Going with the flow of nature is such a natural choice when it comes to gardening. Yet many of us were brought up in a tradition where gardens are controlled and orderly spaces.

I was delighted to read Eliza Waters recent post titled Lazy Gardening in which she celebrates gardening for wildlife and “embracing a messy garden”.

2 Gerbera-in-grassland

For me a “messy” garden is diverse, interesting, full of surprises and rich in providing food and shelter for a variety of life. And it is relatively easy to grow plants that are indigenous, as they are well-adapted to local conditions and provide for local insects, birds and other creatures, and by choosing to grow local plants we add to biodiversity too.

In her post Eliza provides a link to a  Pledge to be a lazy gardener  from Yardmap and Habitat Network, attached to Cornell Lab for Ornithology in the United States. Pledging not to clean up the garden provides so much, simply by doing less.

3 Fallen-leaves-in-wildlife-garden

So leave the leaves, leave flowers and grasses to go to seed, leave brush piles and dead trees, avoid using chemicals in the garden, and benefit valuable pollinators and provide food, nesting materials and refuge for many other wild creatures too.

4 Honeybee-and-flower

It is encouraging to know that there is a movement towards gardening in a more carefree, natural and holistic way. For more on this theme that is close to my heart, see also my posts on The garden’s magic carpet: Fallen leaves, Celebrating seediness and The understorey: The tale of the white starred robin

For those of us lucky enough to have gardens – how nice to know that a relaxed approach is not only more nurturing for us, but benefits wildlife too!

And in my view a natural garden is infinitely more interesting and enjoyable than a well-manicured one.

5 Going-to-seed-in-the-garden

Posted by Carol

Logo-small