In an effort to keep
reasonably fit I try to exercise regularly and it struck me recently
that I should do something to keep my brain fit too so I signed up
for an Open University course about ecosystems.
It's not just been
useful in my work but it has also given me a greater insight into my
own garden's ecosystem. I've learned more about what makes it such
an interesting and diverse place, a series of interactions between
plants converting energy from the sun and a multitude of living,
breathing, growing organisms from the birds and bees to the microbes
and fungi which eventually return all that life to the earth.
I have often thought
that nature would do a better job without my interference and find
its own balance, but what I've been reminded of is that for my garden
to retain all of its biodiversity, it does require a degree of
management or it would eventually return to woodland, the climax
vegetation that all land aspires to be.
As it is, a mix of
woodland (the fruit trees), woodland edge (the hedges), woodland
clearing (my mini meadow) and open water (the pond) it provides
accommodation for species perfectly adapted to the conditions. From
blue tits dangling precariously from the slender birch twigs, midges
dancing in the early morning sunlight and the pair of wild ducks
which have graced my pond with their mating displays, to the many
hundreds of species of insects and other invertebrates that I can and
can't see without a microscope. They are all part of my gardens
ecosystem, some absolutely essential, others perhaps like the sparrow
hawk which only I would miss, but all with a role to play.
When we've decided
that enough is enough with holes in the Hosta leaves and the green
fly on the roses just have to go, it's all too easy to sprinkle round
the slug pellets and reach for the insecticide spray. But in doing so
we're introducing deadly poisons into the garden's food webs,
depriving birds of some of their natural food and adding a toxic mix
of chemicals to those that remain.
When we reduce
biodiversity we do ourselves no favours. Although I've netted my
vegetables so the rabbits and cabbage whites can't get to them before
I do, it's live and let live here, my kind of ecosystem management
doesn't recognise anything as a pest in my garden, just part of
life's rich variety.
