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"The Wilderness": A New Garden From Wild Woods

© Marge Talt

Extending the garden into the 'Wilderness' is a much larger project than 'Filling The Gap', described in my previous article. The 'Wilderness' area is about 60 feet deep by 65 or so feet wide. Actually, it continues along the north side of our house for probably another 75 feet before becoming part of the woods on the east side. But I'm only thinking about the section up to the house at this time.

So, I'm dealing with a rough rectangle with a dozen or so mature trees - Oaks (Quercus), Maples (Acer), Box Elder (Acer negundo), Black Locust, (Robinia pseudoacacia), a few smaller Dogwoods (Cornus florida) and some assorted unidentified trees. There are also the weedy, unidentified undergrowth shrubs, wild roses (possibly Rosa canina), Hall's Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica 'Halliana') and Wild grape, (Vitis labrusca) as well as Poison Ivy, (Rhus radicans or Toxicodendron rydbergii, depending on your reference), Pokeberry (Phytolacca americana), Christmas Ferns (Polystichum acrostichoides) and carpets of ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea) to name a few - the usual denizens of second and third growth forest in the eastern United States.

Major clearing will need to be done to turn this weedy, rooty bit of ground into a proper garden. Most of the major deciduous trees will stay, as well as the Dogwoods, but all the undergrowth, except the ferns, will have to go. In addition, there is the remnant of a huge pile of wood chips and probably 3 chords of pine logs, the results of the north neighbor's removal of a row of pines along his boundary. The wood chips will come in handy and I'll use the logs on another project, since they don't make good firewood. But, the logs have to be moved.

I've been looking at this area for several months. While the clearing for the tennis court let in a lot of light from the side, there is a heavy overhead canopy that will make it tough to grow my plants well. Part of this was created by two large Box Elders (one of my most hated weed trees), so the decision to take them out wasn't hard to make. There's also a very old and half dead Black Locust that has to go. It is too big for us to handle, so it will have to wait until we can manage bringing in a tree service. A day's work with two chainsaws and the Box Elders are now a brush pile and a log pile. Removing them has created a nice area of almost full sun on the west side. This will enable me to plant evergreens and give them a good start in life.

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