No Mow May Explained: Skip the Mower, Feed the Bees, and Help the Planet

If you live in the suburbs, chances are you have a lawn. A tidy, green, weed-free, and freshly mown front yard is part of the unspoken (or HOA-regulated) agreement of suburban life. But have you ever stopped to wonder why? No Mow May is a growing movement that invites us to question exactly that.

If I had my way, we wouldn’t have a lawn at all. My dream yard is a mix of native flowers and grasses out front and a backyard packed with vegetable beds. Alas, I share my home with a middle-aged man who finds both peace and purpose in mowing the lawn. So we compromised. Every May, we give the mower a rest and focus on the flowers and the food gardens instead.

No Mow May is a small act of rebellion against the idea that a “good” yard has to be perfectly trimmed. But it’s so much more than that! It’s a way to push back on the expectation that our outdoor spaces are just there to look tidy rather than to do something like feeding pollinators, supporting biodiversity, using fewer resources, and bringing joy through beauty.

The Problem With the Perfect Lawn

Lawns are so common in North America that we hardly notice them at all. But the classic trimmed, tidy lawn isn’t just a harmless norm—it’s a thirsty, chemical-hungry monoculture that offers almost nothing to local ecosystems.

Our obsession with the perfect lawn has roots in European aristocracy, where wealthy landowners could afford to grow (and pay others to mow) grasses that served no practical purpose beyond aesthetics. With the rise of sprawling suburbs and mechanical mowers, lawns became a postwar status symbol tied to cleanliness, order, and homeownership.

Today, lawns have become almost synonymous with “green space,” even though they’re far from natural. Their upkeep is baked into HOA rules, city bylaws, and neighbourhood expectations. Lawn care and maintenance has exploded into its own, multi-billion dollar industry, with Americans spending more than $40 billion annually lawn care alone.

But here’s the weedy reality behind that perfect patch of green:

Lawns Use a Shocking Amount of Water

In the US, an estimated one third of all residential water use (about 9 billion gallons per day) goes to landscaping. In Canada, household water use can spike by 50% in summer due to lawn watering. Now factor in public green spaces, golf courses, schools, and private properties. It borders on obscene.

Modern Lawns Depend on Chemicals

That perfect green carpet takes staggering amounts of fertilizer, pesticides, and herbicides to maintain. Americans use an estimated 70 million pounds of pesticides each year. And while many Canadian municipalities have banned cosmetic pesticide use, overall fertilizer and pesticide application in lawn care is still increasing.

Lawn Equipment Creates Air and Noise Pollution

One of my great joys in the summer months is making it outside to enjoy the garden with a cup of coffee before the neighbourhood is filled with the drone of lawnmowers. In addition to noise pollution, a gas-powered lawn mower can produce as much air pollution in one hour as driving a typical car about 500 km. Don’t even get me started on leaf blowers…

All that work for what? A monoculture of grass that looks “nice” but doesn’t feed a single bee or bird.If you’re starting to question the whole thing, good! No Mow May is a chance to step back, opt out, and reimagine what your yard could be—something buzzing, blooming, and biodiverse.

What is No Mow May?

No Mow May is exactly what it sounds like: don’t mow your lawn for the month of May. The idea is simple—by hitting pause on mowing, you give early pollinators a fighting chance by letting wildflowers bloom and habitat take shape.

But it’s about more than just skipping the mower. No Mow May is a chance to pause and look at your yard with fresh eyes—and maybe reimagine its purpose entirely.

Do we really need all that grass? What else could this space be doing? What if we let go of perfection and made room for a little wildness?

Because once you stop mowing, you start noticing. And once you start noticing, it becomes a lot easier to imagine something better.

Beyond No Mow May: Climate Action in Your Own Backyard

No Mow May is a simple, visible act of climate action right at home—one that invites us to rethink what a yard could be. 

When you let your lawn grow, even for just a month, you’re conserving water, reducing emissions, and creating much-needed habitat for pollinators and other wildlife. More importantly, you’re challenging the suburban ideal of a perfect green lawn and moving toward something that actually supports the planet.

To make No Mow May have a lasting impact, we need to work to transform our yards into climate-friendly spaces. Whether it’s planting native species, conserving water, or reducing chemical use, your yard can be a vital part of the solution.

