Mark Murphy says No Mow May has becomes piles of hay

If you read the letters' column this week in the EADT, you’ll know some were in favour of it and some against.

That’s exactly what I want this column to be, something that gets us talking.

We may not agree all the time but good old-fashioned debate is a healthy thing.   

If you agree or disagree with me then why not write to the letters page and have your say.   

Lots of you had your say after Mark's column last week about No Mow May (Image: Kate Garnham)

I think it’s fair to say that we all want what’s best for Mother Nature but it seems some of us have differing opinions on how best to do that.  

Since I wrote last week's column, the mowers have been out in Ipswich cutting the grass verges.

None of the cut grass has been picked up so we now have what looks like a mown field for hay making along our roadsides.

Mark Schofield Plantlife’s road verges manager says: “The removal of cuttings is crucial to encouraging plant diversity,"  

“When cuttings are left to rot down on lawns, this enriches the soil and creates an environment where more competitive grasses and species like nettles, hogweeds and thistles take over, smothering the rest of our wild flora.” 

So, if we’re going to do it, let’s do it properly and pick up the cuttings.  

If we don't pick up the grass cuttings, it looks like our roadsides have been cut for hay, says Mark (Image: Archant)

One place I’m thrilled to have been cut is the Seven Hills Interchange roundabout junctions near Levington. The junctions were becoming quite dangerous with poor visibility and so it was good to see a man on a mower the other evening.   

If we’re going to create a habitat in our towns for wildlife, let's really do it, not just for the month of May, and safely. You imagine if you’re an insect making your home in May, only for a month later to have it destroyed by a lawnmower.     

We should create year-round places for wildlife, well managed and tell people about them. I’m sure some of the negative comments wouldn’t have happened if people were more informed about the reasons for not cutting the grass.

Lots of cynical folks suspect it’s little more than a money saving thing, so it would be lovely of our councils to come out and tell us more about their reasoning.    

We shouldn’t just leave it to our councils to help our wildlife - there is so much we can do ourselves.

we can create wildflower habitats in our gardens, he says

Creating wildflower habitats in our gardens is something we can all do; we’ve got an area which we’ve sprinkled wildflower seeds into and it’s starting to come up nicely.  

When choosing plants, we think about the flowers and what would be beneficial to the pollinators and butterflies. We try and have things that flower at different times, so they’ve always got something to eat.      

The big issue for wildlife now is the lack of rainfall. We’ve had very little rain and the ground is rock hard.  

We’ve got my late Mum's concrete bird bath which is probably nearly 50 years old and it’s still doing the business.

I think every garden should have one.

We’re also putting out dishes of water every night for the hedgehogs and any other creature that might wander into the garden.  

Mark is helping the hedgehogs

I still think though that there is a place for manicured grass and flowers.

I love walking through the seafront gardens in Felixstowe which look beautiful at this time of the year.  

There is still a place for the manicured looks, says Mark, such as at Felixstowe seafront gardens (Image: Archant)

With diversity of planting, they also are beneficial to wildlife. 

Anyway, with all this dry weather continuing I think we’ll have no need to mow until Autumn!