Support pollinators with ‘No Mow May’

Spring is coming, birds are chirping, bees are buzz …, well maybe not so much. Over the past few decades’ bees and other pollinators we depend on for our food have suffered serious declines. Loss of habitat, increased use of pesticides and herbicides, disease, climate change, etc. have individually and together contributed.

With so many factors it seems that there is nothing that we as individuals, especially those of us living in the city and the suburbs, can do. But wait — one good and easy thing we can do is to really do nothing (at least for a month or so). That’s right, put away the lawn mowers and rakes and spreaders, put up your feet and support “No Mow May.”

First started in 2019 by the UK conservation charity Plantlife, it’s gaining traction in many cities across North America. Just leave your lawn untouched during the month of May during that critical stage when pollinators are first emerging and need the early pollen and nectar to begin life.

So, give yourself a break and give the pollinators — the bees, butterflies and others that do so much work to produce much of the food we eat a hand. It won’t make the lawn great for them, but it will make it better.

Tom Reardon

Council Bluffs