Who lives in the long grass? I like a tidy garden and a mowed lawn. Cleaning up winter leaves, sticks, and old grass is so tempting to do as soon as the weather is inviting enough to begin raking.

 

This year I will compromise my tidy ways to let  the tiny critters come out of their hibernation at their own pace. A variety of insects live in the safety of leaf piles, hollow stems and flattened grass.

 

Some critters will emerge to pollinate early plants, some will be an essential protein lunch for birds and their babies. That means May is too soon to tidy up too much.

 

I will compromise with a bit of raking, sweeping, litter pick-up and branch-pruning but will not mow the lawn until June.

 

It will take some self control to resist it and I may need to explain to neighbors why our yard is "messy" looking. 

 

We had a free visit from Rebecca Jacobs last fall as part of a pilot program of the Knox-Lincoln Soil & Water Conservation District. Rebecca helped us identify the plants in our yard and told us what ones were good for bees, butterflies and birds in our area.

 

Anyone can contact them to request a free visit. (info@knox-lincoln.org or 207-596-2040)

 

To our surprise we qualified for a certificate/sign as a certified conservation yard to post in our "messy" vibrant, long-grass yard. 

 

I tell this story to inspire others to let your grass go long and make it a "No-Mow-May" month until the tiny helpful critters wake up. Also, I hear that  Rockland will be suspending any scolding for unkempt lawns for the month of May.