To mow, or not to mow?

There’s a lot to love about a lush green lawn, neatly and uniformly  trimmed with crisp edges. It’s soft underfoot, great for play and easy on the eye. But increasingly, a wilder aesthetic is taking hold in New Zealand gardens. 

So what are the benefits of a low-mow, or indeed, a no-mow lawn?

The simplicity of a tidy lawn belies the true amount of work required to maintain it. Choosing the right grass species, managing undesirable weeds, applying fertiliser, and of course, mowing – at least once a week in peak growth season for the highly committed – makes the simple lawn a fairly expensive pursuit. And let’s not forget that maintaining a pristine lawn soaks up a lot of valuable leisure time as well as cash. 

Minimal maintenance, maximum gains

Home gardeners might take a leaf from their local council’s playbooks when it comes to leaving the grass long. A number of councils around New Zealand have conducted low-mow or no-mow trials and report significant benefits associated with less frequent grass cutting, beyond the obvious savings of fuel and labour costs. Wellington Council, for example, found that low mow sites had about double the plant species – an average of 21.8, compared to 11.3 on regularly mown sites.

Bugs were also more abundant in the monitored areas, with 5.5 invertebrates on low mow sites compared to 1.2 on frequently mowed sites.

What’s more, the ground at the low-mow sites absorbed water twice as fast – a thought-provoking finding at a time when hard and artificial surfaces are increasing in number and scale across New Zealand. “Spongier” cities can bring many benefits, including flood and drought mitigation, a cooling effect in hot weather, better soil quality and of course the wellbeing boost we get from living in proximity to nature. 

An unexpectedly fun fact: For all its concrete, Auckland actually scores pretty well on sponginess according to one study, with a “sponge rating” of 35%. London scored a dismal 22% by comparison.

The aesthetics issue 

While home gardeners would largely agree on the importance of encouraging biodiversity, the idea of swapping out a well-manicured lawn for one that is wild, free and full of weeds may be a little, well, eye-twitch inducing..

If you are not quite ready to commit to the full no-mow lifestyle, a happy medium might be to continue trimming and maintaining those crisp edges while allowing one section of your lawn to do its thing. Perhaps throw a little meadow mix or wildflower blend into the chosen area and watch the colours come up.

For those planning to go full-chaos but concerned about side-eye from the neighbours, it could be worth putting up a subtle sign by way of explanation. Signs that gently proclaim “Pollinator friendly garden” or “Excuse the weeds, we’re helping the bees” are increasingly common in the suburbs as well as public spaces.

Another option that provides both beauty and biodiversity is to gradually reduce the grass area by making the garden beds around the edges larger. There is a range of summer perennials (lavender, thyme, sage) and annuals (marigold, cosmos) that are great for attracting pollinators, and, with some careful placement, can elevate your backyard’s colour palette – perfect for admiring as you sit and soak up the sun during what was once your lawn mowing time. 

Many adopters of the no-mow movement still maintain a path or small clearing in their lawns for the purposes of access. Plus a strategically placed, curvaceous path can create a space that feels very Secret Garden. 

Good weeds vs bad weeds

While leaving the lawn to do its thing often produces some unexpected delights, some plants are more likely to be an unwelcome surprise. 

Tradescantia, wild ginger and climbing asparagus are vigorous ground covers that shouldn’t get the run of the place – they’ll smother everything in their path.

Convovulus is another really invasive and hard-to-control weed that has left many a gardener scratching their head. It’ll wind around everything in its path if left unchecked.

Dock, blackberry, inkweed and oxalis are also annoyingly tough customers and are not easy to eliminate once they get going. Check out Weedbusters NZ for a full list of undesirables or seek advice from your local council.

Then there’s allergies to consider. Although pollinators love pollen, many human noses do not. Grass pollen is a common culprit for hayfever and unfortunately, pollination of grasses lasts for several months from August/September through to March. So bear in mind that a long lawn might make things worse for hayfever sufferers nearby. 

Native pollinators need native plants

Despite all the talk of ‘bee-friendly’ lawns, it’s worth remembering that honey bees are not native to New Zealand. However we do have 28 species of native bees out there doing important pollination business too, as well as native butterflies and over 1800 native moth species. With all these key players out there looking for work, look beyond the lawn and add native shrubs where you can. It is the best way to increase the invertebrates, flowers and berries that attract native birds.

To encourage tiny heroes into your backyards, plant the shrubs that would naturally occur in your area. Hebes, harekeke, olearia and corokia species are usually a good place to start. 

Along with some wild patches and native shrubs, create a few nooks and crannies throughout the garden to provide shelter for pollinators. Piles of leaves, old logs or a Bug Bee and Butterfly House all encourage biodiversity. 

The more we encourage our quiet pollinators into our gardens, the more likely we are to encourage larger, more outspoken ones like tūī, bellbirds and kererū. 

What better way to watch nature at work, than at home?