Backyard Garden Diary 1: New Trees, Raised Beds & Fall Planting Tasks

MARK

On the woods changing and what comes next…

Hundreds of acres of adjacent woodland attracted us to this house 20 years ago. It is mostly designated floodplain with the exception of 30 landlocked acres that borders our backyard. Over the years we’ve heard barred owls, whip-poor-wills, and coyotes at night, and seen deer, turkeys, foxes, bats, squirrels, snakes, turtles, and scores of bird species coming and going. It’s been our quiet oasis in a fast-growing county of 750,000 residents.

The upland acreage has been for sale the entire time we’ve lived here, with little prospect for traditional development, but it finally sold earlier this fall. A couple of weeks ago, Georgia Power started clearing it for a new substation.

The loss of tree cover on the south end of our yard didn’t just displace wildlife. It also exposed our shade-loving shrubs to full sun. They’ve been there for a decade or longer, so I don’t expect them to die outright, but they won’t be happy next summer.

After the initial shock of seeing all of the old tulip poplar, beech, red maple, oak and pine trees pushed over and piled up for disposal, we made a plan to support wildlife, protect our landscape, and cool down the back yard: we would plant more trees.

As the saying goes, the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago; the second-best time is right now. Fortunately, my go-to native plant nursery is still in business. This week, I picked up some red maples (Acer rubrum) and post oaks (Quercus stellata) for eventual shade and wildlife forage. Red maples are some of the earliest-flowering nectar plants in our region, and they grow faster than other hardwoods. Post oaks are part of the white oak group. They grow slower than maples, but they support a huge diversity of insects and wildlife. We will continue adding trees and shrubs for shade, screening, wildlife forage, and cover in the coming months.

DEBBIE

Making slow progress in the raised beds…

A year ago, we transitioned part of the garden to raised beds. This was mostly due to the fact that we (well, mostly I) can no longer squat or bend over for long periods of time due to lower back pain. We chose 17″ 9-in-1 Vego Garden metal beds in British Green. Overall, I love the look and functionality of the raised beds. Spring 2026 will mark a full growing season using the raised beds, and I will update with pros and cons of using the system.

This past summer I did lose motivation to keep up with the garden, so as a result, I am still working on cleaning up the beds. I know I will regret the delay come spring, when I find volunteer veggie plants sprouting all over. I didn’t even have the motivation to put in fall greens that my family loves. Mostly because I was overwhelmed with work and family projects that consumed all my time. Currently, I am making a plan on how to make the beds a bit more self-sufficient so they don’t require so much attention during my busiest times.

MARK

Collecting leaves, rebuilding soil…

My neighbors might think I’m crazy. Several years ago I put a call out to family and friends, asking for the autumn leaves they would otherwise put on the curb for disposal. One person said he had lots of trees, and asked how much I wanted. I took all he had—12 landscape trailer loads—and I’ve been taking all of his fallen leaves every year since. This week he delivered the first two loads of the season.

Our lot is a little less than an acre. When we moved here it was mostly grass. One of our goals was to convert half of the lawn to natural habitat. We love wild birds, and we figured replacing lawn areas with the right kinds of trees, shrubs and perennials would increase their presence.

The problem was that I kept planting things here and there, and mowing between them took longer than before. I would have had to mulch huge portions of the lawn to suppress the grass and weeds. Instead of buying mulch, I decided to use my neighbors’ leaves.

The neighbor dumps the leaves in the vacant lot next door beside my back gate. I (and my teenage sons) load the leaves on tarps and drag them to the backyard beds. The first year or so I mowed and bagged them with my riding mower, but that took longer—and I’ve found that unshredded leaves are better for weed suppression. We pile them 12 to 18 inches deep, and by the next fall they have broken down into a thin layer of black humus.

The results have been better than I anticipated. The soil in the beds is slowly transforming from orange to brown as the organic content increases. My plants have become noticeably more drought tolerant. Best of all, I can mow the yard in less than half the time it took when we started.

