Look at the insect footprints surrounding this wasp, which is making some of its own, then notice how many there are in all.

Some from wasps. Some from others who need mud.

(Frightened off to the mud boundary by a photographic session.)

Really, any effective land use strategy is going to have to include water leakage, erosion, and short-lived ponds here there and everywhere. Plus slime.

The earth is not a garden.