Gardening guilt

[owls444]

I recently moved to a new house with a garden full of weeds. I’ve spent the best part of a month removing these, and now there’s large expanses of bare soil ready for planting. I’ll be putting down Strulch to improve soil quality next, before adding new plants later.

However, as I was clearing the garden, I noticed a large amount of insect and bug life, both among the weeds and in the soil: worms, spiders, grubs, a few caterpillars, woodlice, ladybirds and centipedes. I was struck by a sense of guilt that I’ve now destroyed these creatures’ habitats by removing weeds and leaves from the soil. And for what? A garden that’s more aesthetically pleasing to me.

Does anyone else feel this way and is there a balance to be struck? I’d rather not have a garden that’s overrun with weeds, but on the other hand, supporting wildlife and nature should be top priority. I feel so bad.

I get you OP. For similar reasons I've gone for a more blousy vibe in my garden. I only mow one side of my lawn and keep the rest long and meadowy. It's absolutely lush and gets filled with dandelions, daisies and this blue flowered weed all along the border. I also planted some orange and pink geums in that border so when everything's in bloom it just looks wonderful. I keep the dandelions anyway as the bees and my rabbits love them and they're just an incredible plant!! I also have a tree at the bottom of the garden and keep it pretty wild underneath that. Bit of balance is what you need. Have fun!

Make a bug hotel
Grow plants that attract butterflies
Don't clear away dead leaves under bushes and shrubs

Keep a slightly messy garden. Don't cut back everything for winter. When you do cut back in spring, do it in stages and try to find areas to hide some of the cuttings in a pile. Don't over mow the lawn and be relaxed about things like daisies in it. Dig a small pond.

These kind of things provide habitat for so many insects and, in turn, birds etc.

A living garden is a thing of beauty all in itself.

Plant a new diverse garden for them. Lots of pollen, hiding places and don't use any chemicals.
I noticed that one of my roses had greenfly this week. Yesterday I watched a few ladybirds feasting on them whilst I enjoyed a cup of tea. It was fascinating how they were taking the big fat greenfly and devouring them. I think the mild winter has really helped the insects this year as I'm seeing a lot of ladybirds in my garden.

Hi OP, you can definitely have a garden that's beautiful for humans to look at, and a wildlife haven without just leaving it to be wild.

I don't know what Strulch is but just make sure anything you add isn't a pesticide or a herbicide. I added manure and soil improver to my garden when I removed some old membrane things that had left the soil a bit impoverished and that worked well. If you get overrun with aphids you can squirt with a hose and wash most off with water to reduce them. I collect black slugs as dust and transplant them to nature away from my garden. Although now I have the fabulous yellow/ green patterned cellar slugs that control the black slugs, plus frogs eating slugs and slug eggs.

I think the lawns with a mowed path through and the rest a meadow, or a mowed lawn with an unmown section look beautiful and also you have the cared for/ neat/ I've done this on purpose effect from the mowed bit.

Small pond is an absolute joy. Ours is just an old sink and it's full of life.

Enjoy your new garden, it sounds lovely.

Wonderful ideas, thanks everyone.

@Tadpole10 this is Strulch - it seems to be very recommended as a weed suppressant, which I think this garden needs: https://www.strulch.co.uk/

I’m tempted to add a small pond. Do you have a water pump or just oxygenating plants?

That is fabulous - I have several roses in the garden (not everything was weeds!) but no greenfly sadly. I wish there were as that would attract the ladybirds! I’m thinking of planting dill as they love that apparently.

A wildlife pond is better without a pump. Just a good plant selection - oxygenators and something 'greedy' to take excess nutrients out the water. Plant cover nearby. Some sloping sides to make it easy for citters to crawl out.

It really makes a big difference to the wildlife levels. We have all sorts of birds come in for the daily bath, for eg. They appreciate the planted pots being a cm or so below the water level so they can stand in/on it for the bath.

Celtic Wildflowers have lots of great advice about plants

celticwildflowers.co.uk

No. I have a large overgrown garden that I am slowly bringing under control.

