No Mow May, Low Mow Spring

&gt; <i>residents of Appleton, Wisconsin [...] convinced their City Council to suspend their weed ordinance for the month of May.</i><p>This reminds me that there are many municipalities and homeowners&#x27; associations that essentially require you to mow your lawn weekly or bi-weekly, lest your grass gets too long and they fine you, because... reasons.<p>It&#x27;s really gross that we allow people to be such busybodies.

I mow just a few times a year, mostly just cutting paths and leaving big sections of taller grasses. Some examples:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;simonsarris&#x2F;status&#x2F;1629638819954786305" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;simonsarris&#x2F;status&#x2F;1629638819954786305</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;simonsarris&#x2F;status&#x2F;1651949172931674112" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;simonsarris&#x2F;status&#x2F;1651949172931674112</a><p>The fields naturally have lots of clover, black eyed susans, milkweed, and daisies. I&#x27;ve also planted a lot of my own flowers.<p>You can still have parts cut low, and if you leave the rest taller even the low part seems to resist drought better.<p>I used to mow ~3 acres with just a gas push (self-propelled) mower. Now I have the &quot;modest&quot; X330. You don&#x27;t need a big machine to do this. Though you do have to go slow when you cut at the end of the year around October.

We plant only Texas native plants in our garden. Bee balm, honeysuckle, Texas lantana, beautyberry, and turk’s cap to name a few. We get so many bumblebees and other pollinators in the late months of spring. Also (imo) looks way nicer than the generic “HOA plant” lawns around us.

Lots of people use landscaping services<p>Most services want you on a weekly schedule because they make more money. Close-cut lawns are thirstier.<p>It can take effort to find services that will only come twice a month but they are out there.<p>Lawns aren&#x27;t just ornamental for many...if you are on septic, the lawn is helping to recycle septic discharge, and trees would root too deep and break the lines.

&gt; Lawns cover 40 million acres, or 2%, of land in the US, making them the single largest irrigated crop we grow.<p>That&#x27;s comparing (an estimate of the) <i>total lawn area</i> to only the <i>irrigated portion of corn</i> (around 17% of the 91 million acres of corn in the US). If less than 40% of lawns are irrigated (which seems entirely plausible), then turfgrass is not the largest irrigated crop by any measure.<p>Total for total, corn has more. Irrigated for irrigated, lawns have more iff ~39% or more of the total area is irrigated. I doubt that 2&#x2F;5ths of all lawn area is irrigated, but good statistics on that were not readily findable (and certainly not cited in the article).

Yeah let’s not look at farmers, politicians, or Aggie corporations. Let’s make you feel bad about bees while we give more water to those using majority of the limited resources to begin with.

My lawn is 100% for my kids. Schools give kids less and less time to get their energy out. They need areas to play and exhaust themselves more than ever.<p>Most dog owners use the backyard in a similar fashion.<p>Though thats only the backyard. Front yard could be rock, plants, flowers, long grass, etc and wouldn&#x27;t make a difference.

Main problem I have with long grass is that it seems to attract more mosquitoes. I’d actually prefer xeriscaping but my HOA doesn’t allow it.

After letting grass grow long, mowing it short can cause Lawn Shock where the grass goes brown and can even die. Grass stores its nutrients in the blades so you shouldn&#x27;t take off more than an inch or two at a time. Unfortunately most lawnmowers can&#x27;t do this with really long grass, or I&#x27;d let my lawn grow more often.

I will never understand lawn culture. It doesn&#x27;t make any sense to me what so ever. (Grew up rural Australia)

I do this just because until mid-late spring the ground here is so wet my lawnmower will get stuck and just make everything look smashed and dirty. I also let it go extra long before my last trim of the season to allow the wildflowers to propagate.

They&#x27;re coming for lawns now?

Yeah that’s gonna be a no from me dawg. In spring grasses get so long and thick my rescued dogs won’t have anywhere to poop or play in.

I didn’t mow once last year. I do weed out non native weeds but I keep most of the weeds that I find pleasing.

With someone immunocompromised on the property long grass and mosquitos are a problem.<p>We mow heavier around the house because of this, too lazy to do everywhere.<p>Where we haven&#x27;t been mowing really bad weeds have taken over. We are poisoning our way through them but it takes time.<p>&gt; Lawns cover 40 million acres, or 2%, of land in the US<p>This is because they are amazing. They have a lot of mental health benefits with little mental work. You just mow... and immediately see the benefits of your work. Mowing is like the first coat of paint. It&#x27;s a great example of how people are happier in the moment doing chores than in the moment with their kids.<p>This theme adds mental work, which is fine if you have it to spare, lawns are great iterative projects.

Mow what? The dog shit covered barren earth I call my backyard? I&#x27;m hip I&#x27;m &quot;with it&quot; I will let the spring time swamp hellscape flourish into a rare summer of blighted jumbo clover vine, mulberry saplings and invasive thistles. Only year after year of record breaking snow and a dog without conscience could smother mother natures step aunt.

Killing your lawn is the best thing you can do. There are SO much better things to do with the space than host a lawn (which is effectively a desert).<p>If you need something green to walk on there are plenty of herbal&#x2F;clover mixes that produce flowers for insect life. Alternatively you can build raised beds and plant flowers and vegetables. Or native wildflowers. Or trees.<p>Getting rid of my lawn was the best decision I&#x27;ve made w.r.t. to my land.