Mowing grass and verges

To provide more space for nature and limit soil desiccation, the municipality mows differently. In many places, you will see more colour than before. Wherever possible, we let the grass grow longer. This creates space for herbs and insects. Depending on the location, we mow this grass once or twice a year, or 4 to 8 times a year. We call this ecological mowing management.

As a municipality, we aim to carry out 75% of our management ecologically by 2030. Mowing management is an important part of that.

We are committed to animals and insects

Things are unfortunately going very badly for nature. In recent years, we see that there are fewer and fewer bumblebees, butterflies and hoverflies, for example. These species are needed to pollinate plants and trees. So we need insects for our own food. In addition, insects themselves are an important food source for our birds.

To help insects, we provide more flowers, and thus food. We also leave flower and herb-rich grass in some places in autumn and winter. Many species hibernate here, or lay eggs that hatch in spring. Other animals also like to use these hiding places, such as hares. In addition, birds also like to eat the seeds.

Mowing less is also good for us

High biodiversity (many different species) means a healthy living environment for us. Less biodiversity also has consequences for us as humans. Think not only of declining food production, but also of more nuisance species, such as the oak processionary caterpillar. After all, a natural balance (a healthy ecosystem) between species ensures that we can keep pests and diseases in check.

In addition, mowing less is good for healthy soil and we absorb the effects of climate change better. So during warm periods, we benefit from this. The soil dries out less quickly, keeping plants healthy and requiring less of our scarce water. Large rain showers can also be better absorbed by healthy soil.

Room for more variety

New in the Apeldoorn streetscape (since 2025) is grass in ecological step 2. This step has been added to our mowing policy to provide more variety. We apply this in places where step 3 or 4 is not appropriate, but where we want to give more space for flowers and herbs than on a traditional lawn.

We mow these spots less often (4-8 times instead of 20-25 times a year). Because we drive over the soil less often with heavy equipment, the soil stays healthier and these spots are more attractive to insects. And that, in turn, is ultimately good news for humans!

We mow flower fields once or twice a year

In 2021, we started mowing less, creating flower- and herb-rich fields and verges. These places become a lot more colourful and taller. Where necessary, we sow additional native seeds that we have harvested ourselves the previous year. But often this is not even necessary because all kinds of seeds are already in the ground.

When these patches have flowered out, we leave this partially standing. This allows the seeds to naturally make the fields beautiful again the following year. In addition, this is important for insects, birds and other animals.

Of course, we ensure that edges and view corners are mowed so that this does not hamper road safety.

After mowing, we deliberately leave the cut grass for a few days. This way, insects have a chance to find a new place, and seeds can find their way into the soil.

However, the cut grass is then removed so that the nutrients do not soak into the soil. In fact, that would cause only the grass to grow much faster, rather than the flower species.