isn't that the craziest thing: pretend you care

I know you have all been waiting with baited breath to see the before and after pictures of my garden.

Right? No?

Could you pretend you care, please? Because I put a lot of work into this, and the neighbours are quietly referring to me as the crazy lady who gardens and then takes pictures of her own garden.

And I would hate to think I gained that reputation for nothing.

The "before" pictures were taken in or around last April. You remember the adventures of our April vacation, right? Of course you do.

OK - here's the front garden, last spring. You will note that there was nothing in it. And it was flat. And it curved back on the edges.

Now it looks like this. Except it's a bit taller and fuller now, because I took this picture a couple of weeks ago. Nice, right? Notice it has things in it, as opposed to its earlier empty state. It also has a lovely slope, and it curves out on the edges. Plus there are strategically placed rocks that my friend Dave dropped off for me.

OK. Then there was this area with a bench, and a steel pole with a brick border around it. (Seriously, that's what it was.) It looked like this.

The bench came out with one hand, and the steel pole came out with the other. Now it looks like this.

And then there was the back garden, empty, except for weeds and really good dirt. It also originally had a broken down wooden fence across the front, but I don't think I ever took a picture of that. Anyway. It's gone.

Now it has tomatoes and onions and peppers. Well, pepper plants. For some reason,

there are no actual peppers. And to be honest, there are still some weeds. I'm doing my best, but it's really good dirt, and the weeds love it just as much as the other plants.

Down the far side of the house, where we never need to go, it was a weed festival. Not very attractive for my neighbour. And not accessible to the lawnmower.