No-mow May: Try a May without mowing
Lazy gardening is on trend – and there are other good reasons to join in with no-mow May. Find out more now and get involved.
21.11.2025
Overview: no-mow May
- The no-mow May idea originated in the UK
- A May without mowing the lawn means more food and nesting opportunities for insects
- The intention behind it is to address deteriorating biodiversity and the decline of wild plants
- Insect hotels and wildflower meadows make gardens more bee-friendly
- For an animal-friendly garden, use organic fertiliser and do not use pesticides
To give insects a hand, you can take part in no-mow May, build your own insect hotel or create a wildflower meadow. In addition, you should avoid pesticides (not only in no-mow May), and also use compost fertiliser or organic fertiliser.
Insect-friendly plants include wild mallow, globularia, evening primrose, aquilegia, meadowsweet, daisies, dandelion, catnip, stonecrop, snapdragon, echinacea, lungwort and echium.
For a dense, well-maintained appearance, you should not let your lawn grow for too long. During the growth phase it’s best to mow every four to seven days, except possibly during the mow-free month of May. A wildflower meadow on the other hand only needs one cut twice a year.
No-mow May: why shouldn’t you mow a lawn in May?
No-mow May originated in Great Britain, but is now also becoming increasingly popular in Germany. There are good reasons why you should not mow a lawn in May. Strong plant growth happens in spring, and insects are very active in gardens and fields at this time of year. Many animal species that have spent the winter among leaves or soil come out of hibernation in May and are therefore particularly vulnerable. Not mowing the lawn in May protects beneficial creatures in the garden as well as any occasional animal visitors.
In addition, no-mow May aims to create sufficient nesting and feeding opportunities for garden insects, which play an important role in plant pollination.
As such, no-mow May is intended to help counteract the sharp decline in wild plants in gardens and in the wild, and to preserve native biodiversity.
Lawn: why it’s important for insects
Bees make an important contribution to plant pollination
Lawns are very valuable for garden insects and beneficial creatures in the garden. By participating in no-mow May and the lazy gardening trend – i.e. taking a relaxed approach to garden care and instead letting nature take its course – you give wild plants and nectar-rich flowers the opportunity to multiply. This creates additional food sources for garden insects.
“Imperfect” lawns which have dandelions, daisies, clover etc. in particular help to attract insects – which is why it is beneficial to leave the lawn to grow in May. Pollination by lawn insects is important for many garden crops, for example apples and cherries, tomatoes and beans;
in other words, insects play a decisive role in a successful garden harvest.
Identifying five typical garden insects
No-mow May is important for garden insects, as it helps nectar-rich wild plants to thrive. In summer and spring, domestic gardens offer the opportunity to observe a lot of insects. We present some common animal species that you may encounter in the garden.
Carder bees with yellowish-red-brown fur can be seen pretty often. They like clover, thistles, sweet pea and deadnettle, for example.
The small tortoiseshell butterfly is characterised by a reddish base colour with light marks. In their search for nectar, these butterflies are attracted to summer lilac and lavender, among others.
The peacock butterfly is very distinctive, with its four eyes on a reddish-brown background. In spring it enjoys coltsfoot, blackthorn and dandelions, and in summer it’s glad to find thistles and clovers.
The bright-red seven-spot ladybird is more than just an omen of good luck – it is also a welcome helper in your home garden, as it loves to kill off aphids.
The violet carpenter bee has striking, shimmering black and purple wings. It is often found in pollen-rich plants such as garden honeysuckle or ornamental sweet peas.
Not just no-mow May: ideas for an animal-friendly garden
You can support the insects in your garden and create a bee-friendly garden not only in May, but also beyond. By building your own insect hotel, planting bee-friendly hedges or creating your own wildflower meadow, you can do something good for lawn insects while also creating the conditions to make exciting botanical discoveries in your garden – so it’s definitely worth taking part in no-mow May.
What’s more, it’s not only during no-mow May that sustainability-minded gardeners can keep in mind the connection between mowing methods and biodiversity, and support a greater variety of wildlife by doing so.
If you don’t want the whole lawn to grow wild beyond the month of May, you can create an island of wildflowers or plan for a wilderness area at the lawn edge.
Discover lawn care tools
Even a wildflower meadow should be mown twice a year. Many useful insects in the garden will thank you if you skip mowing the lawn throughout May – without neglecting year-round lawn care.
Remember to mow any barbecue area, driveway and lawn around sandpits as well as to cut back and cut away any lawn edges in these spots.
To preserve biodiversity you should also refrain from using pesticides, including outside no-mow May, because they not only kill pests but also many beneficial creatures in the garden. You should also use organic fertiliser or compost for sustainable and environmentally friendly gardening.
You can find more inspiration for the whole year, far beyond no-mow May, in our STIHL garden calendar.
