It's 1969 and I'm finishing the small upper wall at my parents' house

My father must have taken this picture. I doubt I've seen it for over 40 years.

The larger wall (foreground) I mostly finished the year before. That was my first cold frame and it was a couple of years old; I was just relocating it to this newly leveled bed. Notice the leafpile in the top bed. I dragged bag after bag of leaves and grass clippings home both to go into a compost pile and to compost directly on beds over winter. My mother has continued to improve the soil. After ~42 years of amendment with organic materials, the soil (initially clay) is in pretty good shape.

A picture taken more recently would show a large ornate gazebo and the brick wall that replaced the chain link fence. And of course an established mixed border. I guess I ought to have that picture but I don't. This spring, I swear.