I don’t profess to be an expert at gardening.

When I first moved from a condo to a home with a yard a few years ago, I didn’t know the difference between an annual and a perennial.

I had difficulty discerning a plant from a weed (although I’ve since come to understand it’s in the eye of the beholder).

I was just so happy to have a lawn, I didn’t care mine had as much moss, clover, violets, dandelions and wild strawberry as grass.

After a lot of trial and error, observation, talking with neighbours and research, I’ve picked up a few pointers and gardening has become a new passion.

But I’ve also come to question whether some common practices employed to nurture our shrubs and flowers are in tune with nature, like raking up and bagging every last fallen leaf, or spraying the lawn so it looks like a putting green.

According to the real experts, biologists and environmental groups, a lot of our gardening habits are actually hurting nature, especially pollinators, like the at-risk monarch butterfly.

Butterflies, bees, birds, bats, beetles and other bugs are essential to fertilizing plants, including much of the fruits and vegetables we eat. But their populations are sharply declining, which could put us all in peril if crops fail and the food supply is jeopardized.

In spring, gardeners........

© Montreal Gazette