this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2025
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The best bit of your nonsense is where you say composting isn't composting
I'm not maintaining most of my shit, half-assed maintaining some, and meticulously maintaining some (veg patch).
The meticulous part doesn't do well unless the unmaintained part is left to do its thing. When people interfere it suffers. That's how nature and biodiversity work. Leave it to do its thing and generally it works out itself. Every now and then you may need to intervene if something is becoming problematic and choking out everything else, but generally nature knows what it's doing.
The thing that makes not maintaining your shit some great intentional effort, is the constant battle against other humans who wish to cut everything down and maintain order. If you're a sole owner you can tell them to fuck off, but if members of your family disagree or it's a communal space, that may be far more difficult.
Funny you chose those plants in particular though, because dandelions and various types of thistle are both recommended by the Royal Horticultural Society as being of particular aid to pollinator insects.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/science/research/plants-for-pollinators
https://www.rhs.org.uk/science/pdf/conservation-and-biodiversity/wildlife/plants-for-pollinators-wildflowers.pdf
Wow you stepped right into the point and didn't even notice.
Technically yes, you are composting by throwing food out your window and onto your yard. Technically yes, you are reclaiming space for insects and animals by not maintaining any area outside your house. Functionally, if you want to make compost, you designate a spot or get a container and learn anything about browns, greens, necessary turning, decomposition, and so on. If you want to help insects you might get a sod cutter and turn a section of (or all) of your outdoor space, you learn about what trees or flowers are native to your area and serve that purpose, then you plant. Unless your yard was grassland originally, there's more work to do than just let it go until code enforcement comes and tells you to stop being a turd.
The most common weed plants are indeed good for pollinators, and spread chicken bones and pizza crusts will eventually add some value to your soil. However, I don't think they bring you any more credit than, say, helping the bugs in your neighborhood by not cleaning up your food spills or washing your laundry.
Standing around high fiving because youre the nuisance house in the neighborhood who can't be assed to pick up after yourself is fucking weird. Apparently you (specifically) can do some research so maybe you ARE being intentional, but that is not the general vibe I ever get from the "I don't even mow, you're welcome neighbors!" threads like this usually devolve into.
Edit: My garden growing in my compost on my lawn with a few of our fireflies. Would make a better gif but idk how to do it.
See all that foliage around the lake? That's why you have fireflies in your yard/desert.
Isn't it nice? That's been carefully selected/managed by the HOA with the help of an ecologist. An effort which I have been managing since I joined the board 8 years ago. None of the yards are just no mow because you can have both tidy lots and natural spaces. We don't just leave it and see what happens.
Edit: What's growing there is intentional, and generally where it's growing (as a natural boundary and erosion control feature) is.
'HOA Board member' puts this entire thread of conversation into perfect context.
Why wouldn't I be on the board? It's mostly just my rental properties in here and the other meat farm execs.
Absolute parody.
Wdym?
Reread the thread, explaining the joke makes it less funny
I appreciate your viewpoint, your garden looks great, but that short grass is a barren wasteland for biodiversity. You have to work out what's important for you, and all sides should respect that decision.
It would be possible to maintain some of it as a native wildflower meadow instead, and keep the overall length managed without using weed killers and poisons and huge amounts of water like grass requires. There's no such thing as a native weed, but you do have to remove some individuals for diversity and soil health if they grow too large. I do this with brambles and other large light blocking species, as I don't have the space to support them, even though they're great for wildlife, they end up having a short term negative biodiversity impact in a small space. Even a small corner or container of native wildflower would support native pollinators and vastly improve the health and biodiversity of your entire garden. Get a solitary bee hotel, if they exist in your country. Leave a pile of sticks/logs somewhere for insects. Get a pond if you can. You already compost so that's good. Nature isn't meant to be tidy, neat or uniform. But I understand that not everybody can appreciate the value that could be gained from millions of gardens improving thier biodiversity, and that conforming with others and past practices and traditions may be a stronger factor for some people to want to keep their gardens neat. You're clearly a good gardener, but no wildlife conservationist, you can have both though. It's not about being intentionally messy, it's about creating conditions for wildlife to be invited in. Those fully overgrown gardens are probably great for nature, but you are right that they have to consider the size of the space and the proximity of neighbours before doing that, and not being considerate of that can make them a bit of an asshole.