No Mow May

No Mow May

  • An Excuse To Be Lazy

    Votes: 134 82.2%
  • Good for the Bees

    Votes: 29 17.8%

  • Total voters
    163

ISUTex

Well-Known Member
May 25, 2012
9,898
9,651
113
Rural U.S.A.
It seems there is an abundance of people in my neighborhood this year that are letting the lawn go nuts. Seems like a good way to kill your mower and the rest of the lawn laying that much grass back on top when you finally do cut it.

A lot of people are busy as **** in May. Especially if they have kids. And it's been fairly rainy.
 

WartburgClone

Well-Known Member
Mar 14, 2022
1,266
1,974
113
I would love to turn my yard into a prairie but I feel that the neighbors and their perfectly manicured Kentucky Bluegrass would raise a stink over it.

An alternate choice would be to replace it with buffalo grass. Only have to mow it a couple of times per year.
 

BCClone

Well Seen Member.
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Sep 4, 2011
67,701
63,768
113
Not exactly sure.
Town I’m in has a rule that you can get fined if the grass is over 6 inches tall. The council member who was the biggest jerk about that and would turn people in is the one south of the weed house I showed. His lawn is routinely over that now since he got a different job. This is also a guy who cried when he resigned from council due to wanting to work on his marriage after his 4th or 5th affair (or at least that people know of).
 

Turn2

Well-Known Member
May 12, 2011
22,642
27,033
113
Clusterfunkeny
I think the clover looks so nice! Dh doesn't love but he let's me win that one. Honeybees love it. And it's one area which happens to adjoin the garden so I like drawing in the pollinators there.
I've seen the biggest bumblebees in my life this past week in our lamium groundcover.

Lamium-bee-300x277.jpg
 

Clonefan94

Well-Known Member
Oct 18, 2006
11,198
6,248
113
Schaumburg, IL
My take on this is if you don’t get every single person on board, it leads to more problems. As I’ve said in another thread, I’m not a yard Nazi, a dandelion here or there is no big deal. I usually leave clover be. It’s only creeping Charlie I get upset about. But, I do have 2 yard Nazis on my culdesac. We had a neighbor who did his version of no mow summer. Said he wouldn’t spray his dandelions and other weeds because it was bad for the environment. In the end, his antics led 4 other houses to hire spraying/weed control services. I have a feeling he added a lot more chemicals to the environment second hand than he would have if he just kept things under control.

Finally, in late June, his wife called a service to come in and get it under control. I believe they were threatened with a fine From the village. It’s not that hard to keep a decent yard with little chemical use, but when things get out of control, your weeds spread to neighbors who will dump a bunch of chemicals on theirs to keep them pristine.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: huntt26

carvers4math

Well-Known Member
Mar 15, 2012
21,353
17,736
113
My take on this is if you don’t get every single person on board, it leads to more problems. As I’ve said in another thread, I’m not a yard Nazi, a dandelion here or there is no big deal. I usually leave clover be. It’s only creeping Charlie I get upset about. But, I do have 2 yard Nazis on my culdesac. We had a neighbor who did his version of no mow summer. Said he wouldn’t spray his dandelions and other weeds because it was bad for the environment. In the end, his antics led 4 other houses to hire spraying/weed control services. I have a feeling he added a lot more chemicals to the environment second hand than he would have if he just kept things under control.

Finally, in late June, his wife called a service to come in and get it under control. I believe they were threatened with a fine From the village. It’s not that hard to keep a decent yard with little chemical use, but when things get out of control, your weeds spread to neighbors who will dump a bunch of chemicals on theirs to keep them pristine.
I never realized people got so bent about their yards. Even the fussy guy in our neighborhood has come to accept the highway property dooms everyone and he won’t spray due to dog and grandkids. Our dog did score big points with him when barking alerted him that it wasn’t a squirrel eating his hostas, it was a deer. It kind of cracks me up when his sits in his immaculate yard shirtless with his beer belly.
 

Clonefan94

Well-Known Member
Oct 18, 2006
11,198
6,248
113
Schaumburg, IL
I never realized people got so bent about their yards. Even the fussy guy in our neighborhood has come to accept the highway property dooms everyone and he won’t spray due to dog and grandkids. Our dog did score big points with him when barking alerted him that it wasn’t a squirrel eating his hostas, it was a deer. It kind of cracks me up when his sits in his immaculate yard shirtless with his beer belly.
The irony is that neighbor who really let his yard grow, he bought the house from a guy who was truly an insane yard Nazi. As I said, I’m not nuts about my yard, but I’ve always kept it tidy. The original owner, when we moved in, was constantly on me to improve my yard. My yard was fine, it was green, you couldn’t tell it had any weeds unless you got really close. So I suspect he was inspecting it during the day while I was at work.

