Thanks to a generation or two of separation from the land
and unrealistic fantasies created by gardening magazines most home owners and suburban
gardeners have grown attached to a manicured neatness and unaware of the benefits of decay
in their garden. As a result they throw away the incredibly valuable natural resources
already provided and then have to buy artificial chemicals and fertilizers or compost and
topsoil to make up for deficiencies in their yard. Seems a bit inefficient doesn’t
it?
The fallen leaves, pruned twigs, and other brown dead things in your garden are
a valuable part of the life cycle. If allowed to rot and decompose, they provide a vast
array of humus, elements and minerals that next years growth will need. (For example, did
you know dogwoods act as a calcium pump for many of the trees around it? The mycorrhiza at
its roots bring it calcium from great distances. The dogwood pumps the calcium up to its
leaves. When the leaves fall away and are blown under other trees they rot and provide
calcium for that tree. Wow. What a system.) In addition these dead things become food for
micro-organisms, fungi, beneficial insects and worms that speed up the decomposition and
exchange minerals and other elements — promoting pollination, health and growth.
I admit when nature prunes she’s a bit messy for the average home
owner’s taste. Visit a forest that has been taking care of by itself for ten years or
so. It may not be neat, but the ground is alive. Plants grow. Wildlife finds food and
habitat and make their contribution to the cycles of life. Its all there. You can touch
it. You can smell it. You can see it. You can hear it. You can taste it.
Somehow we forget this magic. We think of it as trash. We remove it and send it
to the landfill. For just a second, think. Yes, we know about the dogwood calcium pump,
but just imagine all the wonderful things that we don’t know. All the unknown magic
we are interrupting. Imagine.
If you can’t stand to let it lay where it lands, you might just put it
some place else and let it do what it will do. Find a place for a brush pile. Stack, pile
and arrange the brush to be bird friendly and plant morning glories all around it.
Create a compost pile. You can work the pile and it will rot faster or you can
just pile it up. It will rot.
At Boxerwood we mow our leaves and blow them back toward the trees. Most small
twigs get thrown out of a walkway on to the decaying leaves. Many limbs are used to
outline a bed or walkway. Our walkways are grass, but the majority of the place is more
like the forest floor. We have brush piles that will be there until they rot. We have
small piles that are scheduled to be combined into big ones. We have brush piles that
contain invasive plants and harmful insects that we intend to burn. We have piles we
intend to chip up and redistribute as mulch.
Technology has been defined as speeding up nature’s processes. At
Boxerwood we make every effort to blend the combination of letting nature do all she can
and speeding it up when our dreams and sensibilities can’t cope.
