Spring is maybe, kind of, sort of here, which means dads across the Chicago are checking the oil on their mowers for the coming year’s lawn care.
But the Village of Glenview, along with a handful of other suburbs, wants homeowners to hold off on the first cutting until May 8, part of an environmental initiative to support local ecology and even encourage healthier and less wasteful lawns. Glenview residents can sign up to participate in the Now Mow ’til Mother’s Day program online, for which they’ll receive a sign promoting the program and exemption from village ordinance mandating lawns be kept under eight inches.
According to Alan Molumby, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Illinois-Chicago, most grasses planted in the Chicago area are cold-season grasses, meaning the bulk of their growing happens during cooler, wetter months like April and early May.
That growing means taller grass, the photosynthetic machinery that absorbs sunlight for sustenance, but it also is when grass establishes its roots system, which maintains the long-term health of your lawn, Molumby said.
Cutting during heavy growth means nutrients and energy that would help build roots instead go toward replacing the cut grass.
“If you mow them immediately, what you do is needlessly waste a lot of resources, just for aesthetic reasons,” Molumby said.
Conversely, letting your lawn grow long while its cold and wet gives your lawn a long-term “competitive advantage” in upkeep. Let it grow long enough and the grass will flower and release seed, reducing the need to reseed lawns year after year.
Homeowners should also try to move their lawn less often in general, Molumby said, both to cut down on emissions from gas mowers and reduce the amount of fertilizer, herbicide and water necessary to maintain a frequently cut lawn.
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Following this guidance not only creates healthier lawns, but also helps improve urban ecology. Lawns make up part of what Molumby called the “urban matrix,” a patchwork of both wild and undeveloped land as well as areas inhabited by humans that make up a greater ecosystem.
Area lawns are frequently traversed by the wildlife that inhabits scattered nature preserves like the James Woodworth Prairie in Glenview, a remnant of the Illinois prairie that Molumby manages for UIC. Animals need to be able to move through urbanized areas to reach wild environments, since those areas are too small to support wildlife populations individually.
“If people manage their yards to be sterile landscapes, then every nature preserve in Chicago will be a great deal lesser because of it,” Molumby said.
Molumby does have one caveat to his advice: do your best to minimize mowing, but also try to avoid angering your neighbors.
Joshua Irvine is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.