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Plantlife’s No Mow May Movement is back for 2026 – help nature and let your lawn grow this May and beyond!
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May might be over, but the No Mow Movement is still well underway – welcome Let it Bloom June!
Did you know that Let it Bloom June follows straight on from No Mow May?
We launched No Mow May™ in 2018 to encourage people to manage their lawns for nature – but it was always just part of the growing No Mow Movement.
Our aim is simple: to get people cutting less, for longer.
So as we move into June, here are some ideas of why you should take part, how you can maintain a space for your local wildlife, how you can mow when you’re ready and how you can build on your success while keeping things under control, we’ve got you covered.
The No Mow Movement isn’t about throwing away the mower altogether – it’s about trying to replicate some of those lost meadows at home.
How you choose to continue (or begin) the Movement is up to you:
A great way to continue the No Mow Movement throughout the seasons is to dedicate sections of your lawn to different length grasses.
Putting the mower away doesn’t have to mean a messy a lawn – have you ever thought about bringing in some design to your wildflower landscape? There’s all different kinds of grassland wildlife and you could incorporate these different elements into your plan.
You could consider mowing meandering pathways, or straight walkways to areas like patios or front doors. You might need to keep your paths and recreation areas mown short but you could frame these functional areas with a flowering lawn mown once every 4 to 8 weeks.
Sections with more regular mowing allow common, low-growing wildflowers to regrow and reflower throughout the summer while you maintain a shorter, neater height. Picture a carpet of red and white clovers, golden trefoils, puddles of blue selfheal and the white froth of yarrow. You will find that even in the fiercest droughts, the wildflowers will stay green and keep flowering while grasses fall dormant and turn brown.
These areas can sit alongside longer lawn areas that you can mow to mimic a hay meadow at the end of July, and bold borders that are left to grow wild with tall grass tussocks.
If you are feeling bolder you might want to trial leaving some of your open space unmown for longer.
By mowing only twice a year outside of April to July you could try to recreate the effect of a traditional hay meadow. This allows taller growing flowers such as Red Campion, Common Knapweed and Oxeye Daisy to bloom.
You could use this section of grassland as a perennial, herbaceous border you never need to weed, feed or water!
Spaces like these hold more value for wildlife because when left undisturbed for longer, wildflowers and grasses can support the lifecycles of those invertebrates that depend upon them.
Plantlife’s No Mow Movement is here – let’s let it grow for nature! Pledge to take part today and get a FREE No Mow guide.
It’s one of the easiest ways to connect with wildlife and the perfect way to start supporting nature in your garden (in May and beyond!).
Why not use the borders around the boundary of your plot to take it to the next No Mow stage?
Grassland left unmown won’t support so many wildflowers but it will provide vital sanctuary for wildlife during hot summers and cold winters.
Tussocks of grass and tall herbs will develop, and this structure is a great way to provide another niche for wildlife that complements the more flower-rich areas.
These strips only need to be a few feet wide at the base of your hedgerow and they only require a minimum of management. To keep on to top of them, snip out woody saplings or Bramble.
These long spaces provide vital protection for toads and voles while seedheads will act as natural bird feeders for visiting finches.
If your grassy growth has gotten away from you, don’t panic. While not all mowers can cope with tall vegetation, most can if you mow in 2 stages.
Before you mow, it’s really important to check your lawn for wildlife – we have some top tips at the bottom of this page to help with this.
Once you’re ready to mow, never mow around the edges towards the centre. This leaves no escape route for wildlife. Instead, as you mow, progress gradually towards sanctuary areas such as uncut grass strips at boundaries.
Next, set the blades as high as possible and mow strips that are only half as wide as the mower. This will reduce the load on the mower’s engine and make the job easier.
Finally you can go over the mower again as normal with blades set lower to finish the job. Alternatively, if you have one, a strimmer can be a better way to tackle a taller sward.
This will prevent the build-up of cuttings which can stifle the regrowth of wildflowers. With no cuttings to rot back down into the soil, it will also help to reduce the fertility of the soil. More fertility will encourage grass growth and not wildflowers. This produces a lush green lawn but it will be much less colourful and much less valuable for wildlife.
In fact, by removing the cuttings each time you cut, fertility will reduce each year meaning that regrowth will be less and less each year. That means you won’t need to cut so often in the future so you can save yourself the effort, electricity, money, reduce your carbon footprint and enjoy the wildlife!
Wilder lawns also capture and lock away more carbon in the soil, so you will be doing your bit for the climate too.
You can use cuttings to mulch your vegetable beds to suppress weeds, retain soil moisture and add fertility where you want it. Composting is also a great way to recycle your cuttings with other organics into soil you can use next season.
Some wildlife may have taken refuge in your liberated lawn. Here are some quick tips for keeping wildlife safe while you mow:
There are so many benefits to taking part in the No Mow Movement. From helping wildflowers and grasses to grow freely, providing food for pollinators, habitat for wildlife and helping to tackle the changing climate.
We're not the only ones who love all the benefits of No Mow May! Here, the Butterfly Conservation joins us to give their top 5 species to look out for in your No Mow Movement area.
As well as bringing back the bloom to our lawns, there are many ways you can get involved with No Mow May, even if you don’t have a garden.
Join us for a deep dive into your spring lawn and learn everything you need to know about how to prep for the best No Mo May!
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