THE WILD SIDE-PART 2

“If 2020 was the year of the vegetable garden,” I wrote last week, “perhaps 2021 can be a time to shift our focus to the broader eco-system.”

What this means: tearing up your lawn and letting it get a little unruly. You’d replace your green grass with low-maintenance ‘bee turf’ seed, with blend of clover and other flowers such as chamomile, alyssum and daisies. And voila! You have turned your bit of land into functioning native ecosystems.

What we’re doing is attracting birds, bugs and insects by planting stuff they’d find tasteful. Should you not have noticed, there has been a slow disappearance of these creatures. We can’t let this happen.

What better way to reverse this trend is giving them food: wildflowers for a start.

If you want to attract hummingbirds or other pollinators? Plant a miniature woodland or a wildflower meadow. Check out what weeds or wildflowers grow best in your area.

I’m not sure if ‘lily-of the valley’ qualifies as wildflowers. We have a patch growing in an area of not the best soil, but they ignore this, and come up regularly at this time every year. For at least the past 20 years. The little flowers die off, leaving lush patch of green leaves for the rest of the season.

Author’s comment: If you have a small piece of green lawn, or whatever size, check your local florist where you might pick up batches of wildflowers. Or where to find them. I get a kick out of

looking down on ours from the balcony, and see a good start in us planting them.. A little rough, sure, But worth the effort.