How Did That Happen?

My quick afternoon project, planting an iris next to the pond, turned into a comedy of errors. Isn't that the way of life? You set out to accomplish a small task, and it winds up taking waaay more time than you intended. Fortunately, I had one trusty beagle supervising my work (or not). His brother put in an appearance and then found something more interesting to do.

First, I assembled all my supplies.

Next, I started digging the hole for the iris. This part went rather slowly, since there were small rocks mixed in with the dirt, and I felt the need to separate the two. Then I hit a vein of sand, which is not particularly good for plants other than cactus. I excavated the sand and had a pretty nice size hole for my iris. As I was contemplating whether to dig more, I saw water start trickling down into the hole.

As I watched, the hole continued filling with water. I thought, "Why would water be oozing from the foundation?" and, "I know I didn't hit a water pipe." I dug around a little more, which only increased the flow of water. I decided to go check the water meter to see if it was running. As I took off down the sidewalk, I discovered the culprit.

Earlier, (how much, I don't know) I had left the hose running (just barely!) to water this nandina. The water filled up the flowerbed...

and ran under the sidewalk, finding its exit in the hole I had dug.


A more alert supervisor would have been helpful!

When the water stopped draining into the hole, I used this

red cup to remove it.

Then I remembered that I could have used this
siphon hose.

After making a muddy mess, I finally got the iris planted. I hope it's happy in its new home!