Martha Gill

‘No mow May’ is a figleaf hiding this government’s abject failure on rewilding

HAVE you heard of ‘no mow May’? This month councils are asking zealous gardeners to do the impossible — sit back and watch nettles and dandelions take over their lawns. Verges too. The purpose of this is to ‘create ecological corridors’ for animals and ‘havens’ for bees — all very sensible — but I do feel for the sort of people who plan their year in the garden like a military operation, and who must now watch, forehead veins throbbing, while the enemy advances. Gardening is meant to be therapeutic: let’s hope these gardeners can call on reserves of mindfulness practice.

I worry, too, for those who have got caught in the rapid switch-up of gardening trends. Just a few years ago, back in 2014, councils introduced laws that would fine people who failed to adequately spruce up their lawns — in Doncaster, people were sternly advised to prune all overgrown shrubs so that they were ‘in keeping with the neighbourhood’, and various councils issued CPNs to stop people feeding birds. (One even imposed a notice telling people not to use their gardens for crying in).