Wildlife garden
Wildlife garden: No Mow May and twenty-four guides for a garden full of life
You don’t create a wildlife garden in one go: start with a few simple steps, such as letting your lawn flower in May, leaving the fallen leaves and planting a native shrub, and your garden will straight away attract more bees, butterflies, birds and hedgehogs.
No Mow May (Maai Mei Niet): what is it?
No Mow May is a call to leave your lawn unmown during May. The idea comes from Great Britain; in Flanders and the Netherlands it is known as Maai Mei Niet, and every spring gardeners, local councils and nature organisations take it up.
In May, a lawn left to grow fills with daisies, dandelions, white clover, ground ivy, speedwells and buttercups. That is exactly when wild bees, bumblebees and hoverflies need plenty of nectar and pollen for their young.
How to take part
- Put the mower away in May, for the whole lawn or a good part of it. You don’t need to sign up anywhere.
- Mow only a path or an edge, so the garden still looks cared for and you can walk through it.
- Watch what comes up and flowers in May, and count the bees and bumblebees on a sunny day.
- Tick off the No Mow May challenge in Bladwijzer if you take part.
What does it bring?
- More flowers and therefore more food for pollinators, in a month when many gardens still have little in bloom.
- Longer grass keeps the soil moister and cooler, and shelters insects, frogs and hedgehogs.
- Less work, less noise and less fuel or electricity.
And after May?
- In early June, don’t mow everything at once: leave strips or islands until they have finished flowering, so there is still food and shelter.
- Raise the cutting height to 5–6 cm and then mow every three to four weeks instead of every week: the flowers keep coming back.
- Never run a robotic mower in the evening or at night: that is when hedgehogs are out and about.
A flowering lawn: mow less, enjoy more flowers · Go to Challenges and badges
Did you know? The less you feed and mow a lawn, the more flowers it will have: on poor soil, grasses cannot crowd out the wild flowers.
All guides
Plants for bees, butterflies and birds
- Bee-friendly plantsBee-friendly plants are plants rich in nectar and pollen that together flower from February to October: start with native shrubs such as goat willow, blackthorn and hawthorn for spring, and add brown knapweed, field scabious, bird’s-foot trefoil and wild marjoram for summer.
- Butterfly gardenA butterfly garden needs two things: nectar plants in the sun for the butterflies, such as brown knapweed, hemp agrimony and wild marjoram, and food plants for the caterpillars, such as stinging nettle, cuckooflower, alder buckthorn and bird’s-foot trefoil.
- Native hedgePlant a native hedge between November and March, with 3 to 5 plants per metre in a staggered double row, using a mix of species such as hawthorn, blackthorn, hornbeam, field maple, hazel, guelder rose and dog rose.
- Wildflower meadowCreate a wildflower meadow on poor, sunny soil: remove the nutrient-rich topsoil or reduce fertility by taking away the cuttings, sow a mix of native wild flowers such as ox-eye daisy, brown knapweed, field scabious and bird’s-foot trefoil in September–October or March–April, and mow once or twice a year.
- Flowering lawnA lawn becomes rich in flowers if you mow less often and higher (every three to four weeks, at 5–6 cm), stop feeding it and leave the daisies, white clover, dandelions, ground ivy and selfheal.
- Shade gardenA shade garden suits native woodland plants that flower early in spring, such as wood anemone, sweet woodruff, oxlip and bluebell, under shrubs such as holly, yew and hazel, with ivy and ferns as an evergreen base.
- Green wallCreate a green wall with a climber planted 30–50 cm from the wall: ivy and climbing hydrangea cling by themselves, while honeysuckle, hop and traveller’s joy twine and need wires or a trellis.
- Small garden and balconyEven on a balcony or in a small town garden you can help bees and butterflies: put native herbs and flowers such as thyme, wild marjoram, harebell, field scabious and bird’s-foot trefoil in pots at least 30 cm deep, alongside lavender, rosemary and sage.
Shelter and nest sites
- Hedgehog-friendly gardenA garden becomes hedgehog-friendly with a 13 × 13 cm gap in the fence to the neighbours, an untidy corner of leaves and branches to hibernate in, a shallow dish of water, and no slug pellets or robotic mower at night.
- Birds in winterIn winter you help birds most with shrubs that hold their berries for a long time, such as hawthorn, rowan, holly, guelder rose and ivy, with seed heads left standing and, in frost or snow, with some extra food and fresh water.
- Nest boxesPut up a nest box in autumn or by February at the latest, 2 to 3 m high, with the entrance facing east or south-east, out of full sun and wind; a 28 mm hole suits blue tits, 32 mm great tits and sparrows.
- Bee hotelA good bee hotel has smooth holes of 3–9 mm, closed at the back, in hardwood, hollow stems or reeds; it goes up by March in a sunny, dry spot facing south or south-east, at least half a metre above the ground, and close to flowers.
- BatsYou help bats with a garden full of moths and other insects: plant native shrubs and flowers that are scented in the evening, dig a pond, keep the garden dark at night, avoid pesticides and hang a bat box high up on a sunny wall or tree.
- AmphibiansYou help frogs, toads and newts with a pond without fish and with a gently sloping edge, with damp hiding places such as a dead hedge, a pile of stones or a leaf heap to spend the winter in, and with a pesticide-free garden they can move in and out of freely.
- Dead hedge and log pileBuild a dead hedge by stacking prunings between two rows of stakes into a bank about 1 m wide and 1 m high; together with a pile of thick logs it shelters hedgehogs, wrens, toads, beetles and wild bees.
Water and soil
- Wildlife pondDig a pond in September–October in a spot with at least half a day of sun, with one part 60–80 cm deep and gently sloping banks, filled with rainwater, planted with native water plants and without fish.
- RainwaterKeep rainwater in your garden with a water butt or tank for watering, and by letting the rest soak in through a swale or rain garden: a shallow, planted hollow where the water from the roof runs to.
- DepavingLift paving preferably in autumn or early spring: remove the slabs and the sand or hardcore underneath, loosen the soil, add good topsoil and plant native plants, a shrub or a patch of wildflower meadow.
- Leaving the leavesIn autumn, leave fallen leaves under shrubs, in borders and under the hedge, and rake whatever lands on the lawn or path over there or onto a leaf pile: they feed the soil, and hedgehogs and insects overwinter in them.
- CompostingTo make good compost, mix green and brown material, such as vegetable scraps and grass with leaves, straw and small twigs, keep the heap moist but not wet and turn it now and then; after six to twelve months you have dark, crumbly compost.
Wildlife-friendly upkeep
- Without pesticidesGardening without pesticides means using no products against insects, slugs, weeds or moss, and preventing problems with healthy plants in the right place and a garden full of natural enemies such as tits, ladybirds, hoverflies and hedgehogs.
- Bird-friendly pruningBird-friendly pruning means doing hard pruning and hedge renovation between mid-August and mid-March, and during the nesting season only trimming lightly after checking that there is no active nest.
- Replacing invasive plantsReplace invasive alien plants such as cherry laurel, black cherry, tree of heaven, false acacia and Japanese rose with native species: holly, yew or wild privet instead of cherry laurel, bird cherry or rowan instead of black cherry, and dog rose or sea buckthorn instead of Japanese rose on the coast.
- Replacing a butterfly bushA butterfly bush is best replaced with native plants that give nectar and also feed caterpillars, such as alder buckthorn, wild privet, hemp agrimony, common valerian, field scabious and wild marjoram; if you keep it, cut off every faded flower spike before it sets seed.