He even offered to pay for Tru-Green for me, so i didn’t have any weeds. I said no as I especially like clover and we had pets and kids who used the yard. My dandelions and other heavy weeds are usually few enough I just pull them with the weed tool I have.

The bad yard neighbor has since moved on too, but I always laugh thinking of the heart attack the original guy would have had if he saw what his prized lawn had turned into. I honestly believe it would have killed him.
 
  • Funny
Reactions: carvers4math

CyclonesRock

Well-Known Member
Jan 1, 2018
1,272
1,720
113
Iowa
Several years ago we placed 25 acres of the family farm into set aside and seeded it with native prairie. Tons of flowers all year long. No one should feel obligated to let weeds grow in their yard. I have mowed 3 times in May already.
 

cycloneworld

Facebook Knows All
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Mar 20, 2006
30,143
22,484
113
Urbandale, IA
I never realized people got so bent about their yards. Even the fussy guy in our neighborhood has come to accept the highway property dooms everyone and he won’t spray due to dog and grandkids. Our dog did score big points with him when barking alerted him that it wasn’t a squirrel eating his hostas, it was a deer. It kind of cracks me up when his sits in his immaculate yard shirtless with his beer belly.

Not only bent over their yards but caring about other people’s yards is an even bigger joke. As long as it doesn’t look abandoned, I don’t care what any of my neighbor’s yards look like. It’s their yard, they can do whatever they want.
 

wxman1

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Jul 2, 2008
19,939
16,324
113
Cedar Rapids
My in-laws used to live across the street from a guy that was so concerned about his lawn that he would not only take care of his but the houses on each side of him as well. Straight up ******* too. Would get all worked up and mad if you parked in front his house on a public street.
 

2122

Well-Known Member
Mar 21, 2021
1,445
1,846
113
63
My in-laws used to live across the street from a guy that was so concerned about his lawn that he would not only take care of his but the houses on each side of him as well. Straight up ******* too. Would get all worked up and mad if you parked in front his house on a public street.
Sorta like US Senator Rand Paul's neighbor, just not quite that bad.

 
  • Wow
Reactions: carvers4math

NickTheGreat

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Jan 17, 2012
10,803
4,773
113
Central Iowa
I mowed Friday night after 8 days, and it was about all I could get through. I'm glad I'm not waiting another 2.5 weeks. It's gonna need it again here very soon.
 
  • Like
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dtISU

Well-Known Member
Nov 17, 2010
2,603
922
113
A suburb of Ames
I mowed Friday night after 8 days, and it was about all I could get through. I'm glad I'm not waiting another 2.5 weeks. It's gonna need it again here very soon.
Love/hate this time of year - love that the grass looks SO green and lush. Hate that I have to mow every 48 - 72 hours. You can hear the grass growing.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Gorm

DSM4Cy

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Apr 4, 2006
2,589
3,213
113
Altoona, IA
I've let mine grow pretty long mostly from not being home at all in the evenings, and it raining so much. But it's pretty out of control now. What's the minimum time you'll go after a rain before mowing? The yard is just so wet right now.
 

Drew0311

Well-Known Member
Nov 7, 2019
9,078
13,757
113
51
Norwalk, Iowa
Guy next door finally caved and mowed his yard. It took him two or three passes because a lot of it was laying down. His lazyness turned into extra work. Now it don't match anyone elses yard. Which I don't really care. Just would have been a lot easier for him to mow it when he was supposed to mow it.
 
  • Winner
Reactions: cyfan92

Drew0311

Well-Known Member
Nov 7, 2019
9,078
13,757
113
51
Norwalk, Iowa
I've let mine grow pretty long mostly from not being home at all in the evenings, and it raining so much. But it's pretty out of control now. What's the minimum time you'll go after a rain before mowing? The yard is just so wet right now.


If it's that long. You probably have to wait a little longer for it to dry out
 

carvers4math

Well-Known Member
Mar 15, 2012
21,353
17,736
113
A lot of people are busy as **** in May. Especially if they have kids. And it's been fairly rainy.
When my kids were in school, it was my least favorite month of the year. One year we had three in high school, one graduating, just chaos. Husband pondered paying someone to mow, but they had similar problems with getting slammed with kids’ May activities.
 

spierceisu

Well-Known Member
Jan 28, 2007
1,122
1,025
113
42
Ankeny
I think my perennial plants I put in are going to do a lot more for pollinators than the dandelions. I mow away and spot spray my weeds as needed. I have a person in my neighborhood that rarely mows and when they do, they can't even get it complete in one time. Their mower is currently just sitting in their half mown yard and hasn't moved in 4+ days. People in the neighborhood don't like the lawn. My son who is five said "look at all the snow" for all the dandelions in the yard. I laughed pretty hard at that. They also don't really maintain their house or area very well either. I am so glad I don't live next to them.
 
  • Haha
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