Backyard Ecology October 13, 2008
Posted by liajo in general.Tags: animals, backyard, critters, dirt, ecology, garden compost, global ecology, leaves, micro ecology, organic gardening, trees, underbrush
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I’ve been reading a lot about ecology lately. Not a subject I would have thought I would have been interested in a few years ago. But a few years ago I wasn’t practicing organic gardening.
Knowing some basic ecology and especially micro ecology helps to put some of the organic practices into prospective. It amazes me how many little critters can live in a teaspoon of garden compost. It also amazes me how delicate they are and what a wonderful job they do working in the garden.
Trust me, after reading just a couple of books I will never look at fallen leaves or dirt in the same way again. I know now just how many critters they feed or house.
I also have a much better understanding about underbrush around our trees and just how important it is to an entire different set of little critters. I now realize that while a nice and neat garden may look lovely to me, it doesn’t offer much protection or as much food to the animals that live in my garden.
Sometimes I think we get to concerned with the big picture. And while global ecology is important it will help a lot if we all start in our own backyards.
Garden critters October 1, 2008
Posted by liajo in good things.Tags: backyard, birds, bugs, butterfly, caterpillars, critters, ecosystem, garden, healthy, ladybugs, lava, nature, planet, squirrels, toad, vegetables
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I garden has got to have critters to be a healthy garden. I know, you’ve been taught that garden critters are bad and just want to eat all your vegetables. Not true. Each backyard garden is it’s own little ecosystem and what is an ecosystem or planet without critters.
I bet you love ladybugs, but you can’t have ladybugs if you don’t have the lava they need to eat. You can’t have the pretty butterfly if you don’t have caterpillars. No Mr. Toad if he doesn’t have all the little bugs to eat. Birds and squirrels my nibble around the edges of your vegges but if they have plenty of things to eat, they won’t gorge themselves.
Try to remember all bugs are good, and they are serving a needed purpose in the the ecosystem of your backyard.
playing n the dirt 