I blame Seth. He's married now, with two adorable kids, but when he was a teenager, he wanted to dig/build a water garden. So we did.
Back then I had a big old shade tree out front. We dug an upper garden and a lower one with a waterfall. I loved them!
But between digging the water garden and a big broken tree root in the driveway, the big old maple died. And with it, all of my shade plants WITHERED.... Which meant a complete change of garden. Which meant time. And money. Neither of which I had.
Oy....
Time went on. I decided to let my English Ivy take over.
Oh. It did. It only took 4 years of NEGLECT to have the ivy bury the water gardens. One needed a new liner, and the other one... Oh, bother, I think I just ran out of time!
This is Seth's son Logan making Dinosaur Soup last year... Yup, you guessed it! He's making his soup in the base for the Mother's Day water garden they got me in 2008.
I am officially pathetic.
So this year we instituted the WATER GARDEN RECOVERY ACT OF 2012.
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| JUNGLE!!!! |
Seth and I bartered for work. I watched his kids while he worked, and he's restoring my yard and gardens to something pretty.
Let me just say: My work with the kids is a joy.
His? Backbreaking, but he loves it! We messed up our first water garden. And a little of our second. And our third. But we learned each time. So now we have this:
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| This is the oblong pond right in front of the front porch. You can't see it from the road, but the frogs LOVE IT!!! And the little fountain in the middle keeps it aerated. So the frogs and fish are happy. Except something ate the fish. RIP, fish. |
This is the one that housed Dino Stew last year. Or two years ago. Whenever. Seth is now giving it a place of honor in the front yard. It will have a spillway waterfall once the plastic pond forms are in place with rubber sheeting between them. Today he dug... and dug... and dug.... Tomorrow is leveling.
And here is the original waterfall pond that I'm digging out of the ivy. (With poison ivy all through it, so I dress up like a stinkin' hazmat person... Very attractive.)
We're standing at the top of the waterfall... I got that far three weeks ago, and then had family stuff or work each weekend... But maybe this weekend I can uncover some more. I need to reline this one, so it's a complete "dig out" of the ivy, remove the snake-riddled liner, very scummy, and then replace with the new rubber liner. And then a new pump. That's my birthday present this year, to see if I can get everything humming, trickling, and pretty.... without spending a fortune.
Do you barter? To old-world me, bartering is one of the most sensible things folks can do. For Seth, it's worked well. He gets child care, I get a landscaper.
All in a day's work!
