Minnesota City Encouraging Residents to Not Mow Their Lawns in May

If you could take a month off of mowing your lawn, would you? For the first time, the city of West St. Paul is encouraging residents to participate in what is called "No Mow May" in order to help the bee population.

Mowing your lawn less creates habitat and can increase the abundance and diversity of wildlife including bees and other pollinators. One way to reduce mowing is by participating in Now Mow May.

Typically when lawns go unattended, the city contacts the homeowners to make sure they do so. That won't be the case in West St. Paul this month. The hope is that having citizens not mow their lawn will support thousands of bees and early pollinators in the area. They are also hoping that this will give residents a chance to educate themselves about environmentally friendly lawn care.

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The city of West St. Paul typically has an eight-inch rule when it comes to grass, but they will not be enforcing that until June 1st, 2021. Obviously, a month is a long time to not mow, especially when the spring has been as wet and warm as it has been. The city shared that some might find it easier to do an intermittent-mow-May in place of not mowing altogether.

What can we do to help the bee population in the St. Cloud area? We still have to mow our lawns, but e can do things like planting flowering species in your yards and flower beds. Another thing to do is cut down or eliminate the use of harmful pesticides and herbicides.

For more information on No Mow May, check out BeeCityUSA.org.