For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
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By rikur_
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1851595
Not sure if this is a nation trend, but locally the social media police seem to have decided that it is a crime to mow grass. This being on environmental grounds, promoting rewilding to support wild flowers for bees, insects and small animals.

I get and support the general aspiration - indeed locally we've 'rewilded' a number of areas (not trivial effort to do right). However, I have a predisposition towards balance and moderation - a mix of maintained urban verges, and wild rural verges; mow the core of the village green, but leave the borders; etc.

However, aside from appearance and amenity, is there any benefit to mowed grass? (e.g. looking at the amount of birds that congregate on our lawn pecking at worms and bugs, presumably at least some specifies find it useful for feeding?)
By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1851617
Mown grass creates turf which has its place in the overall ecosystem, so a mix is (as so often) a good answer. Mowing is not a lot different to close grazing by assorted creatures. The grass clippings can be composted of course.
#1851618
We have a reasonably large area of lawn and as soon as we have mowed it a flock of starlings appear as if by magic to peck at whatever it is they can then see to eat. I suspect they would be miffed if we decided to leave the grass uncut.

PW
#1851630
Round here large stretches of verge. On long straight roads were mien last week, thereby obliterating wild flowers. The cuttings are left. Nitrogen levels rise. This changes the environment in favour of leafy weeds, so even fewer flowering varieties. Turns the wilderness into a long thin golf course ☹️
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1851631
The road-facing grass verge of our new development seems to live a schizoid life:Its on a raised bank and the height of the grass now obscures on coming traffic: an obvious safety hazard:

If we want to erect a fence on it, it belongs to the council and planning disallows it.

If we want the grass cut it belongs to Highways, so ask them, says the council.

If we ask Highways : 'its not our responsibility, its yours ''

I have an annual Victor Meldrew email battle with them every year, and every year they promise to turn up and put the cutting on a regular work-sheet, (upon receipt of two images taken two seconds apart of a vehicle appearing out of nowhere).

And every year they turn up and cut it once, and that's it.
(Notwithstanding the fact that they cut it regularly for 20 years before we knocked our old house down (the verge was 'our' frontage) to build our development......

For two pins I'd fire up the trusty strimmer and cut it me sen' but it's the principle y'see m'lud.... :roll:
#1851653
A slightly allied question. We are told not to eat meat because the animals digest vegetation and this produces gases that affect climate.

If not eaten by food animals presumably the vegetation would still grow each year, and then die back and decay. Does this produce the same decomposition gases, or is there something particular about passing through the stomach of a ruminant that produces methane?
#1851655
It’s only a matter of time ‘til muirburn and the burning of garden waste, or anything for that matter, will be banned - in Scotland anyway, as the “greens” are really in charge.
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By Morten
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1851656
johnm wrote:Mown grass creates turf which has its place in the overall ecosystem, so a mix is (as so often) a good answer. Mowing is not a lot different to close grazing by assorted creatures.


I'm not sure whether the ecosystem place is strictly true, especially in the UK.
Lawn Grass became popular, as I understand it, with the middle classes when home ownership came about and was strictly an introduced species, albeit some time ago (although hundreds, not thousands of years).

The story as I heard it was that one of the ways the landed gentry stood out from the commoners was that they had land which wasn't used for anything, a luxury which others could only aspire to. Unsure what to do with that land, landscaped gardens and parklands, preferably with follies, became popular (cue references to Utopian/Arcadian renaissance art) and the locals were allowed to visit and gawk on the first Sunday of every month for a half a bob.
When the middle classes became homeowners and had some land and wanted to show their neighbours that land wasn't needed for chickens and other productive stuff, they duly followed in their footsteps and also planted lawn, eschewing the follies for bridges across the pond and the odd gnome.
In other words, there's nothing natural or inherently desirable from an environmental or ecosystem point of view about green expanses.

Naturally occurring good old British grass is a different thing... As @rikur_ mentions, rewilding is not as obvious at it appears and requires significant effort. However, just giving the mower a rest is not difficult and can be the start of something bigger.

If you want to mow, keeping it longer should help maintain a diverse growth in the shady and hopefully less dry lower regions but will never look as manicured... Letting it grow through eg May before you start mowing and then keeping it long could, unless you want to practice your putting, give lovely strong, lush grass which requires little extra care. And, of course, when you do cut, don't collect the cuttings but mulch them up and return them to the grass straight away. Most mowers allow this with a 'plug' or similar.
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