With three bags purchased last fall, today I picked up six more bags of pebbles to finish the French drain. I made two trips, three bags at a time, because I didn't want to end up with extra. It was close with the first three today, but since the ditch was kind of "V" shaped, the volume needed to fill in across the top was going to take more than what filled up the bottom half. At any rate, the project used nine bags of rocks plus a bag of decomposed granite at the bottom end where the water can drain out and soak in if need be (it's over the baldcypress roots at that point, a tree that loves standing water.) In planning the drain I dug the experimental little trench last fall, and that alone was enough to let the slightly uphill Mexican plum come back to complete health this year. The rocks are placeholders so it isn't as likely to fill in from surrounding soil.

The messy part was when I made the executive decision to cut out a chunk of the inch diameter PVC pipe that runs the length of the yard, put in by the previous owners. It ran along about 3' of the length of the trench, and was going to cause a backup in drainage. I had thought about using it for a pump, but never did, and now I won't. The reciprocating saw made quick work of it, but since I'd perk-tested the ditch with water there was mud to be flung by the blade and the pipe.

In a follow-up on last night's clash of the behemoth-sized critters, the cicada killer wasp seems to have avoided the Argiope spider's web. She has extended her web orb into a true 3D capture device out there, but it still accommodates the opening security door. Smart spider. I think, however, todays backyard soil shifting messed up another kind of wasp and spider dynamic. I filled in some low spots along the garage foundation next to the step into the garage, and this afternoon noticed a tarantula hawk wasp with a smallish spider that it stunned in the garage and had dragged to that side step. It seemed to be looking around and I realize I probably filled soil over the hole it had excavated to stuff the spider into before it lays its eggs on said paralyzed spider. It may have to start over. Since the spider is a goner if the wasp doesn't use it one of the lizards will get it. Can you see why gardening is so much more interesting than clearing out my den? You can take the Interpretive Naturalist/park ranger out of the park, but you can't take away the interest in all of those goings on in the natural world.