Take it easy this fall; embrace the mess

For many homeowners, fall brings out the desire to "clean up" the yard and get rid of all the dead growth that has built up over the warmer months.

Leaves, dead plant stems, branches, and other organic matter builds up and can look a bit disheveled.

However, all this material provides homes for a variety of wildlife species like pollinators and other small animals. Instead of piling and burning or bagging and sending it to a landfill, maintain strategic piles of organic matter on the edges of your yard for wildlife.

Something as simple as a pile of leaves can provide a perfect area for beneficial insects to hibernate or a buffet for birds to scratch through. Instead of burning your branches, pile them up into a nice spot for a cottontail rabbit or eastern chipmunk to hunker down in. In the summer, these piles create areas for harmless, slug-eating snakes like Dekay's brown snake to give birth.

Mulch and leaf piles break down into nice loam which can then be used to supplement planters or other flower beds. Providing an unmowed area on the edge of your yard is a great way to provide a place for piled organic matter like leaves, branches, and stems.

Keeping piles away from the house will reduce the chance of unwanted visitors inside.

All the brightly colored flowers that grace our yards in the summer still have an important use come fall. Those dead stems from the beautiful flowers that you maintained all summer provide important winter refuge for a variety of beneficial insects. Keeping them around until spring will allow those insects to complete their life cycles instead of perishing in a burn pile or bag of yard waste.

The seed heads from standing dead wildflowers also provide food resources for birds in the scarce winter months. Keeping your lawn a little longer in the fall will provide more greens for birds and mammals plus it is much more healthy for the sod then a low cut sward.

Reducing or foregoing yard chemicals is a good way to improve your place for wildlife.