarta Towers every so often.

They just did their Spring Feed and they said it would be OK to mow 3 days later - presume they know of which they speak?

It's got little to do with the health of the lawn, more to do with biodiversity, helping insects and such. I think it's a change in thinking about what a lawn aesthetic can be other than just manicured green stripes. Like [MENTION=616]Guinness Boy[/MENTION], and perhaps worse in my case I have a sighthound who tears up and down the garden skidding to a halt that drags up the grass. So I'm definitely going with the new aesthetic!!

Where he slides he drags sections of turf up. Anyway, I've experimented this spring with a bit of top dressing to fill some gaps and some seed...I think the birds have eaten most of the seed though!


Mind you, looking better than it did in February!

 

[jakarta]

It's got little to do with the health of the lawn, more to do with biodiversity, helping insects and such. I think it's a change in thinking about what a lawn aesthetic can be other than just manicured green stripes. Like [MENTION=616]Guinness Boy[/MENTION], and perhaps worse in my case I have a sighthound who tears up and down the garden skidding to a halt that drags up the grass. So I'm definitely going with the new aesthetic!!

Where he slides he drags sections of turf up. Anyway, I've experimented this spring with a bit of top dressing to fill some gaps and some seed...I think the birds have eaten most of the seed though!
View attachment 147933

Mind you, looking better than it did in February!
View attachment 147934

Our (modest ) lawn is grass, on our boundary we have sown loads of wild flowers for the boids and the bees... Win/Win?

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Is this advisable? I'm sure there are a couple of learned friends on here who might be able to shed some light. My lawn looks like it needs a cut but I've followed NSC advice to not 'shave it' and it has become luxuriant. Should I take the plunge and let it grow bushy in May?

Never mind les bolleaux mon brave. Time to deliver le coup de grace

 

[dejavuatbtn]

An entire month of not mowing will be good for other plant species and fauna, but you’ll never get it back to an ornamental/utility lawn. As well as Dandelions, Poa annua, coarse grasses, Speedwell and Bird’s-foot trefoil will spread by self seeding and rhizomes.

It’s a one-off choice.

…….. as the Council seem to have proved.

 

[The Clamp]

My garden is a delightful jumble of tall grass, ox-eye daisies and all manner of wildflowers and grasses. With a lovely little hidden patio I can hide away in and read. I love this time of year. Love it!

 

[schmunk]

My garden is a delightful jumble of tall grass, ox-eye daisies and all manner of wildflowers and grasses. With a lovely little hidden patio I can hide away in and read. I love this time of year. Love it!

 

[Madafwo]

I have a Cocker Spaniel bitch who tends to have a prefered spot to go and have a pee in. The result is I have a very patchy bit of lawn by my back gate. The odd thing is (and maybe one of you green fingered types could explain why this is happening) it turns the grass around said patches into super grass which grows at about 4 times the speed than the rest of the lawn.

I've cut once so far this year. Holding fire now though but that is more to do with the bin men being on strike and my garden bin already full.

I'm sure someone who is more knowledgeable about this will correct me if I'm wrong, or provide more info to fill in the gaps but it's my understanding dog wee is essentially super concentrated fertiliser (ammonia) and if left will kill the grass, around the edges it's a bit weaker and works just like a fertiliser.

Rinse it down once the dog has finished and it won't kill the grass.

 

[The Clamp]

Not far off!

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I'm sure someone who is more knowledgeable about this will correct me if I'm wrong, or provide more info to fill in the gaps but it's my understanding dog wee is essentially super concentrated fertiliser (ammonia) and if left will kill the grass, around the edges it's a bit weaker and works just like a fertiliser.

Rinse it down once the dog has finished and it won't kill the grass.

Normally a ring of turbo charged lawn is a sign of a 'type 2' fairy ring. Commony caused by puffball mushrooms.

 

[MJsGhost]

I'm sure someone who is more knowledgeable about this will correct me if I'm wrong, or provide more info to fill in the gaps but it's my understanding dog wee is essentially super concentrated fertiliser (ammonia) and if left will kill the grass, around the edges it's a bit weaker and works just like a fertiliser.

Rinse it down once the dog has finished and it won't kill the grass.

