Monday marked the arrival of May, and for some, that means yardwork has been well underway for a few weeks. Now, if you are even able to get your lawn mower started after a long winter, you could be wondering if you should mow now, or wait until June.
Jon Trappe, a turf grass educator with University of Minnesota Extension, told WCCO Radio's Vineeta Sawkar during the Morning News on Monday that delaying that first mowing until June could stress your lawn out.
"The month of May in Minnesota is when our lawns are growing the most," Trappe said. "You could somewhere between 8 and 18 inches of lawn height by the end of the month. If that's the case, going into June being the first time mowing your lawn, it could really stress it out going into the summer."
According to University of Minnesota Extension, many bees are coming out of hibernation during the month of May. No Mow May encourages people to let things like dandelions, white clover, and creeping Charlie grow so pollinators can feed off them.
"We've identified basically four different species that can be added to grass mixtures or seeded into existing lawns in order to encourage naturalized pollinators," added Trappe. "These are plants that can basically grow, develop, flower, provide food, and be able to withstand some light traffic and the occasional mowing that takes place in our lawns."
Tappe says this time of the year, along with the fall, is a great time to establish a bee-lawn mixture.
"It's just like trying to establish grass seed, ideally you'd like to remove as much competition as possible. You don't necessarily have to kill your existing lawn, but I would mow it just a little bit shorter before seeding and then you can just over-seed into it. I wouldn't be discouraged if you don't see any flowers in the first year because those don't tend to show up until year two."
Some flowers they suggest planting for pollinators include:
Heliotrope
Butter daisy
Fan flower
Moss rose
Lavender verbena
Dahlberg daisy or golden fleece
Cosmos
Ageratum
Flowering tobacco
FURTHER READING: The University of Minnesota Extension Service provides a list of plants, shrubs and trees that are friendly to pollinators. See that here.
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