Care of wild and tamed lawns

Ruth looks at our swards at the end of No Mow May

- Ruth Hayes

SO here we are, at the end of No Mow May and I'm wondering how your lawns are looking? Have you continued to cut the grass or have you left patches of it to grow wild - and if you have, what's been growing there and have you noticed a difference in the number of insects and birds visiting your patch?

According to the nature charity Plantlife, which started No Mow May, cultivating just a small patch of lawn as a wildflower spot can be of immeasurable benefit to insects.

The ideal mowing regime is to create a 'Mohican', leaving a short patch with quick-growing varieties such as daisies, speedwell, and clover plus an area left unmown for longer where you can grow slower-growing and larger species such as field scabious and oxeye daisies that produce nectar later into the year.

Apart from mowing a path up the middle and around the edges so we can access the borders, we leave our lawn to grow wild each summer, then scythe it down in early autumn.