Last year [...] I left my garden untouched over winter, leaving hibernating creatures snuggled under a duvet of fallen leaves and rotting stems.
Last year I wrote about autumn tidying and the effect this can have on wildlife. I left my garden untouched over winter, leaving hibernating creatures snuggled under a duvet of fallen leaves and rotting stems. None of my plants died or were ravaged by slugs and snails, and I spent many hours watching blackbirds foraging among the debris.
In spring I tackled the garden in one go, removing leaves spiked on emerging bulbs, clearing spent stems and staking perennials. Only the still-sleeping frogs in their bespoke hibernaculum kept me from tidying one corner - everything else was set for summer within a few hours.
This year I'm even more determined to leave the garden alone, because I want to encourage bumblebees to nest in spring. As a general rule, bumblebees prefer to nest in messy gardens (although they will feed anywhere with suitable flowers), so I want to give nest-searching queens the illusion that I don't garden at all. The grass will grow long, the borders will rot into themselves and there will be leaf and log piles aplenty. Come spring, there will also be food in the form of primroses, snake's head fritillaries and hellebores. I'm hoping a bumblebee queen will stumble upon this winning combination of mess and nectar and set up home forthwith.
In the meantime, hungry birds will make short work of seedheads and do a much better job of finding slug and snail eggs than I ever could. The frogs will bed down in their hibernaculum and among leaf piles, and the mouse, worms, slugs and beetles will stay warm and dry in the compost bin.
So instead of removing plant debris, digging over borders and mulching this weekend, I'll be out foraging leaves from the park to top up my leaf piles, planting snake's head fritillary bulbs, moving foxglove seedlings and taking softwood cuttings. I think that will keep me busy.
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