I'm planning it with an eye to nature. One area under trees has native snakes head fritillaries so I'll leave that area as rough grass. I have hedges around the garden that are in poor condition, so I'll halve their height and let them bush out. The birds will welcome that.

I have a pond which is clogged. Cleared out. some clear water will support other species. And eventually I'll get the farmer next door to rip out the vile laurel hedge that supports nothing, and replant with blackthorn, hawthorn, holly, cherry etc.

Better to take a long term view. Sometimes it is healthy to remove stuff.

www.redtedart.com/simple-bug-hotel-for-kids/

That is fabulous - I have several roses in the garden (not everything was weeds!) but no greenfly sadly.

IME greenfly love the fresh new growth so once those roses start getting an annual prune and pushing up soft young shoots, the greens will come. But also, some years are better/worse than others for greenfly. And it is still quite cold for them.

I agree with keeping some 'wildness' in the garden.

I also moved into a new house recently and spent the first few months focusing on the house itself and ignoring the garden.

In the past couple of weeks I have removed a lot of the weeds (because I thought they were chocking the other plants) and trimmed the hedges.

But now that I have cleared that up I think I am not going to do the immaculate lawns look and everything trimmed within an inch of their life that so many of my neighbours have gone for and instead keep the garden a bit 'messy'.

I have seen a lot of butterflies, lady bugs and so on and want to keep some habitat for them. I also want to add a bird bath. I also have a small vegetable garden with a few raised beds.

They were indeed on the new growth and the flower buds. I was surprised at how early they are, last year the greenfly and lady birds were much later.
At the end of summer I had a swarm of ladybirds, there was literally thousands of them all on the front of the house. I couldn't even open the door for fear of squashing them. I'm guessing a lot stayed and overwintered as I never cut back until spring and then I pile all the cuttings up on my wild patch. The do like to overwinter behind the ivy.

Agree with all of the above to keep some wildness. Just FYI strulch is great but beware it absolutely stinks for a couple of weeks! I’ve switched to mulching with bark now but am now plagued by blackbirds flicking it everywhere in search of worms.

I console myself with the fact that just letting it go completely wild would not necessarily result in a wonderful, biodiverse area anyway. Things often do better with a bit of editing.

Plant a lovely, wildlife friendly garden for them. Things I do are:

Don't tidy up too much. Leave some areas a bit wilder and leave seedheads etc standing all winter. I cut back in the early spring.

I compost at home but also leave some clippings/twiggy prunings/leaves etc in piles tucked at the back of my borders.

Opt for single rather than double flowering plants as they're easier for the pollinators to access.

Try to have something in flower every month of the year. If you go to the garden centre once a month and buy something that is in flower you'll end up with a succession.

Pack your garden full of plants. Lots of plants and lots of different varieties/shapes/forms etc.

Try and introduce some water. I've got a birdbath but am planning on adding a small pond too.

Don't use weedkiller.

I've been creating a wildlife garden.
We don't mow anymore; just let the lawn go & see what grows. We take out anything really annoying (looking at you creeping buttercup!).
I've chosen pretty much all the plants with pollinators & wildlife in mind. Remember evening flowering plants for moths; lots of different flower shapes attract different species. We've had hairy-footed garden bees this year purely because I planted pulmonaria, which is their favourite flower.
We also grow a lot fruit & are happy for some to go to wildlife (or in the case of our cherry - all of it!).
Think about not just flowers for pollinators, but food sources for insects throughout their life cycle; so what plants do the caterpillars eat?
We're planning to put in a wildlife pond this year too. We've had damsel & dragonflies in the garden previously, but would love more & frogs & newts as well as providing a water source.

As long as you plant flowers and plants that the insects will like it's fine 🤷‍♀️

Opt for single rather than double flowering plants as they're easier for the pollinators to access It’s not the ease of access, it’s that there isn’t anything worth accessing. Fully double flowers usually achieve doubleness by changing the sexual parts of the flowers into petals