Don’t Be Too Neat And Tidy

Just about everyone wants to be a good neighbor.  For those with a yard, being a good neighbor typically includes keeping your yard neat and tidy…mow the yard regularly, pick up any branches that fall from the trees, remove leaves from your yard in the Fall, remove old flower stems at the end of the season, etc.

Last week, I was enjoying a cup of coffee while sitting outside watching a mama cardinal make trips from a Japanese Maple on the edge of our patio down to the ground to gather materials for a nest that she was building.  On various trips, she would return to the new nest with a twig that had fallen or a bit of leaf litter from last Fall. Watching her, I realized that she might not be there if my yard was meticulously cleaned, devoid of any spec of old leaves or the smallest twig on the ground.  She likely would have found somewhere else with a better selection of nest building materials. 

I am not advocating to let your yard turn into an unkempt wildlife preserve…but instead for a middle ground.   When the leaves fall, ask yourselves whether they need to be removed everywhere or if they can be left in some places?  Maybe you remove them (or better yet mulch them) in the lawn section of your yard, but let them lay where they fall in flower/shrub beds areas.  Remove large fallen branches that would take years to decay, but leave the smaller branches (or break them into smaller branches) so they can be used by the birds or left to decay.  The act of breaking up the smaller branches also demonstrates care, that you are leaving them for a reason and not out of laziness.  Besides helping the birds, as the leaves and branches break down, this also adds organic material to your soil.