Don’t tidy your garden

It’s nearly the end of summer, many of the blooms have finished and the garden is starting to look a little messy. The temptation is there to whip out the snippers and trim back all the dead flowers and brown stems, but don’t, messy is good. If you’ve grown wildflowers or poppies for instance then you need to let them set seed and for that seed to fall on the ground for next year’s flowers. Many other plants have seeds that birds need for food and by removing the seed heads you’re taking away a valuable food source.

The stems and stalks of plants are also much needed habitat for a range of insects and our insects need all the help they can get right now. As the leaves fall and the herbaceous plants start to decay you get a natural covering of organic matter on the soil, this helps protect it from winter rains that would otherwise leach nutrients away and the leaves are also taken into the ground by earthworms so you get the soil improved for free. This surface material also provides another habitat for a range of small animals and you’ll see blackbirds in particular flinging it around with gusto as they search for food.

For us humans the urge to tidy things is a strong one and for years the gardening message has been to have an autumn tidy up and “put the garden to bed for the winter”. Nature however isn’t tidy and we need to learn what is best for our wildlife, so as the beauty of our summer flowers fades away we can appreciate a new beauty, that of birds and other animals feeding on the summer bounty. So save yourself a job, leave the decaying plants where they are and clear away what remains of them in spring, once the new growth is just starting to appear, your garden will be much better for it.