Because it is clean, because it is the custom or because the neighbors are watching, it is still the norm today to mow the lawn as regularly as possible. However, there are many good reasons not to mow your garden anymore, or at least not completely. Here are six.
Mowing the grass means a less healthy garden
Every garden is rich in diversity. To cut off everything that sticks out is to deprive it of certain advantages.
Alain Persuy, administrator at Vienne Nature, quoted by The new republic †
“In a garden there are clovers, wild daisies, interesting flowers for pollinators. A garden that is very clean is not a healthy garden, it is not welcoming to biodiversity. It should serve as a refuge to allow species that suffer from agriculture to recover. The vegetation does not need us, it is we who need it. †
Mowing the grass is preserving a biological desert
A mowed garden is a garden from which insects are regularly excluded. However, insects are essential for biodiversity and in particular for the good health of birds. So if you want a living garden where many birds come in, it is better to let your lawn grow as little as possible.
Julien Curassier, ornithological officer with the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO), quoted by The new republic †
“The lawn provides rich food for insectivorous birds. The insects develop in the grasses and the birds can eat better »
Alain Persuy continues:
“A mowed lawn is an organic desert, there is nothing. Mow as little as possible. †
Stop mowing the lawn, it’s less work in perspective
Mowing your lawn takes time. A time that could be spent in the vegetable garden, the orchard or any other personal activity in the garden or elsewhere, alone or with the family.
Quitting mowing your lawn means setting aside thirty minutes or even an hour or two a week. It’s not nothing.
Leaving the mower in the garage is good for the climate
Lawnmowers consume energy and most run on fossil fuels (gasoline or diesel). All the more reason to use it as little as possible. Goal ? Avoid greenhouse gas emissions, avoid contributing to global warming.
A bigger lawn means more savings
Between the purchase of a mower, its maintenance, the fuel price and even hiring a labor force, mowing the lawn represents a real budget. So why not give up your English lawn just to save some money?
Quitting mowing the lawn means finding an original and wilder garden
When a straight lawn gives way to a more natural and spontaneous space, a whole new energy is created. It’s so true that the Jardin Punk Challenge was created.
The Punk Challenge Garden, on Facebook:
“The goal is simple: start a rebellion in your backyard! No more boring mowing and weeds that we try to get rid of at any cost. We are now making way for wild and rebellious nature to promote biodiversity. †
For all these reasons, it’s time to either stop mowing the lawn alone, mow less often or less often, or opt for an intermediate solution: keep an area of your garden that you ‘we never mow’. ‘ to let nature take its course.