With the weather finally perking up this week, hopefully the great British public's thoughts are turning en masse, to getting out into their gardens, or local public green space, to enjoy the surroundings. From the point of view of our grass machinery dealer readers, I suspect the hope is that these green spaces are well-maintained by either newly purchased or freshly serviced, quality, outdoor powered machinery.

However, there is of course an annual campaign running at this time of year that actively encourages your customers, both domestic and professional, to not touch their machinery for four weeks. Originated by Plantlife, No Mow May began in 2019 and has undeniably gained traction and increased its profile in the intervening years.

On their website the nature charity describes the ethos behind their endeavour, saying, "A healthy lawn with some long grass and wildflowers benefits wildlife, tackles pollution and can even lock away carbon below ground. With over 20 million gardens in the UK, even the smallest grassy patches add up to a significant proportion of our land which, if managed properly, can deliver enormous gains for nature, communities and the climate."

A quick Google will reveal how their message is successfully amplified across multiple outlets, with press articles, social media posts and videos abounding, all encouraging users to leave their mowers in the shed for month. A story in The Guardian last Friday, No Mow May: councils urge Britons to put away lawnmowers, says that the campaign has this year got 40 local authorities from around the country on board to leave some of their verges and parks to grow. Clearly a significant reach.

Considering all this publicity, I am genuinely curious what our dealer readers think of the campaign? Principally do you notice any discernable difference to your business when it kicks in each May? Is your footfall down? Are there fewer visits to your website? Crucially, are your sales or aftersales adversely hit? Please let us know in the comments below.

I do think it's fair to say though, that there has been a degree of pushback against No Mow May from certain quarters. For example, in our sister title TurfPro on Monday this week, md of Lindum Turf, Stephen Fell, wrote an opinion piece entitled Is it time to say no, to No Mow May. I encourage anyone who's interested to read in full because Stephen certainly has the lawn credentials, having specialised in growing turf for almost 40 years.

Stephen's central argument is that just letting a lawn grow out for a few weeks in spring rarely, if ever, leads to the ‘wildflower’ effect that the campaign seems to suggest. He says most UK lawns will just get stragglier, with "no biodiversity increase at all." He goes on to suggest potential methods that could be employed to begin to reverse "the worsening biodiversity crisis" and transform outdoor spaces into wildlife havens. These are all methods that don't simply require leaving the mower locked up and that certainly require longer than an arbitrary four weeks to take effect.

(As a quick aside, a commercial contractor reader of TurfPro left a pithy comment under Stephen's article, saying, "If anyone expects me to return to cut a lawn in six weeks time that hasn't been trimmed, they'll find themselves cutting their own grass.")

I also heard from Laurence Gale, editor of TurfPro, who told me he agrees with Stephen, especially on the point that very little of benefit can realistically be achieved in the space of one month. Laurence, who is an ex grounds manager and practicing professional gardener, said, "For me, the best lawn areas are ones that have a wide range of cutting heights and management regimes." Having finely cut areas alongside rougher sections, perhaps sown with differing turf varieties, will do so much more for encouraging wildlife and biodiversity, Laurence told me.

I'd be surprised if any of our readers doesn't think that tackling pollution and benefiting wildlife is a good thing. These are clearly noble aims - but is demonising the lawnmower the correct way to achieve them? 

We'd love to hear your thoughts today both about No Mow May in general and specifically whether you notice any impact on your business from it? Please leave your thoughts below or feel free to drop me a line.