Gardeners urged to put away lawnmower for #NoMowMay

Plantlife’s annual #No Mow May campaign has launched today (Friday), and you are being encouraged to let the wild flowers in your lawn bloom to provide a safe haven for insects and wildlife.

As well as local residents, councils are also being invited to join in by leaving parks and road verges to go wild, and farmers can also get involved as a three acre meadow can be home to 9 million flowers, producing enough nectar to support half a million bees every day.

According to Plantlife, on a single day in summer, one acre of wildflower meadow can contain three million flowers and produce 1kg of nectar sugar for pollinators.

But since the 1930s, we have lost nearly 7.5 million acres of flower-rich meadows and pastures and one percent of our countryside now provides this floral feast for pollinators.

Against this loss, s a result, habitats such as lawns have become increasingly important and with 15 million gardens in Britain, our lawns have the potential to become major sources of nectar.

Plantlife is now encouraging you to leave your lawnmower in the shed and let all your lawn grow for the month of May to allow smaller plants like clover, daisies, dandelions, selfheal and clover which can be traditionally found in UK lawns to get a chance to flower and give pollinators a boost.

To find out more about #NoMowMay, visit their website at nomowmay.plantlife.org.uk/.