Page 23 - GM Summer flipbook 2024

and they are quite beautiful in the spring. BeeCityCanada.org offers free resources online to help you choose plants which will thrive on your property. Additionally, providing year-round nesting and overwintering locations which remain undisturbed is crucial to promote biodiversity. Examples include piles of wood/sticks, butterfly or bee houses, milkweed stands (for monarch butterflies), and fenced-off bare soil areas for ground-nesting bees.
RECOMMENDATIONS THAT COME OUT OF THIS TRIAL INCLUDE:
1. If you want to feed pollinators in early spring, you could opt to leave the turf uncut until the first flush of dandelions has finished. This may or may not occur in the month of May.
2. When cutting turf that is extremely tall, you can minimize the risk of scalping and excess clipping production by successively lowering the mowing height in multiple cuts
3. Native flowers, trees, and bushes will provide more nutritious pollen than dandelions. Encourage the growth of a diverse range of plant species on your property, which will attract a wide array of pollinators and other beneficial wildlife.
4. Providing overwintering and nesting sites for pollinators is also important. 5. Understand that embracing #NoMowMay will result in a temporarily unkempt appearance of the turf stand, and that long grass can provide a
habitat for certain pests like fleas, mites, and rodents.
It is nearly impossible to make a blanket recommendation that will be applicable countrywide, never mind worldwide. Golf Superintendents know better than to use a calendar to schedule turf management practices, especially in years like this when the weather is so unpredictable. Certain areas of Canada could easily do #NoMowMay in some years, but only because the turf is still covered in snow at that time. Keeping that in mind, I can only speak to my experience in southern Ontario at the Guelph Turfgrass
Planting flowering native species is the best practice for supporting pollinators.
Institute (GTI). At the time of writing this article (mid-March, 2024), we have already had multiple days with temperatures over 20°C and if I wait until June to mow my lawn, I will probably be able to make hay bales out of the clippings.
Ultimately, those engaged in #NoMowMay are driven by noble intentions - promoting biodiversity and the well-being of our planet. While commendable, this approach may slightly miss the mark. Avoiding mowing for a few weeks won’t generate an instant wildflower garden, nor will it instantly and irrevocably destroy your turf. We recommend planting native species and offering year-round wildlife habitats if you wish to transform your property into a buzz-worthy haven for pollinators, and to mow your turf in response to the growing conditions in your region if you wish to maintain a functional greenspace. The beauty is that you can do both, but you will have to get up off the couch. GM
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