I'm with you!
I insisted DuBois leave piles of branches around instead of burning them, let pokeweed grow up in the horse pasture, etc., and my yard is crammed with birds that use the brush piles as homes and feed off the Blackberries, Elderberries, and Pokeweed berries.

Luckily, DB shrugs and listens to me. I do let him mow the front lawn so we can avoid ticks, but we tether the equines out to graze there. Their droppings make great fertilizer for the roses and what we leave turns into violets.

How about a compromise of sorts? I think if it were my property, I'd clear a pathway around your little building so that the branches do not damage/touch the roof or outer walls, and so you have a cleared walkway around the outside of the building for access. Then I'd encourage the wild growth all around the outside of the cleared path, behind the building and to the sides, for the birds. You could even bring the area of wild growth out further into the mowed yard.

We have some areas of our wetland where our brook runs through that we purposely leave overgrown and wild. The birds love it. But we keep a 6 foot wide pathway along our fenceline clear.

I've often thought that if I ever had property that bordered on woods, or larger land that included woods, that I would like a grandual transition from woods to landscaping, partly by gradually reducing the level of grooming, and partly by narrow groomed pathways intruding into the woods, more so where there is a trail in the woods. Ideally, it would be hard to say where the woods begin.

LOL James I have that kind of property...it'always hard to figure out where the yard stops and the woods start you never quite know where to quit raking!
Jiggreen, you will LOVE what the water garden will do for your birdwatching....make sure to have a long slow moving waterfall. If your putting it where the feeders are now I would leave the patch....the birds will use the tree to pune themselves after a nice bath and the growth there provides safety from hawks looking for a snack. I am fairly housebound myself...not because I have to be, but I love it our here so much I dont ever want to leave!Nice part about workin from home....sit out on the deck over the pond and watch the birds all day!;D

I can sympathize with both you and your H and would try to find a happy medium. I would clear some of your side yard and leave some of it wild, while at the same time forge ahead with your plans for wildlife gardens and the water feature.

Here are a couple of guidelines I would follow in clearing some of the overgrowth -

1) Clear all vegetation out from around the shed. I manage property for a living. It is important to remove all vegetation growing close to, onto, or overhanging buildings. The vegetation holds moisture, encourages rot and mold/mildew, and can harbor insect and rodent pests which are very bad for houses and outbuildings.

2) ID your plant species and remove non-native invasive plants. Your state probably has a list of invasive, prohibited, or noxious plants. Although birds and other critters love the tangle of vines and edible berries that grow with such plants as Oriental bittersweet and shrub Honeysuckle, these plants are not native to North America and are extremely invasive and destructive to the native ecosystem. They grow rampant and crowd out native plants, which reduces biodiversity and will hasten extinction of native flora and fauna.

Keep the natives, especially woody trees and shrubs like the Chokecherry - an excellent wildlife and bird tree!

I wouldn't worry about dead wood, in fact dead trees and branches provide critical habitat for cavity nesters and birds will eat the insects that inhabit dead wood. I leave dead tree snags, shrubbery, and many dead lower branches intact in my yard (just in back, not front - the neighbors probably wouldn't appreciate it!). The birds love to use them for nesting and perches. In fact, I've had a pair of Bluebirds nesting in the natural cavities of dead pine snags this year!

Mom Bluebird in nesting cavity -

{{!gwi}}

Where's the mess? Looks fine to me! Possibly make a garden area where it's difficult to mow (if the difficulty is because of overhang). It will look more "on purpose" if it has a border and some perennials or wildflowers planted under it. I'd leave the dead twigs as a staging area for your birds, you can't photograph them behind leaves. :)

I'd have to agree, clean out the area around the shed. Those trees overhanging will do damage, better to clean it out now than pay for repairs later.

As for the island, I'd say clean out everything and leave just one large tree (hopefully native). It would be nice to have one large tree overlooking the area for shade, as a backdrop for other plants and protection for the birds. I would not worry about leaving dead wood in the island, I am sure you have more than enough in the woods.

As for the birds hanging around, where there is birdfeed, there are birds. I doubt if they will go anywhere.

I tend to lean towards 'organized mess' in my gardening approach.

Scott

well there you have it...enough opinions to make your head spin! LOL

Hi everyone!

Thanks for the responses! Sorry it's taken me so long to get back, but my 20 year old son broke his collarbone last week and had to move back home to be babied by mommy! (do they ever really grow up???)

I had hubby hard at work this past weekend buiding a new feeding station and I'm quite pleased with it! I just need to figure out a way to keep the squirrels from using it as a jungle gym to the buffet !

As soon as I find someone who is not allergic to poison ivy I am going to get the vines and overhanging stuff cleared away from that little shed. I'm also going to do a little bit of "cleanup" on that clump in the middle of the yard, but leave the bulk of it..(translation= when I say "I am going to........" I mean I am going to make the hubby do it! lol!) Hopefully we can work out an amicable compromise.