It’s No Mow May – a time when we are encouraged to leave our garden areas to grow and become a meadow-heaven.

Wildflowers and long grass are havens for wildlife and help to tackle pollution.

They also provide much needed food for pollinators like bees, who get a special shout out today on World Bee Day!

Greater exposure to greenspace in any form, be it a park, a small garden or even looking out of a window onto a woodland or hedgerow is also proven to have positive outcomes for psychological wellbeing. Research from the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare shows gardens and other green spaces at healthcare sites have an important role to play in supporting staff and service user wellbeing. Green environments are associated with reduced levels of depression, anxiety and fatigue and can enhance quality of life for our communities.

Our gardening team has been letting areas of land grow into beautifully wild spots at a selection of sites. We are monitoring the no mow spots this year and will take what we have learnt to plan and develop a no mow policy, on areas where it is practicable, across all Trust sites next year to support the development of SHSC's first green space and biodiversity strategy.

The sites are:

• Woodland View
• Michael Carlisle Centre
• Grenoside Grange
• Forest Close
• Forest Lodge

Have you spotted any of the new meadows at our sites? Are they causing a buzz amongst your local bees?

Why not go and enjoy the lovely spaces and wildlife that they’re attracting? Please send us your photos to communications@shsc.nhs.uk so we can share how our meadows are doing!

Our land is a really powerful tool that we can use to contribute to tackling the climate crisis. That’s why we have planted more than 100 trees across our sites this year and will keep developing our outdoors areas to support our Green Plan aims.