Garden maintenance is boring. It is often seen as the repetitive, less creative side of gardening, and is often delegated to people who are good at tidying up, but don’t really know what it is that they are tidying up, and nevermind why. This isn’t meant as a put-down of the tidy-uppers, more a general observation of how we think about looking after plants and gardens.
So, this post highlights four things you can do to maintain your garden in a way that is not only less boring, but shows you the powers of looking after your garden to help biodiversity.
You shall not use herbicides or pesticides, Amen.
Pesticides are indiscriminate and will kill all insects – the ones you want to get rid of, and anything else that gets in the way. This is also true of natural pesticides such as pyrethrum, which is highly toxic to bees and other beneficial insects.
Herbicides designed to kill plants can also affect many insects, including pollinators. Research shows that Roundup (aka glyphosate) increases bumblebee mortality, and that although the active ingredient in herbicides may not be the problem, other co-formulants (i.e. stuff mixed in to make sure the active ingredient works) could be highly damaging. See article at Journal of Applied Ecology.
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.13867
Herbicides used to kill weeds are also suppressing food sources for pollinators. Dandelions can be an early source of pollen (even if not a very good one), other species such as Common Ragwort or Broad-leaved docks can attract many insects due to their high nectar sugar content or their flower morphology which suits a wide variety of pollinators. https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.14132
And finally, the sale of those pesticides and herbicides supports a mega chemical industry, which has been destructive of many environments and they really don’t need any more of your money.
Going native or not?
Britain’s climate is such that many plants from all over the world will do very well in our gardens. And there is a long history of wanting to grow new and unusual plants. However, it is now accepted that Britain’s native plants are also very much feeling the squeeze from their natural habitat, and gardens could well be a place where they are offered a sanctuary.
A native plant is defined as a plant that was present before the last Ice Age or arrived naturally (without human intervention) in Britain since the end of the last Ice Age, roughly 20,000 years ago. The best way to find out whether a plant is considered native or not in Britain is to use the amazing resource of the Plant Atlas, available for free from the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland website: https://plantatlas2020.org/
There are many familiar ones, which we have adopted in our gardens: Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea), Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum) , Oxeye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare), Sweet violet (Viola odorata) and some very much considered as weeds: Nettles (Urtica dioica), Hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta) and Dandelion (Taraxacum species).
Other plants species introduced by human are considered aliens or non-native. These are known as archeophytes, introduced by early farmers from AD 1500, or neophytes introduced from 1550. Most ornamental garden plants are neophytes. Thanks to the work of the BSBI Plant Atlas, we know that 51% of wild plants in Britain are now aliens.
There is still a debate over whether native plants are better for wildlife than non-native, particularly neophytes. Some people argue that alien ornamentals support less biodiversity than native plants, and some research seems to point that way. It seems to make sense that other species, such as birds and insects, which have evolved exclusively to use native plants as food or habitat, will suffer if native plants’ diversity and abundance is reduced.
Providing a range of plants which are good for pollinators and ensure a long flowering season should be the goal, with native plants as part of the mix.
Beyond the native debate, and more worryingly, are plant invaders. Some plants can escape from gardens and create problem in wild areas, overcrowding native plants, changing soil composition and spreading diseases. These include Montbretia, Rhododendron ponticum and Cotoneaster species, but there are many more. For a full list (of plants and animals), check out https://www.nonnativespecies.org/non-native-species/id-sheets/
As a gardener, you should ensure that non native plants do not spread beyond your garden. Dumping garden waste on the edge of woods or other wild places is just a form of fly-tipping. To find out more about plants which could become a future problem for wild habitats, the Plant Alert initiative record garden plants which show potential invasive behaviour, and welcome contributions from all gardeners. See https://app.plantalert.org/app/list/survey/welcome. They also provide advice on plants which should not be composted in your garden, so as to avoid potential spread: https://plantalert.org/results.php.
The tidiness curse
First, a disclaimer: this is not a rant against leaf-blowers. If you earn a living removing leaves from peoples’ gardens, of course, you’ll want to do it as fast as possible and with minimal effort (I have done that very work!). This point is aimed at garden owners and those who employ the tidy-uppers as a way to encourage them towards a more nuanced approach to tidiness.
A big part of encouraging biodiversity is to let natural processes take place in your garden. And blowing off any bit of dust or leaf off your outdoor space is not one of those processes.
Although, you may want to remove fallen leaves from grassed areas and paths, they can be left on planting beds. They will be a source of nutrients, which will go back in the soil, and create an amazing habitat, with fungi and many invertebrates doing the work of breaking down the leaf layer. If your garden has some big trees generating much fallen leaf cover and if furthermore some of these trees have thick leaves such as Sycamore or Horse Chestnut, you may want to remove leaves from some of the planting beds. They can be raked up and piled under hedges or large shrubs at the back of the borders. Or, you could set up a compost bay. More on leaf mould from the RHS – https://www.rhs.org.uk/soil-composts-mulches/leaf-mould.
Leaf blowers are very harsh on all invertebrates, disrupting their natural ecosystem in your garden, and potentially killing or injuring them. The noise and vibrations can also disrupt some pollinators.
Leaf blowing is just one element of the tidiness curse, other things to consider are not mowing grass as often, limiting pressure washing, having areas of the garden left wild with weeds and decaying plant materials. See this other post on this topic – https://grassrootsgardendesign.co.uk/2020/05/04/busy-doing-nothing/
Forgotten earth
One habitat often overlooked is the very earth which our gardens grow from. There is increased knowledge on the importance of soil for plants, and how soil health not only benefits plants but also a lot of other wildlife. Research shows that soils can be very biodiverse, including many living organisms from microbes to mammals, with some dominant species groups including worms, fungi and termites (more information at: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2304663120).
No matter what type of soil you have in your garden, it is or has the potential to be a richly diverse habitat. Maintenance is about working with existing soil conditions and ensuring that your soil ecosystem is looked after.
Many gardeners are rightly taking up no dig cultivation method, in order to retain the soil’s integrity and protect the many living organisms present in it.
Embracing the biodiversity of soil means that hard surfacing (including plastic grass) should be avoided in our gardens. And coming back to my first point, herbicides and pesticides should be avoided. Glyphosate, designed as a weed killer, has been identified as having a negative impact on earthworms, and therefore affecting soil health.
So, here’s to garden maintenance as a way to create richer and more diverse ecosystems.
For further information:
I highly recommend the following two books: The Garden Jungle by Dave Goulson, and The Biodiversity Gardener by Paul Sterry.
Also, check out:
The Soil Association, from simple no dig gardening tips, https://www.soilassociation.org/take-action/growing-at-home/allotments-and-home-growing/no-dig-gardening/ to detailed report on glyphosate impact, https://www.soilassociation.org/media/7202/glyphosate-and-soil-health-full-report.pdf.
Pesticide Action Network UK – https://www.pan-uk.org/bees-pollinators/, with a very comprehensive guide available for free on gardening without pesticides: https://www.pan-uk.org/gardening-without-pesticides/
___________________________________________________________________
Photos and artwork are my own.