COLUMN: To clean or not to clean; that is the question

     Are you an avid overzealous yard cleaner? Do you clean up every leaf, stick, dried flower head, and plant stalk from your yard before the winds of winter begin to blow? If so, you might want to consider changing your ways to help your backyard wildlife survive the upcoming winter and provide some fun entertainment for your whole family.

     Backyard wildlife from earthworms and insects to bunnies, birds, and deer all need four basic things to survive:  food, cover, water, and space. Backyards, schoolyards, and landscapes with nothing but mowed grass can be considered ecological deserts with little species diversity.

     So if you are looking for an excuse to put off all that fall yard work and enjoy your backyard wildlife this winter here are some simple ways you can help wildlife survive the impending winter.

     • Allow dried flower stalks and seed heads, seeds, nuts, leaves, and dried grasses to remain in your backyard for winter wildlife to feed upon and take cover in. In addition to helping provide winter cover for wildlife, leaves from healthy plants left on flower gardens can help insulate perennial plant roots like a blanket, increasing their survival. These leftovers can easily be “cleaned” up later in the spring after they have done their job for area wildlife.

     • Provide additional cover for winter wildlife. This includes the dead plants you don’t cut down in the fall but can also include rock, log, stick, and leaf piles you strategically place around your yard. These “piles” will be used by many different wildlife species including tree frogs, toads, garter snakes, birds, rabbits, chipmunks, and  a wide variety of insects including butterflies like the overwintering mourning cloak. Evergreen trees and shrubs are especially important, providing shelter from the ferocious winter winds and cover from hungry predators.

     • Provide supplementary food sources. Suet, sunflower seeds, nyjer seed, corn, and nuts will attract a wide range of beautiful backyard birds including cardinals, juncos, pine siskins, and finches. Cottontail rabbits, squirrels, pheasants, wild turkeys, quail, and sometimes deer are also known to visit bird feeders and provide hours of entertainment for their human neighbors.

     • Provide water. A clean reliable water source is another key element to creating great wildlife habitat. A water source can be as simple as a plant water tray on the ground or an elaborate bubbling water feature or small ornamental pond. Don’t let cold weather stop the fun – bird bath heaters are available to help keep water open throughout the winter.

     • Plant cover crops on exposed areas. Cover crops act as living mulch and can be used on vegetable garden sites and other exposed soil areas before winter strikes. Clover, vetch, buckwheat and winter wheat will help return nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, and trace minerals to the soil improving the soil conditions over the winter.

     • Plant trees, shrubs, grasses, and flowers of all sizes, shapes, and colors in your yard to attract a wide range of wildlife. At a time when many wildlife species are declining due to habitat loss, invasive species, and chemical use in our environment healthy habitats and backyards are needed more than anything. Plants that provide seeds, nuts, berries, fruits, sap, nectar and pollen are all very beneficial.

     Follow one or all of these simple steps to increase wildlife viewing and survival in your backyard this year. What better way to enjoy the beauty of winter than watching a flock of brilliant red cardinals, on a backdrop of pure white snow, pick berries or seeds from a shrub just outside your window?

     For more information on improving your backyard for winter wildlife please call or e-mail Michele at 319-481-7987 or naturalist@co.jones.ia.us.