From hot tub to flower and herb garden

This is our hot tub. It's been unused since we arrived last year. To keep the water hot, a wood stove is used. I don't know about you, but fiddling with fire to keep the water hot seems like a lot of work especially when the idea of a hot tub is to relax. Neither Kevin or I was particularly keen so we kept it empty.  I felt it was a real eyesore and wanted to make better use of the space since it is right outside our back door. It's the first thing we see when we open the door and walk out.

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Kevin and I removed the chimney and the fire box.

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At first, we thought we might fill the bottom of the tub with rocks, but that was going to be heavy and would take a long time to collect from the river. I thought it would be easier to buy some wood chips from the lumber yard.

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The bags take up a lot of space and are very light. I could manage these quite easily. We bought 14 bags and covered them in two layers of large black garbage bags, which fill the bottom of the tub.

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Then, once the bags were in place, I added loose wood chips to fill in the gaps.

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Then to fill the rest of the tub, we needed compost. Kevin and Martin have been cleaning out one of the ponds near the guesthouse and the muck is rich with fish poo. I shovelled some in buckets and then dumped them into the wheelbarrow. I then lugged the heavy load up to the new garden. I would do a little every day for over two weeks. It was incredibly hard work. I overdid it the first day and it took my back a week to recover.

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Yesterday and today, Kevin helped me finish the task. I just wanted it done! And finally, it is. I planted some flowers, aloe vera and herbs. Hopefully, everything will take root and we'll have a beautiful garden to greet us when we walk out onto the terrace. Time will tell, but today, Kevin and I both agree it looks so much better than an dirty, empty hot tub. And I love that it will also be useful.

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