#meadowscaping

Because I'm crippling myself trying to meadowscape my backyard.

If mowing your lawn feels more like a chore than a joy, or you’re craving a backyard that feels more like nature than a golf course, it might be time to consider meadowscaping. This growing gardening trend is about swapping traditional lawns for vibrant wildflower meadows, spaces that are beautiful, low-maintenance, and bursting with life. Instead of fighting weeds, fertilising endlessly, and…

New landscaping trend 2023- has anyone jumped on board?

There are SO many birds. Yesterday watched two Tree Swallows in the back yard having their aerial courtship and a Song Sparrow sitting on the back porch singing. It seems like I hear so many more bird songs than ever before, many unfamiliar. There are loads of bluejays, cardinals, grackles, starlings, and mourning doves, and lots of birds I don't recognize.

There was a bird with a bright white belly/chest doing some kind of little dance outside this morning, and right now I'm watching yet another variety of sparrow (so many sparrows!) sitting on the edge of the porch. I heard several downy woodpecker calls too.

Could it be everything I've been planting that is causing the birdsplosion? Or the fact that we haven't mowed yet this year? The total amount of leafy and woody cover has increased only modestly (because the new trees and shrubs are still baby) but the plant biodiversity has increased dramatically.

I protected the current garden patch from clearing and instead of letting the dirt lie bare, piled leaves on top of it. The garden patch has been a favorite spot for the birds all winter long, but especially now; there's always a sparrow or cardinal there.

I've also protected the meadow from disturbance, letting the "weeds" grow up while introducing wildflowers and trying to kill or reduce the turf grass bit by bit, and the strangest thing has happened: the soil has improved very noticeably in those areas. The soil underneath the thickets of asters has become much softer and lighter, whereas in areas that are covered with overgrown turf grass, it's the same dense heavy clay as before.

And the number of earthworms is incredible. I remember a time when there was not a single earthworm anywhere in the area that is now the meadow. It was a garden patch used by the guy that lived here before, and we tilled it every year without seeing a single earthworm. Ever. Now I can hardly sink a shovel into earth there without finding 3-4 earthworms immediately???

Just a year or two ago, I would have scrambled to get my phone to take a picture if a bird landed on our porch; now not a single day goes by without 3 or 4 birds visiting, whether my adorable finch couple, or a Downy Woodpecker, or robin, or a FAT wren.

The change is so dramatic. Like that thing that happened when wolves returned to Yellowstone—a trophic cascade?

I think that somehow, all my caretaking activities have increased the insects and invertebrates, which in turn have increased the birds. There's been a great increase in butterflies, at least, and it's only early April.