Keep Feilding Beautiful

Hi folks. Keep Feilding Beautiful has recently installed a new Seed Library where anyone can donate or take seeds for their gardens for free. It is on display at the Feilding Library, but has proven so popular that we realise it needs to be much bigger! So we are looking for someone who might be able to donate some kind of small-drawer unit, similar to the old style index filing card drawers. If you can help, please text 027-292-2222. I am attaching a picture of what we have in mind, but this is just a guide. Also attached is a picture of the current box in the Library. Many thanks, as always!

Great to have restored the old Feilding Library Seed Library this week! Now housed near the front desk, it has a collection of locally sourced seeds available for anyone to take home, as well as little envelopes for you to take away, fill and bring back to the box, all free to locals.

Our photo shows library manager Robyn Ballard receiving the new box from Dennis Rodgers from Keep Feilding Beautiful.

Scott and Milly, two of the keen workers from Green by Nature who care for our local green spaces, received an award this week from Keep Feilding Beautiful, in recognition of the company's efforts in brightening up our town. They were pictured after receiving the award, in the little park in front of the Feilding Saleyards.

Don't pull out those swan plants! Winter is around the corner, but the monarch butterflies are still very active, as this photo taken from my kitchen window shows. Swan plants can thrive for 3 years and don't need to be removed in autumn.

Should you tidy up autumn leaves... or leave the leaves alone?
Read the advice from William Hansby in NZ Gardener magazine: Christchurch Bug Man Ruud Kleinpaste says that gardeners who rush to rake fallen leaves away may be doing more harm than good. “That instinct to constantly tidy may actually work against the natural systems many gardeners are trying to encourage,” he says.

Left in place, fallen leaves become habitat, shelter and food for a remarkable range of organisms that help gardens function naturally.As leaves break down, they return valuable organic matter and nutrients back into the soil. Worms, fungi and microbes slowly pull this material underground, improving soil structure and fertility over time.

Ruud says gardeners often underestimate just how much life exists in a layer of autumn leaves. Caterpillars, beetles, fungi, bacteria and countless microorganisms all use decaying material as part of their life cycle. “Everything that once lived will be composted,” he says, describing leaf litter as part of a continual process of decomposition and renewal.
“Many gardeners could benefit from relaxing their standards of tidiness a little,” Ruud says. “The result may look wilder through autumn and winter, but it also creates a garden that functions more like a living ecosystem – one where decomposition, fungi, insects and birds all play their part.”
When we remove every leaf, we also remove habitat and food sources for birds and other wildlife on the food chain.

Ruud says that even leaves and dead material caught in shrubs and tree branches still have ecological value because they become miniature habitats and nutrient traps within the garden ecosystem.

As organic matter collects in forks, branch junctions and dense shrubs, it traps moisture and slowly breaks down. That creates shelter for insects, spiders, beetles, fungi and microorganisms, many of which overwinter there or use it for breeding and feeding.

The trapped debris can also catch dust, pollen, seeds and nutrients carried by wind and rain. Over time, decomposition creates tiny pockets of humus that support mosses, lichens, fungi and sometimes even self-sown seedlings or epiphytes.

In natural forests, this process happens constantly. Leaf litter doesn’t just sit on the ground – it accumulates throughout the layers of vegetation, helping cycle nutrients and sustain biodiversity.

We are always thrilled when we see members of the public picking up litter on behalf of our whole community. Pat yourselves on the back, folks, and keep Feilding Beautiful!🥰

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