Early August 2025. It is six weeks since Linda and I left Rochester NY for Richmond VA. The house we bought is smaller than our previous home, but the garden much, much larger – 1.6 acres in total, on ground that slopes gently down from a quiet suburban street.

This setting is what we were looking for. To have a plot of land that we could invest our leisure time in, whether that be in the interests of climate activism, recycling and reusing, composting, community action, or simply as a refuge from an increasingly dysfunctional world, we want to spend our post-professional lives hoping to find a (garden) path forward in a time of crisis.

The soil in our plot is the sand and clay mixture common to this part of the Virginia – yellow or gray depending on the location. Our land is currently all lawn with a few neglected shrubs here and there. This is not what we want for the future; but it does have the advantage of presenting a clean slate on which we can imagine a garden for wildlife and for nature in general, as no chemicals have been used in what we imagine to be the last several decades. We hope our regenerative garden will focus on pollinators, native flora and fauna and all things life enhancing. In short, all things that work to heal the planet. We know that with 1.6 acres our efforts are a drop in the ocean. But oceans are made up of an unlimited number of drops that coalesce into an unstoppable force, so all is not lost.

One feature we don’t want to change, or even touch, is one corner of our land that retains the original forest that covered the area before settlement. Huge pines tower over the house, interspersed with maple, holly and several as-yet unidentified species. It is a privilege to have this small woodland that points toward what we want to do – to make a garden that works with nature, not against it. So, no pesticides, no chemical fertilizers, no use of plastics, nothing that will harm the planet.

Some time ago the previous owners placed numerous bird boxes around the garden, which was certainly a well-meaning gesture, but they have been neglected in recent years and are all in a poor state of repair. Add to that there was nothing planted for the birds to eat, and nothing that materially aided their survival, and it was an easy decision to remove the redundant boxes and begin planting a garden where not only avians, but bees and butterflies could make a home.

We also found that the immediate borders around the house had been covered in polythene as a poor substitute for weed matting (itself problematic). The state of the plastic, which was breaking into fragments, attests to the longevity of this unnatural material. It is proving a nightmare to dig out, as weeds, roots and sundry debris have grown around the plastic sheets, making each extraction a fight to the death. But once the borders are cleared, the roses and hyacinths that were struggling for life have miraculously regained their vigor and put forth new shoots and blossoms within days of their liberation.

We have no illusions. Making a garden of any kind is a lot of work, and as retirees we realize we have undertaken a huge challenge, one exacerbated by our refusal to resort to pesticides and poisons to make life easy, solutions that will sicken any garden faster than a dose of DDT. In any case, the kind of garden we want, and that the planet needs, has no place for these industrial solutions. Instead, we hope to employ a light footprint, using woodchip instead of pavers for paths, natural mulch free of chemical dyes and plantings that rely on organic material to feed the flora.

I never imaged we would one day be responsible for a wood (even a small one), or a lawn that needs a ride-on mower to keep the grass under control. Our intention is to turn as much of the plot into a garden, not lawn, but it’s obvious that it can’t all be done at once. I’m reminded of Monty Don, the presenter of the BBC long-running program Gardener’s World, who only ever appears in his own garden as if he is the sole worker on site. In truth, he occasionally let’s slip a “we” to acknowledge the help he must get to cope with is two-acre plot (to say nothing of the machinery), but if what you see is not what you get, at least he is not without meaningful help.

Here in Midlothian cost, practicality and need to economize mean we are looking for low-cost solutions, in both the financial and well as the environmental sense. We have discovered a great resource in our neighbor, who has inherited an overgrown garden beyond the neat pool-dominated back yard that embodies the American Dream. He has kindly offered us free run of the overgrown area to pillage whatever flora we want. We have already planted four fir trees (yet to be identified) and a 7-foot maple that, along with its coniferous neighbors, has already given shape to the far reaches of our one-acre plus back garden.

In a few weeks we should take possession of nursery-raised foundational plantings. These are expensive, but by taking account of native species, we are hoping that, along with the freebies we have begged, bought, and borrowed, these trees and shrubs will transform the back and front yard into a garden that will attract not only wildlife but also the interest of our friends neighbors, and persuade others to begin the journey of rejuvenation that others have already begun with success, but that, whoever and wherever we are, need more hands to take up the challenge, and transform the promise of “making a difference” into the reality of opposing climate change and those who seek to destroy our climate, our civilization, and our lives.