DEBBIE

Herbs doing their thing, even when I’m not…

Despite the delay in bed cleanup, many of my perennial herbs are still going strong! I added a new bed in May specifically to hold perennial herbs: sage, French lavender, oregano, and parsley (so far). I also have rosemary, wooly thyme, and Portuguese lavender in pots, each in various states of “I hope they make it.” I’m hoping they pull through the winter.

The only herb I overwinter in the greenhouse is my bay laurel because it’s not cold sensitive at all. 

MARK

Those abelias finally got their new home…

I started converting our front landscape bed last spring, when I removed a cluster of overgrown juniper shrubs. I chipped those for mulch, but I wanted to save the Kaleidoscope abelias and reuse them in another part of the yard.

To prepare them for the move, I did three rounds of root pruning at 6-week intervals. In late May I used a border spade to cut through the roots, 8 inches straight down into the soil, following the dripline ⅓ of the way around each shrub. I pruned the second third in mid-July, and the final third Labor Day weekend. This process stimulates production of new feeder roots inside what will be the rootball.

Finally, after our first hard frost, it was time to transplant them. Since I had already cut the lateral roots all the way around each shrub, all that was left was to gently lift and move them. After planting, I soaked them with water and mulched them.

Fall through early winter is the best time to plant, or transplant, trees and shrubs because the soil stays warm for a long time after the air turns chilly. Plants are heading toward “sleep mode” this time of year, so they use all of their resources to produce roots instead of foliage. More rain and less evaporation mean less stress and higher success.

DEBBIE

The greenhouse scramble (again)…

Every year I swear to prep the greenhouse before first frost, but like the years before, it caught me off guard. This fall we didn’t get gradual cooling—it went from hot all September to fairly warm weather in early October, and then bam, right after my birthday in mid-October, we got our first freeze.

So it was a mad rush (as usual) to dump all my tropical houseplants from the porch and all my tender perennials into the greenhouse. I haven’t had a chance to go back in and organize them, because after the dry summer, the weather flipped to wet and cold-ish (for Georgia). For now the greenhouse is a hot mess, but the plants are warm and toasty. Cleanup will come eventually—along with some overdue houseplant maintenance.

MARK

Garlic season…

It’s garlic planting time! We love garlic in our food and in the garden. To me, it’s one of the more gratifying plants for several reasons. It’s extremely easy to grow, surprisingly productive, and prefers cold weather. We can cook with it at any stage. The harvesting and curing process are the same for food or for seed. And it’s easy to store.

After curing our garlic harvest in early summer, I set aside the best bulbs for seed—larger, tight wrappers, no soft spots. I stored them in the basement until a few days before planting time, usually mid- to late November.

When planting time arrived, I opened the bulbs, separated the cloves, and chose the best looking ones. Any cloves with grayish “watermarks” (aspergillus fungus) get rejected from planting—they’re fine to eat, but I don’t want it spreading in the garlic patch. We peel, grind, and freeze all the rejects in tablespoon-size cubes for easy cooking.

We plant the best cloves from the best bulbs every fall. I dig a shallow trench, space the cloves every 5 inches, and seat them root-end down, pointy-end up. Then we cover them with soil and wait for sprouts.

We usually don’t worry about weed control until mid- to late February. On a sunny day I lightly hoe the rows and apply shredded leaf mulch. We use double sprouts (two tops from one clove) like scallions since they won’t make good bulbs. Harvest time is almost always Memorial Day weekend.

DEBBIE

Bird cam season = happiness.

For the past couple of years, I’ve added bird feeder cameras to our yard. Mark and I are avid bird watchers and have always had feeders, but testing bird feeder cameras for freelance work got me hooked. Now I love watching the different species pop in for a visit.

Of all the cameras I’ve tried, I prefer the Birdfy brand. Overall they offer the best viewing experience. Currently, the bird camera I am enjoying the most is the Birdfy 2. The best bird photo of the season so far has been a handsome Pine Warbler. These lovelies are year-round Georgia residents, but I rarely see them at the feeders until late fall and winter.