Moira, you wrote:
"One of the great things we are discovering when we reduce the scale of
our intervention is that so many creatures which did not appear to have
any "use " on our gardens are in fact vital parts of the local ecology
and contribute valuably to the general health of the ecosystem we are
trying to create.
"List memebers will have to be a bit tolerent of me, as this is a barrow
I often push, but I am continually amazed, as I intervene less and less
in the affairs of my patch, at the increase in good health and the
lessening of problems which this laissez faire produces."
Moira, I haven't found that I have to be "tolerant" of your views at all.
On the contrary, what this idea of "tolerance in the garden," expressed by
you, Kevin, Eliza, and other list members in various posts, has done for me
is to "recall me to myself," as it were. I had long suspected that Nature
could be left alone in my gardens; but through my adult years I was
surrounded by advertising and "wisdom" to the contrary, as were so many
others.
My husband and I take great delight in being observers of our gardens,
intervening in the most minimal ways when vegetables are attacked (for
example, flour on the eggplants to discourage flea beetles) and not at all
when flowers are bothered, preferring instead to ask what *we* might have
done wrong and how can *we* restore the general environment to a more
"natural" one for the flowers, rather than blaming the bugs.
As an aside, I want to tell about our Italian parsley "bush" -- we let a
3-ft. row of Italian parsley, which had nicely overwintered, go to seed this
spring. The plants grew thick and about 5 feet tall. *We* had no use for
this bush, but it was thrilling to see how all sorts of buggies made it
their high-rise apartment building for the spring, in a vegetable garden
area otherwise lacking in much plant growth in the early spring. Now the
bush is almost spent and many of the occupants have found fresher homes in
all the other veggie plants.
Another example, of the opposite sort, occurred when we cut down the winter
rye cover in early spring. We walked over our beds first and discovered
some frogs living happily in the covered beds nearest the damp, low area of
our yard. Rye cover, old straw mulch, some overwintered flowers, greens,
and plants all provided a safe haven for the frogs. Sadly, we removed them
to the wooded area on the other side of the damp spot, so as not to harm
them when we scythed the rye. We knew they would not want to continue
living in the bare beds, and as yet they haven't returned. I'm hopeful they
will. The beds are covered thickly now with beans, tomatoes, etc., the
straw mulch harbors many crickets and who knows what else, and I have a few
watering dishes set around for them. They came last year, so I'm looking
forward to their return soon.
The garden is endlessly interesting.
Pat
Patricia Ruggiero wrote:
Thanks Pat for all your most interesting and entertaining sharing about
the life in your garden. In my patch also flowering parsley bushes have
proved a great favourite. Their nectar must be especially delectable.
I begin myself to hate cutting down any long-term cover in the garden
even if only a patch of weeds. I uually try to do it as gently as
possible and leave it for a while to let any inhabitants evacute to
safer quarters. At least here they will be either insects or spiders,
as alas frogs are very uncommon.
We have all been tragically brainwashed by the chemical companies into
thinking we and our houses and gardens are somehow no longer part of the
natural world and need constant protection against it. The latest in
this line was a warning from doctors on our local TV against being too
keen to protect out kids from "germs", which is being totally
counter-productive as it is preventing the proper development of their
immune systems. The example thay gave was of a mother who strives to
keep all bacteria away from her daughter by constant applications of
disinfectants to all surfaces in the home and by washing the child with
anti-bacterial soap - A far cry from the maxim my mother used to quote
about each person having to "eat their peck of dirt" while growing up.
She seems to have been right on the ball.
Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan
Wainuiomata (near Wellington, capital city of New Zealand)
