The Prince Albert Parkland Permaculture Guild is hoping people take part in, 'No Mow May'.(paNOW Staff/ Ronald Quaroni)

By Ronald Quaroni

Protecting Pollinators

People urged to not cut their grass in May to help pollinators

May 14, 2020 | 12:02 PM

While COVID-19 isolation may have amateur yard care professionals eyeing the front lawn with anticipation, a permaculture guild is asking people to halt grass cutting in honour of ‘No Mow May.’

The reason, according to one member of the P.A. Parkland Permaculture Guild is; as pollinators wake up from their winter slumber they are hungry and looking for a meal.

“There’s not a lot of food sources for them right now. Some of the earliest (plants) that come up in the year, we might call weeds, but they are actually good food sources for honeybees,” Aron McInnes told paNOW.

“We’re not saying don’t take (weeds) out later in the season. It’s just that in May, there’s not a lot of other food sources up. Come June, July; when we start to see a lot more flowering in other plants, that’s a good time to start maintaining your lawns.”

McInnes noted while honeybees garner a lot of attention, there are hundreds of bee species in the province as well as other pollinators who would benefit from a delay in grass cutting.

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For homeowners who are looking for outdoor yard work ideas, McInnes suggested tackling other projects before the lawn; such as leaf raking, preparing flower and garden beds, and general tidying and cleaning of yards.

He noted for those determined to cut the front lawn, consider leaving a portion of the backyard as a pollinator friendly area.

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Ron.quaroni@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @RonaldQuaroni