MAINTENANCE
The maintenance of my garden must never degenerate into a battle against nature. If that happens, or threatens to happen, I'm doing something wrong. Plants that can't live without the use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides don't belong in my garden. Not in any garden by the way; you have a garden for the fun of it. A garden is art, or a hobby, if you like, but not a matter of life or death. Hence chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which are threatening the natural environment and consequently the health of all living creatures, ought to be forbidden for use in a garden.
Damage to plants caused by insects or fungi usually has natural causes (the weather, or the age of a plant: plants too are mortal creatures) and is a fact of life that has to be accepted in a natural garden. The damage done by geranium-beetles, who make the leaves of several Geranium-species look like a colander, may be considered to be very decorative. Mildew on Monarda is an autumn feature, just as pretty as red or yellow leaf-colouring. When a Monarda is covered by mildew long before it starts to flower, it has been planted in the wrong place (too wet) and will consequently die. Caterpillars that devour a nasturtium will flitter about the garden like fairies a few weeks later and snails are not troublesome, but useful: they get rid of all the rubbish, including the (seemingly) healthy plants that don't belong in the garden.
