Earlier quoted context omitted.
did you receive any complaints?
Complaints? Unless he lives in a HOA, what right does anybody have to complain?
Lawn mowing frequency affects bee abundance and diversity (2018)
261–270 of 277 posts
Re: Lawn mowing frequency affects bee abundance and diversity (2018)
#262Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't feel the same way about bacteria colonizing my skin as I do about an ecologically dead crop monoculture that came into style among the British nobility as a way to show off wealth (look peasants! I don't need to grow food with my land) If I ignore the smell of my body I'll eventually be rewarded with a staph infection or worse. If I don't use grass monoculture on my lawn I eventually am rewarded with pollinat…
I can’t imagine getting so worked up over lawns that I post this frothy rage.
Re: Lawn mowing frequency affects bee abundance and diversity (2018)
#263Earlier quoted context omitted.
The grass in Ontario for instance grows very fast. Plus, weeds. Most people here cut weekly to keep it trim. They're also usually gas-powered.
But what does "very fast" mean? Other comments are talking about something like 15 cm in a month. That's not a lot.
The only way to avoid frequently cutting grass and not having your lawn look unkempt is not to have grass. Either replace with some other short green or keep a neat garden with nothing else. Culturally people just don't do that. But you'd sooner see a trend shift towards alternatives than "just don't cut as often".
Re: Lawn mowing frequency affects bee abundance and diversity (2018)
#264Earlier quoted context omitted.
Aren't there plentiful suitable environments for bees outside of suburbia? I don't think the issue is lack of environment so much as herbicides and destructive habits.
You mean all the monoculture crop land full of insecticide? Or the overgrazed pasture with no flowering plants? Or the industrial areas? I guess those at least have the occasional dumpster from a candy factory.
Re: Lawn mowing frequency affects bee abundance and diversity (2018)
#265Earlier quoted context omitted.
But what does "very fast" mean? Other comments are talking about something like 15 cm in a month. That's not a lot.
In weeks with more rainfall it can 5-7 cm. If you skip it, then by the next week it looks like jungle / prairie. The only way to avoid frequently cutting grass and not having your lawn look unkempt is not to have grass. Either replace with some other short green or keep a neat garden with nothing else. Culturally people just don't do that. But you'd sooner see a trend shift towards alternatives than "just don't cut a…
Re: Lawn mowing frequency affects bee abundance and diversity (2018)
#266Earlier quoted context omitted.
As someone who tends to be a super inconsistent lawnmower and often goes 3+ weeks in between mowing, I'm not sure I totally agree. Leaving the lawn to grow out for more than three weeks makes it pretty unusable, especially for our dogs, with giant weeds (with spikes that hurt the dogs' legs) and thistle bushes and whatnot, and when you do mow it takes 2-3 times as long and the mower tends to get clogged up a bunch, a…
Plant local flora/grasses that don’t need constant management. The manicured lawns we generally do are full of non-native plants and require more care.
Re: Lawn mowing frequency affects bee abundance and diversity (2018)
#267Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agreed, I want my yard to contribute to the ecosystem instead of contributing to my “status” in suburbia.
Nice! We're looking at doing that too. This is a cool site for figuring out what to plant: https://www.nwf.org/NativePlantFinder/Plants - ranked by number of butterfly species they can host.
Re: Lawn mowing frequency affects bee abundance and diversity (2018)
#268Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you have tall grass too? I planted clover a while back over my existing grass and if i didn't mow i'd still have a foot tall grass, which i find really annoying. I still love the clover, and it helps keep the grass a bit more sane - but the length of the grass is my primary fight.
Add rabbits. Wild rabbits look after themselves (no need to cage them or anything), and will keep grass down to a height of about 2 inches. They stay within about 50 yards of wherever their 'home' hole is, so they won't run off (although their offspring may!). You still need to mow about twice a year to get rid of plants the rabbits don't like to eat, which will otherwise grow into bushes.
Re: Lawn mowing frequency affects bee abundance and diversity (2018)
#269Earlier quoted context omitted.
What clover? Would love to do this even though clover is really expensive. I planted some last year but it only half kinda took.
One good thing about clover is it can propagate naturally! If you had some native clover half kinda take last year, it should be verdant this year.
Re: Lawn mowing frequency affects bee abundance and diversity (2018)
#270Earlier quoted context omitted.
What clover? Would love to do this even though clover is really expensive. I planted some last year but it only half kinda took.
America, the place where one of the cheapest team sports on the planet (real football) is too expensive to be played by poor people and one of the most abundant weeds in temperate climates is too expensive...