You've seen before and after pictures. Whether it’s weight loss or whiter teeth, seeing is believing. People don't know how good something is until they first see how bad it was before. And now with our ever-present internet exposure, these pictures can be incredibly shaming and promote unattainable body ideals. But I’ve found in the last year these have been extremely motivating when it comes to my own garden. I hope you’ll include them in your own garden toolbox. Here are a few of mine:
Our dog (and us) had worn a nasty track in the lawn that
never would respond to water or fertilizer. Next to it was a bed of fussy plants overgrown with weeds. I wanted to replace that bed with plants
from Plant Select, grown for their adaptation to our dry clay soils. Yes, it was
a lot of work and took us a month. But the “after” was a makeover better than
any Botox I’ve tried and will certainly last a lot longer!
Along with installing the new brick path, we also tackled an ugly retaining wall of railroad ties. Ubiquitous in the 70s and 80s, railroad ties for home landscapes are now illegal according to the EPA because of the dangerous creosote in them. The added benefit for this project was gaining a nice new long planting bed.
The hardest part for me to get before and after pictures is remembering to do the “before” picture. This happened when we re-landscaped our front yard. I had to use a Google Maps street photo to get a "before" picture of how hideous that front yard was before.
I hope you’ll try to capture as many before and after photos as you can to give
yourself that satisfaction of a job well done, but no photoshopping allowed!
