Nature in the Garden
Nature is everything. We are all a part of nature. From the
amoeba to a planet, from and insect to the Blue Whale, from
an acorn to the Oak tree, from a leaf to the caterpilla that
feeds on it. Yes, all is nature, even man. Foolishly, man
is constantly trying to cultivate nature and some men are
idiots because they believe they are nature's master. Of course,
nature has it's eye on the big picture and humours man. Nature
finds it amusing when he watches man plant seeds and fusses
over the geminating shoots. Nature gives man just enough rope
then herds in a few slugs and giggles as he watches man gasp
in horror as he sees his precious shoots eaten to moist little
stumps. Man will cut his lawn and trim the edges and, in that
man's eye, he will feel he has achieved neat and tidy perfection,
but nature is offended because of the blatant disregard for
the bigger picture and immediately begin the process of undoing
the man's hours of labour... My point is we can not fight
nature and neither should we try. Nature really does know
best. Sure, we can carve out an area for ourselves, all creatures
clear a space for themselves so they have room, but the moment
you cease to occupy that space nature will begin to fill it
with the stuff of life. You see, nature abhors a vacuum and
will immediately rush to fill it. It is the law of nature.
Fill a space with the stuff of life. Mankinds instinct is
to create, build and rearrange life according to mans rules,
which often conflict with the laws of nature. But let us not
digress into the very big picture, let us stick with the garden
for now...
The world is wonderful. The planet Earth is home to an abundance
of diversely different life forms. Man has been blessed with
a level of intelligence that enables us to create, but by
striving to be creative we often become destructive. We have
a responsibility to work with nature, not against it. We have
to live in harmony with all life forms from the ant to the
Oak tree, from the leaf of a tree to the Blue Whale. We need
to learn to share and that lesson needs to be learnt now before
it is too late and we have destroyed more life forms however
diverse. The place to start sharing is in our gardens. We
need to learn to share our gardens with caterpillars and slugs,
with foxes and birds. Without caterpillars there will be no
butterflies. And caterpillars are a food source for many birds
who will greatly enrich your experience whilst in the garden.
We need to learn to share our garden with foxes because without
foxes the world is less colourful in exactly the same way
that without you the world is less colourful. And we need
to learn to share the garden with the rabbit because they
are natures natural lawnmowers and we need the fox so the
rabbit population doesn't spiral crazily out of control. And
if you are concerned you have too many snails and slugs, don't
buy slug pellets, encourage hedgehogs into your garden instead.
Slow worms and lizards will eat the smaller slugs and will
also feast upon the eggs of many creatures you consider pests.
If you place slate so it is south facing you will encourage
more reptiles and ensure all wildlife have access to a water
source in your garden... I could go on, but I think you get
the point.
