Garden Tidy Up?

Don't take the garden tidy up too far and eradicate beneficial wildlife on the way! Every year come fall we get the notion of having to tidy up the garden and get it ready for the next season. The leaves are falling off the trees and shrubs, perennials are dying back and the roses are starting to look tatty. If you are a conventional...or should I say traditional gardener you get very busy on the last fine days of the fall. Leaves get raked off the lawn and beds, flower beds get a good tidy up and every weed is removed. Vegetable beds are getting dug over in the hope that a frost would break up the hard lumpy soil. Soon the garden looks pristine and tidy.... But...is this practice really a good idea? If you want your garden to be more natural and function like a balanced ecosystem you want to rethink and question this tradition and maybe adapt it. http://www.gardening-advice.net/garden-tidy-up.html