My garden is still covered by snow. It makes it look much more tidy!
I garden organically, so try to encourage the natural predators of garden pests. I therefore leave as much of the leaf litter etc on the soil as I can.I also leave the herbaceous plants alone in the Autumn. By this time of year I am gritting my teeth because it all looks so unkempt.
Whenever I am tempted to cut everything back to ground level and clear away the leaves , I look back to February a few years ago.The garden was looking neglected so I began to cut back the herbaceous plants and tidy the soil. I had been working for about 10 minutes when I disturbed a huge number of ladybirds nestling in the "rubbish" around the plants. Suitably ashamed at my impatience, I covered them back up again and put the tools back in the shed.