The Water Garden...

awaits the first frost.

The Things I Did

after work Saturday should have sweated the rest of the sick outta me.  I made piles.  Oh, the pleasure I had watching those piles grow.  Do you have a place around your house, where you just lay something til later and later never comes?   This is a collection of some of those piles: a broken flower pot, sun worn ice cream buckets used to hold small bits, an old box I was going to use and a chair broken during the ice storm that I was going to fix...

The yard crew (Hubby and Beverly) was mowing yesterday.  East of the house, near the old tractor tire water garden, a copperhead snake was spotted but escaped.  This guy is poison and we do not really like having one this close to the house.  Heck, we don't like having them at all!

Today after work, I tackled the jungle.  My goal to clear the way for easy snake spotting, open it up for easier mowing and pick up some damaged things I had not disposed of yet.  I wish I had taken before pictures but you can measure the piles and imagine the befores because I only have afters.

The elderberries had taken over around the water garden.  Something is eating the limbs so off they came.  A super thinning of plant life took place or a butchering, depends on how you look at it.

This USED to be a great sweeping, beautiful Texas or Blackberry Rose.  I believe I shared some pictures of its blooms.  Well, there ain't no blooms now!  In the heart of this bush is where the copperhead chose to rest when he was spotted yesterday.

Now I have two, no, three big piles full of plantain, violets, blackberry rose and elderberries topped with sticks, dead pecans and limbs and debris from the old tractor tire.  It is over ninty degrees and the humidity is 76%.  I am not sweating like a horse, I am lathered.

You can see around the tire!!!!  The refilling water is clear!  No snakes in site but I did find a marvelously, huge bull frog in my hostas and welcomed him.  Hope I did not scare him off.

Hostas visible, lillies visible, rocks visible...just a  mere few hours later.  This was my resting spot on the log, I would sit and drink a tall cool drink as I pondered my next move.

I have seen the elephant and he is bare!  He was covered with Virginia Creeper.  It is not perfect by any means but much closer.  The plow share is visible and all/most snake hidey holes are gone.

This is on the east side of the lodge and welcomes the morning sun.  Now I can greet the morning sun in relative safety...in this hard won spot.  Man, I am pooped!

 You can read about The Old Tractor Tire by typing the words into my search at the upper left hand side of page.

Saturday Work

The horses enjoyed the green grass while Bev and I tried to do some yard.  The water garden had wintered well and many things were growing already.

Bev did some raking and I worked  around the water garden, removing the winter's leaves or should I say, trying to remove the winter's leaves.

Magic wandered by toward the green grass.  The horses were loving the day and so were we.  The temps were perfect.

Hubby and Andrew cultivated the garden.  They hauled poop to the pasture and redistributed it for fertilizer.

The water garden is looking a little better but many leaves to go.  I think a leaf blower would have made easy work of this.  I had to handpick the leaves out of the rocks. 

Note the black thing floating.  It was covered with snail eggs so I had to leave it in.  I want plenty of snails to feed my fish and help keep the pond clean.  I also ran into many frog eggs and tadpoles.  Life is going to be plentiful in my little water garden this year.

Remember how beautiful it was last year, it will be again and very soon.  I guess we all have to shed the uglies after the winter we have had.

It has been raining since last night and still raining.  I am glad it is not snow.  Many of you have been hit with late winter storms and I am surely thankful the snow went around us this time.

We had great plans for today.  More spreading of manure, I was headed to the barn to work but as you can see from this picture, not much equipment will be moving today.

This is from my screen porch,

doesn't bode well for outside work.

I Am Through!

I am declaring this project finished too...except for moving the wood cookies. Then I will be finished! I have potted my last water lily, I have potted my last bog plant, placed my last rock...until I find another one I like.

The lilies are a little shocky looking but they shall recover nicely soon.

I found an old commode tank and thought what a lovely table! I must find the perfect top. I shall remove the wood cookies and as the bog bean grows out of the tank, I believe it will be the final touch. The bucket is my trash can.

I have a resident that seems quite happy with his new pad! Also added small perch today to make it a natural garden.

Now to be able to sit down and enjoy the result!

Pond Progress Report

I am nearing the end. I have worked and potted and cleaned and gathered until I am exhausted. Remember I started this project last weekend. (You can go back and see beginning shots) I am maybe 95% done!

To the right, I have a dog walk so they may drink here, too.

Parrot Grass

The plants are a little thinner and better arranged.

The water lilies have done very well along with the bog bean. I still have a pile to pot but it is getting smaller. The gazing ball needs to be straighter.

Getting closer!

Water Garden Progress

Working with cedar wood cookies, but do not think it is the solution.

I shall collect more rocks, I think.
A chain sawed carved head by Dad will be one added little interest.

Flowers are being thinned and moved. I have a bazillion water lilies to pot.

Reflections...the trees and my thoughts.

The Old Tractor Tire...

has been in my life since I can remember. It was a chicken feeder, a calf feeder, a hog feeder and a few other things. Dad had sawed a tire in half and it sure was handy.

When we moved to the farm, I found the old tractor tire as we were cleaning up the place. I could not throw it out but I had to find a new purpose for it to justify keeping it.

I turned it into a water garden. I dug a hole much deeper than the tire, lined it, tacked the liner to the edges and trimmed the liner with my pinking shears. Filled it with water and gold fish and plants, decorating with rocks.

It has suffered from my neglect and Sunday was my day to get that baby clean. I took all the rocks out, caught the frogs and set them out and proceeded to clean stems, leaves and pecans from the bottom. There had been a few spilled flower pots along the way so there was mud too.

I potted a water lily and water irises and planted some parrot grass along the edge. Cleaned and replaced rocks.
Kept going until the water was almost clear. The rest will settle out and the water will be clear by morning. Don't know what the family members think but the dogs are loving the fresh water.

The guys did bring me some baby perch so I have a natural water garden. The bonus is I have repurposed an old memory.