No Mow May: How To Participate In Greenfield's Pollinator Initiative

GREENFIELD, WI — The City of Greenfield is inviting residents to let their lawns grow free during the entire month of May.

Called "No Mow May," it's a program meant to help provide food for pollinators, like birds, bees and insects, by letting flowers and weeds grow alongside your lawn. According to the city's website, 2022 is the first year Greenfield is encouraging participation in the program, and the city won't issue citations for excessive weed growth during the program.

The goal is to help pollinators like bees with their foraging early on in the season. Reducing lawn mowing during May, when resources are already limited for pollinating critters, can help provide blooming plants and food, helping in turn to improve biodiversity, according to the city's website.

The program is entirely voluntary, in case you're keen on keeping a manicured lawn, and people who plan to participate are asked to register ahead of time with the city. You can register online through the city's website.

You may be wondering, if you let your lawn go loose for a whole month, how are you going to clean things up at the end of No Mow May? The city has offered some tips for mowing tall grass alongside the program overview:

• Use the highest setting on your mower during the first pass to reduce grass height. Progressively lower the mower level, while avoiding cutting more than 1/3 of the grass height at a time.
• Avoid putting grass clippings into the street, as the clippings can travel with rainwater into sewers. The nutrients can cause detrimental effects on where the rainwater ends up.

Greenfield's No Mow May comes as part of a local initiative to make the city more friendly to pollinators. The city established its own Pollinator Protection Committee in 2020. If you want to help pollinators but continue mowing your lawn, here are some recommendations from the committee to provide a pollinator-friendly habitat:

• Reduce pesticide use.
• When planting, use native, pollinator-friendly plants.
• Get rid of invasive plants to protect native plants.
• Plant a pollinator garden.
• Designate some parts of your yard as mulch-free.
• Convert parts of your lawn into wildflower meadows.

More information about the city's program is available online.