That’s before. Here’s after:

Not much to say about “before.” The snow was too wet and heavy to make really good instrumentation.

The “after” shows my paths. I’m a big fan of paths, especially since I can’t plant anything yet…

Paths aren’t a lot of work to make, which is good, because I don’t like work. You don’t need to weed them (much), and they feel very pleasant to the bare foot in July. I’m going to make some more this season, when I’ll show the process here, but it’s simple: (1) figure out where you want the path; (2) get a yard or so of stone dust and have it dumped where it’s not a lot of work to move; (3) clear the path of weeds, and use a garden trowel to more or less level it out (you don’t want water pooling up); (4) lay down a few yards of rugged non-woven fabric on the path, two layers of it, and spike it in place; (5) arrange your bricks on top of either side of the fabric, using your trowel to level them; (6) shovel the stone dust onto the fabric between the bricks; (7) shovel more stone dust into the cracks between the bricks and behind the bricks (gravity and water will settle the dust into the cracks so there’s no opportunity for weeds); (8) level everything out with a push broom; and (9) mist it down with the hose. Takes three or four hours including breaks, and the paths in this picture are entering their third year. Quite a return.

I made the pretty entrance last summer for people who want to pick vegetables. I pictured the woodchuck opening a gate with its little paws, so no gate; in the summer, I put a wooden step at the entrance, so people can enter the garden that way.