Randall's Blog

My next bright idea was to make the 24' above ground pool in the yard into a garden. I reasoned that the steel pool walls would make a good garden fence. It's dug slightly down into the ground to level it out and this is an advantage as a garden fence. One problem is that it tends to accumulate water when it rains (even without a liner). This is what it looked like last Spring:

I came upon the idea that if I could put down a layer of stone I could put raised beds on top of the stone and if I did it right the water might even irrigate the garden beds kinda like a giant grow box. I calculated that I would need 10-12 yards of stone. This is a lot of stone. Moving it by hand would be a chore. I was thinking about ramps for a wheelbarrow and the like but decided that I needed to just get it in the pool and not putter around. I went with the recommendation of the people who sold me the stone and rented a small "skidsteer" loader to put the stone from the pile into the pool. (I didn't risk bringing the truck near the pool for fear of the potential of damaging the septic system.) It all arrived last Sunday - a nice day to do outside work.

Then the problems started... I should have known that a 6000 pound loader would sink into the rain soaked lawn but thought it wouldn't be a problem. I got it stuck on the FIRST load. I guess I can scratch "loader operator" from my potential careers.

The guy that rented the skidsteer came over and got it unstuck and gave me some tips on how to proceed without problems. I did follow his advice and was able to put in a few more loads (while making a total mess of the lawn). Unfortunately, I tried to go a slightly different route to the pool (by only a few feet) and got myself into a situation that I couldn't get out of. That machine seemed to have a mind of its own. It wouldn't go in the direction I wanted it to go. It was happy going backwards (towards the wetter part of the lawn) but wouldn't go up even the slightest incline. I struggled with it for a few hours and just gave up. It was NOT a happy experience. I was thinking wrecker with a really big winch or something...

Fortunately the guy who rented me the skidsteer was really nice AND much more experienced in operating this little beast. On Monday morning he got it unstuck and even finished putting the stone in the pool for me. Many thanks to New Scotland Sales and Rental for their understanding and help. I have been working on spreading out the stone evenly in the pool - still a task.