Why I Oughta...

There I was....minding my own business scrolling through gardening instagram when I came across this post from....guess who?  Yep.  Erin the Impatient Gardener.  You know....the online gardener who gardens in Southern Wisconsin who I have posted about a bunch and continues to show me/teach me new things.  Here's her post below: View this post on Instagram A post shared by E R I N🌿The Impatient Gardener (@impatientgardener) Wait....What the what?  What's is this?  A Rill?!?!   I am going to admit something:  I have NEVER HEARD of a rill.  Like...this was that time when a girl in like 2nd grade mentioned something called a "Panda Bear".  I was blown away.  Never heard of a Panda Bear.  And...then..... *boom* Suddenly, this cute black and white bear was in my life.   That's how I feel about a garden rill.  This is NEW TO ME.    Sure, I've heard of water features.  Ponds, streams, waterfalls.  Even fountains .  But a rill?  I had to look aro

Last Winter, I posted a little backyard garden dream about a stock tank pond based on Erin the Impatient Gardener having set one up a few years back .  I thought it was a unique way to add a water feature to the garden - and one WITHOUT fish - but rather focused on aquatic plants.  At that time, the problem that I was facing was access to an affordable stock tank.  Between the supply chain issues and pandemic-induced staying-at-home, stock tanks were either not available or the shipping was a killer.  So, imagine my delight when I walked up to the local Big Box store this past week and I see these beauties out front: On the left are rings.  Not tanks.  Fire pits are the intended use, I think.   The most expensive ones ($129) are these online - 2' wide x 2' tall x 4' wide .  And, despite the HD listing not showing the capacity in gallons, I'm pretty sure it is 100 gallons ( based on this Tractor Supply listing ).   That seems like a good capacity to start on something li

Late Winter, heading towards Spring is the "what if" season for a gardener like me.  And...by a gardener "like me", I mean a total amateur who doesn't always think things through and has half-baked ideas.  My latest "what if" has to do with a pond.  Oh, I've posted a number of times about ponds on the blog.  Even talked about locations for them a couple of times .  But, due to a variety of factors (cost, upkeep, location, permanency, being busy with other things among them), I just haven't pulled the trigger.   But last week, I came across an Instagram post from Erin, the Impatient Gardener that stopped my scrolling.  I've posted about Erin the Impatient Gardener before here , here  and here .  As I've mentioned before, I think she's great and provides a lot of inspiration to me - not just because she knows her stuff, but because she's in (or very close) to my growing zone.  She's in Wisconsin, I'm in Northern Illinoi