Kalipso from Busy Bee sent me a beautiful Before & After...um, long enough ago that I'm ashamed I haven't posted it yet. Her garden transformation is not only lovely, but it really is a story of lost & found again. (Eerily similar to the way I kept losing her email and then finding it again!)
*****
You have to know a few facts about my garden before you see these "before and after" photographs. During the war operations in Croatia (1991 -1995), I had to leave my home. I came back ten months later; the war was not over but the area I live was liberated. The house was burnt down and there was a jungle around it.
I used old bricks to make paths and this central circle in 2003. I recycled the brick from the old grandma's house wall. After pulling the old house down, my father left this wall to serve as the fence towards the neighbouring plot. I finally pulled the wall down to make a new fence and I used almost all the bricks from the 23 m long and 1.7 m high wall.
I really have no idea how many of them were in that wall but, they are all around my garden laid as paths, edges, patios... Not sure I would be so enthusiastic to do the same again!
1. How did you come up with the design for your vegetable garden?
I had lots of old brick left from pulling down my grandma's house that used to be on the same ground where my house is now. And, I wanted to solve two problems in my veg garden - to have solid paths during the rainy days and, to have less weeds to pull out. So, I made these brick paths.
2. I assume digging up & re-laying down the bricks was the most challenging part of this transformation. Were there any parts that were easier than you expected?
Easy or not, gardening is, besides tremendous pleasure, a lot of hard work but I count on that!
I am an optimist. I guess, making this garden was a good therapy against depression and self-pity that catch many people who suffered in the war. As for myself, creation is always over destruction. Though, we have to destroy a few things to create new. Hard work - I enjoyed every step of the way!
Much of this Before & After comes from Kalipso's own post on her garden. I've featured several of her amazing photos, but be sure to check out her post to see the rest of them! And I do have to confess to having a little bit of brick envy...those paths are stunning.
And as always, if YOU have a Before & After - big or small! - send me a note and I would love love love to show it off. :)
Her garden is so inspiring as it tells the tale of survival and rebirth. The before is so bare and the after is so lush and alive.
ReplyDeleteHanni, thank you very much indeed for promoting my blog this way. Have a nice day. Vesna - Kalipso
ReplyDeleteI won't have any before/afters till next summer when I see the results of this fall's giant garden makeover. I really hope the Afters are better than the Befores! I love Kailpso's blog! It's such an inspiring place.
ReplyDeleteI, too, am having some serious brick envy - but not of the hard work that it evidently took! What a wonderful before and after - not only the story of a garden, but of war-time loss, perseverance, determination, and victory.
ReplyDeleteKalipso's after photos are truly a metamorphosis. The before photos feel sad and the after photos are so happy and joyous!
ReplyDeleteThat's beautiful, it makes me wish I had a brick wall to tear down....well, for my husband to tear down.
ReplyDeleteThat garden is a tremendous achievement especially the rebuilding of the wall. Here's tones beginnings. Lovely post both Hanni and Kalypso.
ReplyDeleteGarden decor, along with things related to gardens, provides a return to nature, a sense of spirituality, and a return to the earth as people journey on their quest for significance and ultimate meaning. Garden accessories can become symbolic reminders of life's blessings as they encourage people to enrich their surroundings by transcending the mundane.
ReplyDelete