Homeowner Explains the ‘Garden Nightmare’ That Turned Their Lush Green Backyard Into Dry and Barren
When springtime arrives with a bounty of flowers, lushness, and sunshine, armies of insects emerge from the grasses. As long as they pollinate or enrich the soil, they are harmless. The problem arises when these tiny buggers get too hungry and start feeding on the garden. In a resurfaced video, TikTok user Charley (@charleymaryy) shared how some notorious summer insects ate her garden. Called “leatherjackets,” these insects crawled inside and wrecked her once-lush garden to an ashy, barren desert. The video has been viewed nearly 10 million times.
What are leatherjackets?
They are crane flies, adult insects known to humans as “Daddy long legs,” according to Crop Science UK. These adults remain dormant throughout the winter, only feeding and resting. But when they sense the arrival of spring’s Sun, they emerge. They are harmless as long as they keep flying around. But the moment they land on the grass, you have a problem. Nestling within the grass, the male adults mate with the females, who ultimately lay eggs. Out of these cracking eggs, pop out babies, often called “leatherjackets.” These tiny toads especially thrive if the grass is too mossy or wet with rain.
Horrifying impact of leatherjackets in a yard
In this video, Charley shared how a family of hungry leatherjackets gave her a “garden nightmare.” This is “what it looked like before, so fluffy and green,” Charley described in the video’s overlay with footage of a lush grassy lawn bordering her house. “Then the leatherjackets came. And now this is what it looks like,” she wrote with a sobbing emoji. The video then transitioned to show a montage of her garden after a painful transformation it underwent due to these little scoundrels.
To the surprise of viewers, the garden now looked entirely different from what it was before. It was just a barren patch of land smothered with ash-colored soil and scanty clumps of dying bushes surviving here and there. In a hashtag in the caption, the homemaker described that the garden was a new build. “Send help,” she wrote. The footage played some gloomy lyrics from Bohemian Rhapsody. “Nothing gold can stay,” TikTok user @tibbarrr lamented in a comment.
@Shwane empathized with Charley, saying, “So a biker gang showed up and ripped all your grass out? that sucks!” @McMondays joked, “Leather jackets? I knew biker gangs had no respect for their community, but this is too far.” Some people contemplated the entire episode from a positive, spiritual perspective. “Now you have a clean slate to do anything you want,” commented @jimjam9910.
Fellow gardeners pitch in
Many people in the comments section offered advice and suggestions on how to protect the garden against leatherjackets. Some suggested installing a bird feeder in the garden so birds would gobble up these wriggling little beasts and tidy up the space. “I'd recommend getting some large trees/bird feeders to encourage birds to come into your garden and eat them, this was the only thing that worked for us,” wrote @littleroosnursery.
Alternatively, you can cover your grass in black plastic, invite birds, or sprinkle garlic spray as protective mechanisms against these leathery leprechaun bikers, explains Marden Gardeners. Lastly, make sure you don’t summon them by spraying too much water on your grass.
You can follow Charley (@charleymaryy) on TikTok for lifestyle and homemaking content.