The septic bed and the sleeping bee

I want to do something with my septic leach bed. See, this work is nothing if not glamorous.

It’s going to be fun, though. And it will make my house more joyful. Instead of flat grass, I will have butterflies and bees and birds. What’s not to like about that?

My septic went in about eight years ago and since then I’ve done nothing, except pull anything that shouldn’t be there because it could damage the system.

I’ve watched the site change over time: it started as a few patches of what we might call weeds – the live-fast, die-young plants that specialize in healing land. Then some longer-lived perennials came in, and later the raspberries arrived.

It was the raspberries that made me get serious. I wanted them gone.

But if all I’d wanted was the thorny canes removed, I could have just levelled the whole thing. That would be easy: keep it mowed and under control.

But that is not how we do things here.

The joy of care

Last year, I did a quick inventory of the site. Two species stood out: a groundcover of Wild Strawberry and a perennial layer of Canada Goldenrod.

The strawberry is ideal: I often see it on septics because the conditions are perfect for this species. It greens up early when we’re thirsty for some colour, has tiny white flowers and then bright red berries. Not sure I’d eat them considering where they’re growing, but the birds will. A groundcover like this is ideal for keeping weeds at a minimum because they won’t get the light they need to germinate.

The goldenrod sure added some bright yellow pizazz to my home. And it’s wonderful for late-season pollinators – it helps them get through the winter. But this particular species, while native, is pretty aggressive. The septic was becoming something of a monoculture and I want more diversity – because diversity is fun.

So I started selectively cutting back the goldenrod, picking away at it and weakening it. This will be a drip-drip process – I just need to pay attention to make sure it doesn’t take over.

I also added some Early Meadowrue – delicate foliage perfect for a site that gets a lot of shade – violets for groundcover and colour, and some sedges. A good start. But more will come. All these are safe on a septic.

Care needs something different to our usual maintenance regime. It’s not hard work – certainly less effort than hauling the mower – but it’s nuanced work. It’s the pleasure of noticing new plants that arrived by surprise and insects that feed on them, of finding a raspberry that crept back in and deciding to pull it. And also being fine with something that’s never quite finished and always changing into something new.

The beetle with the shiny wings

And what do I get for all that? I know that this summer, I will be poking around on the septic, in a relaxed, zen kind of mood, just looking at what’s there, making a few easy decisions… and I will notice a song sparrow tutting amid the perennials, and then I will see a bee sleeping in a flower and a black beetle with shiny green wings inching up a stem, and then another and then another.

And I will say to myself: we did that! We’re caring for this land, me and nature together! We’re doing our part to help the land be what it can be, benefiting not just me and my septic but countless other species, too. And I know that every year, it will get better and more fun as more plants arrive and establish and more creatures follow them.

Instead of feeling in opposition to my land, sensing it’s a chore to be accomplished and a battle to win, I will feel like I’m part of it.

I will feel at home, not just in my property but at home in the wider world of nature.