What? The garden clearance company, say "don't tidy your garden up"? Maybe. Hear me out. Of course you should keep your garden tidy, it's your relaxation space, your zen place or whatever you want to call it. Nobody wants to spend their warm summer days in a swathe oof bramble riddled wasteground. Your garden is part of your home, but its also home to lots of other creatures. Bugs, bees, birds, butterflies, mice, hedgehogs....you get the point. And those guys love a bit of overgrowth, a few loose leaves, some grass longer than 3 millimetres, because that's what they're evolved to like.
So there are plenty of ways to ecourage this. When the summer ends, don't cut back until the following spring when it's time for the new growth to come through. All that greenery you're taking down the tip in November is home to plenty of creatures. Similarly, don't burn piles of leaves etc til the spring, hedgehogs love to nest in them and hibernate. Even then, check them first as a hedgehog nest can appear very like a pile of old leaves. They tend to like to nest up against something hard like a tree trunk or fence panel.
Also, the spring growth from bulbs shouldn't be cut back until the leaves are wilted, as the energy for next years growth is transferred back into the bulb during this time. Ever wondered why your daffodils get smaller every year like they're trying to morph into Narcissus? That's why. You're welcome.
Below is a porcupine, climbing a tree, which may or may not illustrate the points I made above. Either way here he is, proving beyond all doubt that he is the thinking man's hedgehog.
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