Crazy Garden Pipes

Kázmér Ádám Kaposvári


We have all seen pictures and videos of gardens that just blow our minds, maybe because of their beauty, complexity, the variety in the vegetation, or the many many exotic plants. We all wish we had a garden like that.

I live in a house with a rather big yard, but let me tell you, it is not even near the standards for being on a magazine page. When we take a look at these perfect landscapes we never think of the hard work that goes into them and the struggle of the people who tend to them. Even now I can remember the renovation of our lawn as it was full of burnt-out yellow patches. My father and I thought we would be ready after a few days of work. Well, it turned out to be a whole month after all. First, one of the automatic underground sprinklers was not functioning. After digging it up and patching up a little crack in the pipeline, we removed the top layer of dead grass, then filled it up with fresh humus and new grass seeds. At this point it seemed so easy and we had a straight plan. But as soon as we began to test the water systems, the real search in the labyrinth began. At not one, but multiple points over the field of dry land, circles of darker dirt appeared. This meant the worst: we had made leaks in the pipes while removing the top layer of grass. It took us weeks to uncover and dig up every last one of the cracks, but furthermore, we found many old pipe connectors that were already leaking some water as they had been degrading over time.

As of today it looks fine, but back then it was like a crazy maze that had no way out no matter how hard we were searching.