 |
| Click on picture to enlarge |
I've been careful not to disturb the earth in my garden in the early spring because I've heard that life cycles of ground dwelling and nesting insects can be disrupted or ended completely by even minimal disturbance.
Having learned that natural mulch is best, I'd left fallen leaves to decay, and small branch and stick debris fallen from my large Little Leaf Linden tree to become ground-cover and nesting fodder.
Once I was certain that the critters had hatched and made their way up out of the ground and from under debris, I decided it was safe to move plants, till the soil and otherwise perform garden maintenance.
My garden tidy up involved, finally raking last autumn's leaves from around the new spring growth, bagging them to dry thoroughly, cleaning out winter plant decay and unattractive weeds, crushing and redistributing the leaf bits over the garden soil to enrich the growing environment, splitting perennials, and relocating plants to better locations before they get into serious expansion and flowering mode.
With the help of my husband, I'm also creating a flagstone pathway from the front Potoger garden to the side pollinator patch, so that I can travel back and forth without using the neighbour's driveway.
It's work that's both arduous and satisfying. Ironically, I'm finding this garden of great turmoil to be a multi-purpose sanctuary of sorts: A place to sooth my frazzled nerves, encourage and sustain pollinators, and grow beautiful flowers, foliage and delicious edibles.
I've come to love the rather rustic look my garden's taken on, and I feel as though I'm making a positive commitment to the natural environment. Most of all, I'm happy to have found the tidy up to be as rewarding as other aspects of life in the garden.
