It's the place where different things meet. It's where exciting things happen. It's a place of abundance and activity. It's good to maximize it.
The place where different habitats meet is often a site of great diversity. Think estuaries where rivers meet the sea, the margins of ponds, woodlands bordering cultivated fields. If you're a bird watcher or wildlife enthusiast you've probably seen lots of animals in such areas. They can emerge for food and drink and dart back to the safety of sheltering flora. They can choose warm sun, or cool shade as needed, without expending lots of energy in travel. Whether your goal is creating habitat so you can enjoy wildlife, or maximizing garden yields, edges are highly desirable.
Imagine a square mile of land. A river running straight through would provide a mile long edge (2 if you count both banks) for organisms to take advantage of. Now imagine the same acreage with a river meandering back and forth across the landscape. The length of the river, and therefore the edge, is greatly increased, though the land area remains the same, making a lot more opportunity for living creatures to flourish.
It's possible to create edge even in small spaces. The place where garden bed meets mulched path is a edge and can be maximized as shown in the photo below. Bricks placed in a haphazard manner around the bed hold the soil in place, but also create cool moist spots, hiding holes, hunting grounds, and basking sites. Snakes, toads, frogs, spiders, and invertebrates too numerous to list suddenly have lots of opportunities here.
Structures such as this arch extend surface area vertically, greatly expanding the square feet available for hummingbirds to feed from cardinal vines.
While a mowed path is desirable in order to easily access certain areas, why mow more than necessary? Leaving unmowed margins along paths and fences creates lots of edge for wildflowers and their visitors to thrive.
Often the biggest stumbling block to improving land under our stewardship is our own bias as to how things should look. We want neat and tidy borders, straight lines, and clear boundaries between flower beds and paths or lawn. Relaxing our need for edges that are abrupt and sterile opens up lots of possibilities for creativity.
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