No fewer than 17 million bees were fed every day by ‘Maai Mei Niet’ | Inland

In 2022, the ‘May Not Mow’ campaign delivered even better results than last year. In 2021, for example, 14 million bees were fed daily. According to ‘Knack’, all numbers rose this second edition. Not only were there more participants, but more gardens were also counted and more flowers were found. For example, flowers were counted in 2,465 gardens during the flower counting week.

In total, one in three of all Flemish municipalities, or 150 municipalities, took part in the action. Last year there were still 60. All this has resulted in a higher ‘National Nectar Score’, reports ‘Knack’. As many as 17 million bees ate from the ‘Maai Niet Mei’ lawns every day.

The score went up due to the higher number of participants and the higher average nectar production per garden, which increased by 50 percent (from 31 mg nectar sugar per square meter to 47 mg per square meter). This is due to the warm weather in the spring months, reports ‘Knack’.

This year, however, 22 percent fewer hectares of lawn remained unmowed. Last year, for example, there was 145 hectares and that result has now fallen to 115 hectares. The explanation is twofold, writes ‘Knack’. On the one hand, the average size of unmown lawns in private gardens decreased, on the other hand, fewer municipalities entered their results and left less grass uncut.

However, according to the magazine, that decline is not a problem. For example, anyone who left an entire lawn unmowed last year had to deal with a very wild turf in June. By mowing a lawn piece by piece for an entire year, participants ensure a more sustainable effect that pollinators have much more of. Many municipalities also used last year’s symbolic participation as a stepping stone to tailor-made mowing plans, which focus more on biodiversity.