With that in mind, here are a few key points to consider as you rethink your yard and its role in supporting the planet, both during No Mow May and beyond.

The Birds and the Bees (and the Bugs)

Conventional lawns are nearly useless to pollinators, offering little food or shelter. Worldwide, more than 40% of insect species are in decline, and a third are endangered. And because so much suburban land is covered in turf grass, even small changes in how we manage our yards can make a difference.

But when you stop mowing—even for a few weeks—plants like dandelions violets, clover, and wild strawberry often pop up, creating a temporary buffet for hungry bees and butterflies just waking up from winter. Even simply leaving your garden clean up for a few extra weeks provides shelter to larvae and nesting materials for birds. 

The real impact comes from rethinking your lawn altogether and intentionally planting native species that have co-evolved with local wildlife and support them far better than turf grass or imported flowers ever could. You don’t have to rip up your entire lawn overnight or at all. Instead try rewilding areas of your yard bit by bit, season by season. Here are some resources to get you started:

• Ecoregional Planting Guides – Pollinator Partnership (Canada)
• Butterfly Way Project – David Suzuki Foundation (Canada)
• Native Plant Finder – National Wildlife Federation (USA)
• Homegrown National Park (USA)
• Grow Your Own Wildflower Meadow – Plantlife (UK)
• Plants for Pollinators – Royal Horticultural Society (UK)

Rethinking “Weeds”

Things are only weeds because we say they are. Dandelions impede the quest for the “perfect” lawn and millions of people consider them a problem to be solved with herbicides or painstaking manual removal. I used to think that too! 

Now I see a beautiful display of colour and a free source of food! You can eat dandelion greens at any stage (the smaller they are, the less bitter), and the flowers and roots are edible too. Just make sure they’re growing somewhere that hasn’t been sprayed. Dandelions are packed with vitamins, minerals, and fibre, and have been used for generations in both food and medicine.That being said, dandelions are not native to North America and are a poor source of food for local pollinators. That’s why No Mow May should be a stepping stone, not the final goal. Rather than just letting whatever grows take over, think about how your yard could offer more intentional support with a variety of native plants that bloom from early spring through the fall.

Less Water, Less Work

Lawns are incredibly high-maintenance for something that does so little. Constant mowing, fertilizing, watering, and weeding is a never-ending chore, especially when grass offers no real benefits to us or local wildlife.

Letting grass grow just a little longer helps develop deeper roots, making it more drought-resistant and reducing your need for watering. Replacing sections of your lawn with native plants will further cut down on water usage and maintenance, as they’re adapted to local conditions. If you’re not ready for a full transformation, start by mowing less often or focusing on smaller areas. It’s an easy way to reduce work, water use, and your environmental impact.

Reduce Noise and Air Pollution

Gas-powered lawn equipment is a hidden source of carbon emissions and pollution, even more so than driving a car. On top of that, the noise is constant, disruptive, and stressful for both humans and wildlife, disturbing the natural peace of your yard.

Mowing less often or switching to electric tools can help reduce emissions and noise. Even better, creating smaller, low-maintenance garden zones makes your yard both quieter and more sustainable, all while lowering its environmental footprint.

What Will the Neighbours Think?

This is a tricky one. Changing your yard can feel uncomfortable when it goes against the neighbourhood norm, but even more so when you come up against HOA rules or municipal bylaws. But every tidy lawn you don’t mow (or better yet, replace with native plants) helps shift what’s seen as acceptable, or even beautiful, in suburban spaces.

If you’re worried about pushback, start small. Leave small strips or patches unmown, create native wildflower beds, or just let your backyard go a little wild. And be sure to have conversations with family, friends, or neighbours about what you’re doing and why. Leading by example can help normalize these changes and may even inspire others to make more sustainable choices in their own yards. Over time, the collective impact can make these yard transformations feel less radical and more like the new norm.

Lawns are a social script we’ve all been handed, but it’s time to rewrite the story.

Letting go of the need for perfection is a quiet act of resistance that supports wildlife, saves resources, and invites a little more wonder into your everyday life.

And when someone asks what you’re doing? Tell them! This isn’t about giving up your yard – it’s about giving it purpose. These small shifts spark big conversations that challenge norms. Reexamining our habits and making greener choices is what sustainable living is all about.