A new critter, a new knot in the net.

I love finding new critters in the garden.

Every one that says 'Hi' means a new aspect in the net of diversity that I've established at Ligaya Garden.

Every new critter I meet reassures me that there's one less species gone extinct in this time of mass extinction

When designing anything in life, I tend to dwell on the concept of Indra's Net, even for something as elaborate as a garden. Indra's Net is a concept I borrowed from Hinduism and is represented by an cosmic net where each knot is a gemstone that reflects every other gemstone in the net. It shows the real interconnection of all things in reality. We do a simplified version in our gardens when we pay attention to our needs and the needs of the plants.

Taken further one can look at the gemstones or the strands of the net themselves. It's all about connection whichever way you look at it. Hinduism and cosmology do the former, Buddhism, the latter.

It's easy to apply this to gardening, just think that everything that you plant or build must relate to other plants and structures (and yourself of course). Everything must influence, if not everything else, then as many things as you can allow it to influence.

...

'How will this plant affect the soil'?
'Will this tree affect the neighbours'?
'Does this doing this positively affect plants around it's?
'Will this one benefit birds and insects'?
'How will the new raintank alter the microclimate'?

...

I probably couldn't do this on a farm scale block but in a little place like Hive account@ligayagarden, it's pretty easy with a bit of practice, just think of a new plant as a gem and reflect as many things as possible on its surface.. Pretty soon, you will see yourself as the gem and the garden will be reflected in you in a myriad of ways.