The Overflowing Urn

Here is a quick photo journey through the overflowing urn. I finally found my urn, basin and grate at Wakoola Water Gardens in Cumming, GA. I suggest anyone who wants a pond, overflowing urn, yard art, fun afternoon take a trip to this place. My mother and I went, and I am shocked we ever left!

I realized that I was never going to be able to dig a deep or wide enough hole where I wanted it due to the roots of this tree, so I had to get creative. I decided it would be neat to nestle the pot against the tree and roots.

I built two retaining walls with the Pavestone Windsor block you see in this picture. I had a few pieces left over, so I decided to put them to good use. That is the basin that will house the pump and water reservoir, with a heavy duty grate on top. The silver line is duct tape were a hole to access the pump has been cut in the grate.

Here is the urn I picked. it is by Le Beau, and is frost proof. This is crucial because in the winter, if the water freezes the pot could crack. I have buried part of the wall I created, and am packing dirt behind the blocks to ensure everything stays in place.

This is the inside of the pot. I ran a flexible vinyl 1/2 inch tube through one of the holes in the base, and used silicon outdoor waterproof caulk to seal around the tube and to plug the other hole. The hardest part about the process was waiting 8 hours for the silicon to dry before I could fill it with water!

Here I took landscape fabric and duct tape to cover any gaps where the square grate did not fit the round basin. (I could have purchased a basin and grate kit for $300, but I decided to create my own for $50... so I had to get a little creative). the pot is being supported by the grate, and by a cinder block I found in my yard.

It took 8 bags of top soil to fill in around the basin. Here you can see where I have planted (counter clockwise) an upside down fern, some moss, an impatiens, a succulent ground cover, another impatiens and a Japanese painted fern. I had to place large rocks in strategic places to help hold the dirt in place.

The next step is to place the rock down on the grate. Before I did that, I ensure that the pump worked. I decided to purchase 3 .5 cubic foot bags of egg rock from Lowes ($3.99 a bag) instead of buying 3 $39.99 bags of rock from the pond section.

Ta-da! I also used a big rock from my yard as a decorative accent on the left side of the fountain.

I used the leftover egg rock on the steps that are next to the fountain to tie the two areas in to each other. There is a drain pipe that dumps out on the rock next to the steps, so the rock helps reduce erosion.

Here it is with water in the pot. The waterflow sounds fantastic and is very pretty. I am going to work on where the tube is placed to hopefully achieve a more dramatic waterflow from the urn. All in all it was a fun project and really adds a lot to my yard. Here is the view from my swing, a drastic improvement from where it was before!

Water Features!

I come from a long line of "real" gardeners which have influenced my idea of what a garden and yard should look like. My mother's mother and father lived in Ellijay and had an acre vegetable garden as well as a beautiful yard with almost all native plants. My father's father grew up on a cattle farm and had an extensive home garden here in Atlanta. I have also watched my mother create an enormous pond with a waterfall in her yard. To give you an idea of the size pond she created, she is using a pool pump and filtration system to keep it up and running. Pretty big. SO, I decided I wanted a little water element in my yard as well. My first course of action was to fix the little elephant fountain I already owned, but had let go.

My dogs had decided to dig out from behind the fountain (which is solid cement) so my first task was to level the area out again. I used the weight from the elephant to rock the back of the basin up far enough to wedge bricks under it. Then I cleaned the pump, crossed my fingers and plugged it in. It worked! All that I was left was cleaning the area around the fountain up and planting some new azaleas. They are a bright reddish orange. The next task was a little more daunting. I needed to prepare the area I wanted to put my new water feature, an overflowing urn.

I chose the area to the right of these steps as the new home of my fountain. This is an area I have never tackled in my yard, and have really tried to ignore. There is an old cinderblock retaining wall, a huge tree, and lots of junk. But, I am trying to tame my yard, and this is the next spot on the way to the lower forty. 

More plants! (and a rotten bench)

Another journey to the Grower's Outlet has lead to some fabulous new color in my yard. I planted impatiens along my wooden fence, foxglove behind my day lilies near the rotten stump, a butterfly bush near my bird bath (where a little bird was recently spotted bathing!) and some more blue star and hostas. I also went to Garden Ridge with a friend and picked up some super cute solar powered hanging lanterns. Everything seems to be doing really well -  it has all been in the ground for a little more than a week.

In the bottom picture you can see my rotten bench and my flying pig. I bought the pig at a local art festival, and the bench actually came with the house. It has been leaning against a fence in my yard collecting moss for some time now, so I am glad I finally found a home for it. In front of the pig is a "Cape Cod honeysuckle". I have read many posts online where people talk about how it isn't really a honeysuckle, and how the plant itself is not even hardy enough to survive in Cape Cod. The irony is, I planted it about 5 years ago and after it "died" I have been treating it as if it were a weed. I finally realized it was my honeysuckle after a trip to Disney World, where they have it growing in front of the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Here is my little bird that I caught playing in my bird bath. Behind it you can see a hydrangea (that was here when I moved in) about to bloom.

Growth Update

So far, all of my little plants seem to be doing well! My first baby tomato was spotted yesterday -  I tried to get a picture, but my camera would not focus on it. For some reason, my cilantro is flowering... I am wondering if I didnt water my herbs enough initially, they are not doing nearly as well as my mother's. Strawberry plant is growing by leaps and bounds, as are the asparagus and sweet potatoes.

I think my biggest failure as a gardener is watering. For some reason I simply cannot get it into my head that plants need water on a regular basis. I have gotten a little better over the past few weeks. My body clock seems to have adjusted to waking up earlier lately. So, instead of rolling over and trying to fall back to sleep, I have been getting up and spending some time in my yard with the Garden Pest before work. It is so peaceful to take my coffee and sit on the swing in the back. I think my original goal from working so hard in my yard was to find and create a sanctuary for peace and fellowship. I believe I am well on my way to achieveing that.

Second Raised Bed!

I had some fun last weekend as you can see! I took another trip to the Grower's Outlet and got some pretty flowering plants for accent color, and stopped by Lowe's for some vegetables. This is raised bed number 2. It has sweet potatoes, asparagus, okra and a cucumber plant. Here is a shot of both beds:

I am not sure what the blue flowering plant is, it was just so pretty and full of color I thought it would add to the "green" of the beds. I also got a few impatients, a gerber daisy and some mexican heather to put in other pots around the yard. So far everything seems to be doing well!