Why ‘No Mow May’ Is Bad for Your Lawn and Wildlife

You may be seeing social media posts or signs around your town promoting “No Mow May,” a campaign calling for people to put away their lawn mowers during May. The idea is that by letting your yard grow freely for a month, you’ll encourage the growth of beneficial plants for pollinators, providing them with food and habitat. Unfortunately, the practice doesn’t actually support wildlife and can even do more harm than good, according to conservationists. Your grass will suffer as well. Here’s why “No Mow May” is a no-go—and what to do instead for a healthy, pollinator-friendly yard.

3 Reasons You Shouldn’t Do “No Mow May”

You’re Not Actually Growing Anything Useful for Pollinators

In the U.S., the typical grassy lawn provides very little support for pollinators, no matter how long you let it grow.

The “No Mow May” campaign was launched by the U.K. nonprofit Plantlife in 2019, after conservationists noticed that native flowers were springing up in unmown areas around Britain. (Native plants, meaning plants that are local to a particular region, are the species that most benefit pollinators.) The campaign quickly gained traction and spread overseas to the U.S., where, unfortunately, our landscape doesn’t experience the same benefits, says conservationist Heather Holm.

“In North America, where a lot of ‘No Mo May’ is practiced in urban and suburban yards, the plants that bloom are typically nonnative and sometimes invasive,” Holm says. “The three most common are dandelions, creeping Charlie, and Dutch white clover, which collectively aren’t doing much for our native pollinators, bees in particular. They may provide a bit of nectar, but they don’t provide what local bees really need to rear offspring, which is native plant pollen.”

And as ecologist Doug Tallamy, author of How Can I Help? Saving Nature with Your Yard, notes, the turf grass most Americans use is a European plant that—whether short or long—doesn’t supply any nutrients for pollinators.

Your Grass Will Get Stressed-Out

Letting your grass grow long and then suddenly cutting it short again on June 1 will shock the plant. “During ‘No Mow May,’ you’ll get a lot of top growth, and the grass will also develop a deeper root system, which is good,” Holm explains. “But whenever you chop off top growth on grass, you reduce the depth of the root system. Now you’ve created this very stressed lawn because the grass has to regenerate a root system and recuperate from losing all that top growth.” With a weakened root system, the grass will be more susceptible to damage.

You Could Hurt Wildlife Once You Bring Back the Mower

Birds, snakes, rabbits, and other wildlife might mistake your unmown lawn for a viable habitat, Holm notes. You might not notice them when you start mowing again—and let’s just say the blades won’t do them any favors. “I’ve heard stories of that kind of damage happening,” Holm says.

Also, even if beneficial native plants do start popping up in your yard, “pollinators need forage all season long, not just in May,” Tallamy points out. Promptly getting rid of all their food starting in June “is like pulling the rug out from under them.”

What You Should Do Instead of “No Mow May”

If you’re drawn to the idea of “No Mow May,” you likely want to use your outdoor space to support pollinators. Or you just want an excuse not to mow—also valid. Either way, for a wildlife-friendly yard that requires little or no mowing, both Holm and Tallamy recommend establishing permanent native flower beds, and reducing your grassy space to make room for them.

“Expand your garden beds and start adding some flowering perennials,” Holm says. “You can easily build up diversity with more flowering plants than could possibly occur in an unmown lawn. Keep the spaces separate. The lawn is for walking on, and the planted area is done with intention—to provide plants for bees and pollinators. Once you create that habitat, don’t undo it.”