Weeds, insects and giving: turning over a new leaf in Marjorie’s garden

On the eve of Christmas with little more urgent than watching chickadees dart out of the woods after sunflower kernels and drops of snowmelt catching sunlight as they fall from the eaves, Marjorie and I discussed resolutions for the coming year. The thoughts revealed the fabric of our lives, interwoven threads of family, community, teaching, reading, writing and, of course, gardening. Many of our resolutions are centered in the garden.

We will grow some for other people, continuing our involvement with the Plant-a-Row project coordinated by the University of Maine’s Cooperative Extension offices throughout Maine. The vegetables that Marjorie, Lynne and I grow in our Plant-a-Row bed are donated to local food pantries. There is no better way to develop a sense of place and citizenship than caring for community members in need.

I want to learn more about community gardens in Maine, to pass on what I learn to readers of this column. A community garden – any piece of land gardened by a group of people – can be at a school, a hospital, or in a neighborhood, and it can grow flowers, vegetables or both. Above all, these gardens grow community while improving the quality of life for participants.

This much I already know: Community gardening is alive and well in Maine. Perhaps this column can serve to inform readers about what is going on in their local areas. Perhaps it can stimulate interest in some readers to start their own community gardens.

We resolved to continue promoting the use of native species, plants that provide food and shelter to wildlife, learning all that we can and passing on what we learn to others through our teaching and writing, and to continue encouraging gardeners to eliminate invasive species such as Norway maple, Japanese barberry and burning bush from their landscapes, both present and future.

Invasive species remain second only to habitat destruction as the leading cause of biodiversity loss on Earth, and gardeners can take a leading role in reducing this threat by choosing to plant native species and avoiding the use of invasives.

We want to continue pursuing our interests in insects that inhabit the garden, including native pollinators. This includes leaving the porch light on every once in a while to observe the diversity of moths that inhabit our garden, an aspect of the garden’s ecology that otherwise goes unnoticed. We want to link the existence of as many species as possible to specific plants in Marjorie’s garden, again sharing what we learn with others.

We discussed a common desire to be less of a manager, more of an observer in the garden, particularly when it comes to pests and weeds. What happens if we do nothing other than let go of the need to control, the need to have everything neat and tidy?

This past summer we let several mullein plants in the second year of their biennial life cycle grow and set seed along the edge of a strawberry bed. Upon flowering, they were hosts to a variety of native pollinators. Goldfinches feasted on the mature seeds. Mullein plants, considered weeds by most, enriched the biodiversity of the garden, and our lives.

To all my readers, my best wishes for a fruitful new year!

Send queries to Gardening Questions, P.O. Box 418, Ellsworth 04605, or to rmanley@ptc-me.net. Include name, address and telephone number.