We get the spring-cleaning itch, indoors and out. I’ve already been spring cleaning inside the cabin, started my seeds indoors, and have been looking in my garden and yard. However, I have learned to hold off on my spring cleaning outside. The invertebrates (bugs) need the old leaves and stalks to winter over.
In Michigan, spring does not mean we are done with snow, sometimes right into May! Therefore, The Xerces Society (wildlife biologist, entomologist, etc…), USDA, NWF, etc…(far too many to list), tell us that we should Leave the Leaves and plant stalks for the bees, moth/butterfly eggs, and lightning bugs (which take up to two years to mature into the flying adults), and more.
I know many people don’t like invertebrates much, and consider many to be pests. I get it, I hate June bugs and used to run from them, spiders, hornets, and bees. I have learned to tolerate most invertebrates (not mosquitos), have never used pesticides, stopped killing them, and have even stopped running from them (except June bugs). We seniors can recall windshields covered in bugs, we bikers know the bugs in our teeth were real, but we haven’t seen those days in a long time because our invertebrates are declining, some quite steeply.
We now leave our leaves, don’t mow in May, and just put our leaves around the edges of our yard and trees in June. Not only do the birds, fish, reptiles, and small mammals benefit from an undisturbed ecosystem and habitat (no mowing or raking at all where possible), but so do the large mammals that eat the smaller creatures and plants, which includes humans (we eat too).
So please wait to do your spring cleaning outside for a couple of more months!
Donna Russell
Roscommon
