“Never do anything without having three good reasons” this is a permaculture principal I prefer to follow. As a result I have been holding off tidying my garden beds all winter aware that all the dead stems and leaves from last year’s growth have been helping to protect the soil from the pounding rain, that they have provided shelter for insects and amphibians as well as protecting the crowns of my plants from the worst of the weather. I know that a tidy garden is not the best wildlife garden but people do judge me by my garden so I try to aim for a happy balance. I have been missing my garden for months now so I am itching to get out there and do a bit of gardening and I want to enjoy the effect of the spring bulbs when I look out from the window.
Every action has a knock on effect so scooping up all the dead stems from around my collapsed herbaceous perennials exposes hiding weed seedlings and makes the beds look tidy but my action breaks the carbon cycle removing the nutrient source for all the associated micro-organisms in the decomposition process. My soil will be more prone to ‘capping’ (surface compaction), weed seed germination, loss of soil micro-organisms and the associated humus and fertility but not all is lost, my dry twiggy debris is added to my compost bins and last season’s compost (which is ready) is returned to the beds so ‘mending’ the carbon cycle.
Having spent a few hours today, out there in the crazy wind, I can now enjoy the dainty snowdrops, Eranthus, Crocus and primroses in tidier beds, I have exposed weeds and made a start on dealing with these; the ephemeral, peppery and edible Hairy Bittercress and the irritating Poa annua undaunted, merrily pushing up flower heads, the tiny dandelion rosettes doing their best to get a hold without my noticing. Now I am motivated to get an early start on my weeding and whilst tiptoeing through the beds I see the tell tell signs of rabbits, grrhh, I get excited about plants that I will take cuttings from any day now, plants that I will divide. I prune the roses and the apple tree whilst I am there, the spotted purple apple prunings will be woven into something in my workshop. Oh it is very cold and blustery but whilst the rain holds off it is such a treat to get out there and to be up close to ‘spring’.
My 3 good reasons, well 3 or more reasons: gardening makes me happy and feel alive, material for the compost bin, getting a head start on the weeds, ‘taking off a load’ from some of the perennials in this strong wind, getting ready for propagation, collecting weaving materials, planning pest and disease control measures…