dpb wrote:

-snip-

Are you sure this isn't/wasn't a drainage-related feature? Where is the
water going to go that is being collected by the depression now--be sure
you don't all of a sudden have water running into the garage or
something after you fill this up.

That's what I was wondering. i wouldn't fill it until I saw what
happens during a downpour. And I'd ask the neighbors if they know.

[Maybe he just took all the plants with him wherever he went.]

Jim