How I stopped doing my least-favourite gardening chores.
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8 years ago, I changed the way I garden…drastically. I stopped weeding! Ok, this feels a little click-baity because I didn’t really stop weeding, not entirely. What I started was giving space to plants so they could come up at will in my backyard – in the grass and flowerbeds, too. We had recently moved to Toronto from Calgary, and before that from India, and I was still learning about local native plants. New city, new backyard, completely different seasons and literally everything else, so I wasn’t really sure what I was doing! But I was really keen to see what Mother Nature was hiding in the soil. So one summer 8 years ago, I stopped weeding.
Instead, when I would spot a new plant, one I knew I hadn’t planted, that I didn’t recognize, I would take a snapshot and try to identify it via Google Lens or one of the other plant ID apps. Sometimes, early spring seedlings are tough to identify, before the leaves mature. But I kept at it, and enjoyed the “not weeding” part. Here’s the before – the grass doesn’t look like what’s in the picture anymore.
That first summer, I was surprised at the variety of plants that popped up. Some were deemed invasive by the City of Toronto, like Dame’s Rocket (cute flowers but limit spread so they don’t thrive too much) and Dog Strangler Vine (pull before they go to seed). Over the years, though, it’s the native perennials that have been the most plentiful, colourful and enjoyable too. “Hella imperfect,” my kids tell me! “With whimsy,“
Rewilding your backyard
This process/ journey has a name, I found out some years ago – Rewilding – where we allow land to go natural and allow biodiversity. By seeing which seeds and rhizomes may be hiding beneath the soil and giving them time and space to grow, we restore balance to natural ecosystems and make them (and by default us) more climate-resilient.
If you are familiar with my work, you can probably guess the way I garden is the way I do everything else – science-based, mostly homemade, and always nature-inspired. And I’m so glad an experiment I started 8 summers ago is still reaping rewards and surprises.
On the move
I am in India right now – we arrived here to visit family a few days ago. On the way over from Toronto, we stopped in England and Scotland to meet extended family, and arrived in India last Monday. Frankly, we haven’t stopped moving, meeting and eating since we landed.
This trip isn’t unusual for us – my husband and I have been making this trip every summer for years. This time we stopped in the UK, but mostly it’s direct, long-haul flights. Kids have become accustomed to coming out the other end to spend a part of their summer vacation in a place that feels very different from their (our!) regular lives.
Different because right now, where we are, the effects of climate change are quite evident. Especially in July, in the Delhi area where we are. Most days, the temps are in the mid-40s deg C, the monsoon rains are unpredictable, and the dry heat is oppressive, as is the heavy humidity.
You may have heard of the term “blue sky thinking.” This takes an expansive, out-of-the-box approach to problem-solving to generate innovative, creative ideas without being constrained by existing limitations or traditional ways of thinking. It’s dreaming of blue skies and then acting to create them, even if what you see are overcast, smoke-laden horizons.
Blue skies ahead, beautiful people.
Climate change is here, and it’s everywhere. And while the effects of it are probably not as evident in Toronto as they are in New Delhi, the science is clear – we must take steps to act while we still can.
Rewilding *is* for everyone
After years of rewilding my backyard, I am pleased to report that my backyard is truly a treasure trove of goldenrod, clover, forget-me-nots, dandelion, purslane, woodland phlox, chickweed, wood sorrel, violets and yarrow. Glorious, gorgeous, incredibly fragrant yarrow! The space is a little messy, the edges are blurred, the grass is choppy in places where the clover is still coming in, and there is more work to be done. I follow a loose process – if there is too much overlap, I clean up. If one plant takes over, I contain. In general, most plants are allowed to stay; some even, I’m learning, get along with each other. It’s lovely how Mother Nature had been waiting on the sidelines all along. And the bees, butterflies, bunnies, squirrels and moths love it all.
This past spring, I dug up a part of the clover/ grass and planted a pollinator patch. I brought in perennials like bee balm, wild bergamot, asters, and coreopsis. I also moved clumps of goldenrods and woodland phlox that had popped up as a result of the rewilding over to this patch to have a sort of cohesive pattern. When we left, my tomato plants were thriving, and the raspberries were too. I hope our animal and bird friends are enjoying their buffet while I’m away. I can’t wait to see how it looks when we return from India.
The most wonderful part of all of this is something that I realised only recently. You probably know that many pollinators are endangered/ under threat around the world. Scientists and indigenous people are concerned about our food supplies because a drop in pollinators means a drop in produce, too. Rewilding allows native perennials to flourish, and pollinators do too! As a result, vegetable gardens in the vicinity will flourish too. I’m not planting many veggies this year, but I know neighbours who are!
If my long-ish newsletter got you thinking about rewilding your space, this resource from Chateliane is a great place to start. You’ll find other articles on this topic in this publication. You may also come across my article 🙂 about My First Solo Trip in their summer issue. Thrilling to see my words in a magazine I have been reading for as long as I can remember.
Happy rewilding!
Other Resources:
This is the list I started with when I started planting native perennials.
If you’re in the Greater Toronto Area, these are my two favourite nurseries/ garden centres. I am not sponsored by them in any way:
Anga’s Garden Centre
All-Season Garden Centre