Dog wee has a lot of nitrogen in it, which will make the grass grow lush in that spot. The brown/dead patches come from the concentration of ammonia/nitrogen being too strong meaning fertilizer burn. Chucking a bucket of water straight on after the wee definitely works, but keeping your lawn watered in general also helps dilute the strength and therefore eliminates the burn and reduces green/lush patches. Fertilizing the bits of lawn that don't get pissed on will keep the rest of it lush and reduce the contrast between where the dog wees and where it doesn't (but easier said than done).

I have a Cocker Spaniel bitch who tends to have a prefered spot to go and have a pee in. The result is I have a very patchy bit of lawn by my back gate. The odd thing is (and maybe one of you green fingered types could explain why this is happening) it turns the grass around said patches into super grass which grows at about 4 times the speed than the rest of the lawn.

I've cut once so far this year. Holding fire now though but that is more to do with the bin men being on strike and my garden bin already full.

You might be able to teach her to wee somewhere else - I know someone that set aside a metre square of garden, put down wood chips and then taught her dogs to do all of their business there.

I personally don't mind a rustic lawn, which is just as well as my dog would be a lost cause for that kind of training

 

[Arthur]

I'm sure someone who is more knowledgeable about this will correct me if I'm wrong, or provide more info to fill in the gaps but it's my understanding dog wee is essentially super concentrated fertiliser (ammonia) and if left will kill the grass, around the edges it's a bit weaker and works just like a fertiliser.

Rinse it down once the dog has finished and it won't kill the grass.

Dog wee has a lot of nitrogen in it, which will make the grass grow lush in that spot. The brown/dead patches come from the concentration of ammonia/nitrogen being too strong meaning fertilizer burn. Chucking a bucket of water straight on after the wee definitely works, but keeping your lawn watered in general also helps dilute the strength and therefore eliminates the burn and reduces green/lush patches. Fertilizing the bits of lawn that don't get pissed on will keep the rest of it lush and reduce the contrast between where the dog wees and where it doesn't (but easier said than done).

That makes an incredible amount of sense. Thanks for the explanation.

 

[mikeyjh]

Not mowing in May, but to continue mowing thereafter is helping biodiversity just a bit. It all depends on what you want your lawn to do. If, for whatever reason, it needs to stay neat and tidy, just continue mowing throughout May and beyond.
If you're fortunate enough to have a large lawn, consider regular mowing where it's necessary and put the the rest over to "Meadow management".
Consider what you need your lawn for. Does it have to be shaved off every week?

There are many mowing regimes to assist biodiversity by encouraging wild flowers to produce flowers for pollenating insects, such as;
Mow regularly, but stop on 20th June, then cut and clear at the end of August.
Don't mow at all and cut and clear once a year at the end of August.
Don't mow, then cut and clear sections, once, from late June to the end of August.

You can't have a high quality amenity lawn and have the same area as a wild-life meadow. It's a matter of either having one or the other, or having an area divided in to the two types, or having margins meadow-managed.

In summary, the less you mow, the better for biodiversity as this gives the wild flowers a chance to show, so "No-mow May"?, every little helps.

Yeah, that's what we're trying to do, have a smallish nice lawn and then certain banks and other areas dedicated to meadow - Harder than it sounds, as I'm sure you know!

Anything, almost literally, is better than an artificial lawns.

 

[The Oldman]

Whilst I understand the no mowing in May I can only say our front and back lawns through the year provide food for birds. Seagulls (of course) starlings , magpies and even the occasional red grouse are on our lawns for worms, grubs and ants. Nevertheless, in our borders or islands we do plant to attract bees etc . Bees also burrow into our lawns for the winter. So, a natural lawn is not all bad.

 

[The Oldman]

I

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[Weststander]

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File size too large?


I don’t feel too guilty about having lawn, I’ve got lots of wildlife projects going, for example:

A long perennials meadow down one border, in summer buzzing with bees. By June this will be 4’ high.




Elsewhere, a long L-shaped native wildlife hedge and every perennial chosen for pollinators.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

First cut yesterday, seems ok.

 

[zefarelly]

Our paved area/path was finished yesterday . . . .now to get onto the green bit. . . and the pond edging . . . we are a 70's pink crazy paving free zone.

 

[Weststander]

Our paved area/path was finished yesterday . . . .now to get onto the green bit. . . and the pond edging . . . we are a 70's pink crazy paving free zone.

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Wildlife friendly edging - gently sloping & native plants?