A tidy garden is a crime.
I've always known that tidying the garden harmed it... I was given another reason to avoid this heinous act last weekend.
I had an idea that I needed to move a large clump of lantana out of the vegetable garden... I have a nice line of lantana next to my parking space... and need additional plants there.
So... To move the lantana required that I first cut back the dead stems... so I could get near it with the shovel...
There I wuz... clipping merrily, not paying ne attention to my surroundings...
BAM!
A quail flew out of there, and slammed into the garden fence.
Here's some feathers she left behind... Poor thing dint quite clear the fence... she hit the ground and went running for cover.
Still not paying attention to anything except my own selfish ends, I kept clipping away...
After a while... I started hearing cheeping... Apparently, there were babies under the lantana...
Can you honestly look at this mess of sheared ends and profess to prefer having this to having the birds?
I knew they were raising chicks... I'd stumbled over this nest while out walking... And I'd had that mama quail take flight a few times when I walked through the garden... Where was my powers of deduction?
Need more information about the importance of avoiding tidying?
Ellen Honeycut posted an excellent article on the virtues of leaving the garden to it's natural state for the benefit of the wildlife
I had an idea that I needed to move a large clump of lantana out of the vegetable garden... I have a nice line of lantana next to my parking space... and need additional plants there.
So... To move the lantana required that I first cut back the dead stems... so I could get near it with the shovel...
There I wuz... clipping merrily, not paying ne attention to my surroundings...
BAM!
A quail flew out of there, and slammed into the garden fence.
Still not paying attention to anything except my own selfish ends, I kept clipping away...
After a while... I started hearing cheeping... Apparently, there were babies under the lantana...
Can you honestly look at this mess of sheared ends and profess to prefer having this to having the birds?
I knew they were raising chicks... I'd stumbled over this nest while out walking... And I'd had that mama quail take flight a few times when I walked through the garden... Where was my powers of deduction?
Need more information about the importance of avoiding tidying?
Ellen Honeycut posted an excellent article on the virtues of leaving the garden to it's natural state for the benefit of the wildlife
posted by Gardens-In-The-Sand at
2:22 PM
2 Comments:
Good post. I leave a lot of "messy" areas here and there around my yard. When I do clear spots, I'm amazed by what I see. Snakes... beetles... lizards... birds... toads... lots of good stuff.
Certainly being careful and aware when tidying the garden is key. I leave my plants messy longer in the spring than most. It's not easy but there are many good reasons for it.
I usually drop the clippings right under the plant too.
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