Exmouth author Emma Richardson writes for the Journal

Exmouth Journal: Exmouth author Emma Richardson.Exmouth author Emma Richardson. (Image: Emma Richardson)

Despite the temperature having decided to return to wintery single figures of a morning these last few days, there is no question that spring is on the way.

We were blessed with a surprisingly lovely Easter and I can’t help but notice our hedgerows and trees beginning to burst forth with greenery again.

Of course, once this starts to happen, if you’re lucky enough to have a garden with a lawn, the inevitable mowing must begin once more.

Now I do love a garden, I’m even quite fond of my own, but my green fingers are somewhat lacking.

My grass cutting technique is more akin to my hoovering style than anything you’d seen on a bowling green and I tend to operate in fits and starts with any other garden tasks.

I’m also a big fan of the natural garden as opposed to manicured, which is handy as it’s the only type of garden I know how to create! Imagine my delight when last year I learnt for the first time, of an initiative started by Plantlife, a British conservation charity working nationally and internationally to save threatened wild flowers, plants and fungi.

It’s called No Mow May and it’s really as simple as the name suggests.

The organisation who are also responsible for several nature reserves around the country, are keen for us all to do our bit in encouraging bees and to foster more wild flowers which are excellent for our eco-system.

The idea behind No Mow May is that they ask you to not do anything at all… Just lock up your lawnmower on May 1st and let the wild flowers in your lawn bloom, providing a feast of nectar for our hungry pollinators.

Now I took part in this for the first-time last year, leaving the bottom half of our garden to grow wild bar one grassy path cut through the middle for access to a flower bed.

We noticed a definite upturn in the number of bees around, and were delighted to see some wild flowers start to appear of their own accord.

This year, I will be doing the same again- it cuts my gardening time in half each week which is a blessing and in some small way will help to reduce my electricity bill as I’m not running the mower for as long.

I can do all this smug in the knowledge that I’m not being lazy, I’m actually helping the planet; it’s a win- win situation right?

So, take my advice (or that of plantlifeorg.uk) and put that mower away. It’s what the garden wants.