I've gone the other way...from full time designing and building for others to writing. The measure of worth of the former was monetary...the latter enjoyment. Good or bad? Don't know, but far afield from overwhelming.

Sabi

As far as writing goes I may be the low man on the totem pole. A switch was made when I was asked to do a design for a Church courtyard. Then I was asked to implement the plan. Next I was asked to maintain this garden, all this on a very, very low budget. I was proud of the look of this courtyard with the brick edged walk, the specimen plants and the thick beds of perennials and annuals and the seating area I made from treated lumber. I put quite a bit into amending the soil. You would not believe all the things I put in it like alfalfa meal, greensand, crushed granite, borax, epson salts, water polymers, osmocote, pine bark, perlite, vermiculite and lots more in abundance. The fact that no one would help with the weeding and watering and other chores caused me to finally walk away from that garden. I did a 6 X 8 demo garden for the Flower Show at the Fair and they covered it with ribbons and it won a crystal. Its theme was Yard Art and it contained one of the worlds rarest plants: the Anheiser Bush.