Our new pond project

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Author Message   Friso  My Garden Posted on Thursday, June 14, 2007 - 05:09 am EST :    For a couple of years we've been talking about building a pond in our garden. This Easter we decided that we would just go ahead and build one. On a site similar to eBay we found a prefab pond for a reasonable price and because we couldn't get it ourselves the sellers were even so kind as to bring the pond to our home. Happily I started removing part of the lawn (less grass to mow is always a plus I think!). After some days I had dug a hole deep enough for the prefab pond. I filled it up with water and plants, hid the ugly black plastic border and put some plants around the pond. Tired but content we sat back and enjoyed the view of our new pond with a nice glass of wine. It was a pleasant evening. Next day I found that the water level had sunk noticeably, but since it was a really hot and dry period I wasn't yet concerned. Until that evening when I came home from work and the water had dropped dramatically! Suddenly I didn't think so kindly anymore about the people who brought the pond to us: now we didn't have their address or anything! After a week of sulking I tried to find the leak and fix it, but that didn't work out, so I got fed up with the prefab thing and decided to get it out of our garden and build a new one. No prefab and because I had to dig again I might as well make it bigger. I placed the foil and added water: And again I put the waterplants in, hid the border and placed the plants around it. As you can see the pond is close to where we sit so we can really enjoy the life around the water from a comfortable position. Some friends gave us fish as a present which are fun to watch, and I expect some visits from toads or frogs soon enough. The plants in and around the pond need to grow some more, off course, but eventually this pond will blend in nicely with the rest of the garden. I'm glad we finally have our pond! Friso - Netherlands, Zone "7a"   Gardenlady  My Weather My Time Posted on Thursday, June 14, 2007 - 09:42 am EST :    What a great story, frustration and all! So happy this story had a happy ending with the beautiful pond that you first imagined. Enjoy! D. Gardenlady - British Columbia, Zone "5b"   Stephie  Posted on Friday, June 15, 2007 - 11:35 pm EST :    It is absolutely gorgeous!!! What a great job! Love your house too. Enjoyed your story and shows that one should never give up or look what they would miss! Stephie - B.C., Zone "8"   Heathergirl  Supporting Member My Favorite Photo My Garden Posted on Monday, June 18, 2007 - 03:43 pm EST :    Friso, I am really inspired by your story. The same thing happened to us only we didn't realize until much later that we have a slow leak. Now there are many frogs that have made their home in our pond and I hate to disturb them, but at some point it must be done. Your new pond looks so natural and you have done a wonderful job with it. So much better than the prefab. Heathergirl - County Durham, Zone "8"   Growit  My Favorite Photo My Weather Posted on Thursday, June 21, 2007 - 07:40 pm EST :    I am so impressed with how natural and established it looks already Friso. Such hard work and all the setbacks and still you continued. You must now feel it was worth it and it brings a whole new dimension to a garden, especially the wildlife that turn up. Please post later when it has filled out a bit more. Growit - Hampshire, Zone "8/9"   Friso  My Garden Posted on Friday, June 22, 2007 - 03:05 am EST :    Thanks all. I can't begin to tell you how much we enjoy the pond. It brings so much extra live to the garden that is a pleasure to watch. Friso - Netherlands, Zone "7a"   Sunnyday2day  Supporting Member My Favorite Photo My Weather My Garden Posted on Friday, June 22, 2007 - 08:01 am EST :    Friso, that turned out to be beautiful! You could use your old pond form to make an alpine garden...making lemonade with your lemon! Alpines are a treat too. Sunnyday2day - Tanya-Michigan, Zone "5"   Otnorot  Posted on Friday, June 22, 2007 - 03:45 pm EST :    I like the way your liner is built with enclosed pot holding areas and the finished pond is well done congratulations. Bill Otnorot - Ont, Zone "6A"   Gardenbrat  Posted on Friday, June 22, 2007 - 04:13 pm EST :    What a beautiful pond and garden. I love seeing the photos of all the hard work that goes into making a garden. Brat Gardenbrat - Palm Bay, Florida zone 9b, Zone "5"   Mike_in_chicago  Supporting Member My Garden Posted on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 - 10:16 am EST :    Friso, thanks for directing me here. You'll be glad you made your pond bigger, I'm sure, as it's already starting to look great. I've been through many "learning experiences" with my own pond (read: mistakes that needed correcting), and it looks like our are similar in style. How are you circulating your water, if at all? Here are a few shots: But there was a time it was just an empty hole in the ground like yours. And then again a few years later when I had to fix it and had to seam liners together (twice, because I did it wrong). And then the year I had to raise the waterfall because it was leaking outside the pond liner. That and a few other major mistakes and I'm surprised anything still works in there. My partner's not much of a do-it-yourselfer, so the hard work usually fell on my shoulders, though we certainly both enjoy it! Mike_in_chicago - Chicago, IL, Zone "5b"   Friso  My Garden Posted on Thursday, July 19, 2007 - 03:24 am EST :    Mike your pond looks beautiful! Just the kind of style I'm hoping to achieve one day. I love that waterfall, I'm using nothing (yet) to circulate the water because I'm trying to keep the water clear using just plants and bacteria. But I really like you waterfall and I would like to hear the sound of running water so maybe... I'm not good with electricity but a friend is and he already promised to help me if we needed running water. That waterlily has a beautiful colour, and I like the way you hid your border with rocks. I'm gathering more rocks myself to get the same result. So, as you can imagine, our pond is not nearly finished yet, and I'm constantly 'updating' it (like I also do with the rest of our garden). My partner isn't much of a do-it-yourselfer either so I'm also doing most of the hard work but I really don't mind. By the way, could you please give me the name of that lush green plant in the front of the second picture? Friso - Netherlands, Zone "7a"   Gardenfiend  Supporting Member My Weather My Garden Posted on Thursday, July 19, 2007 - 08:24 am EST :    Mike, I agree, your pond is very beautiful! Do you take the blue waterlily in when the weather turns cold? Gardenfiend - Germany, Zone "7a"   Mike_in_chicago  Supporting Member My Garden Posted on Thursday, July 19, 2007 - 09:04 am EST :    Mara, yes, this nymphaea is a tropical, 'Blue Beauty'. I attempt to restrict its size by keeping it in a small pot, which also allows easy storage in the basement each winter. I didn't have luck with trying to keep the corms in wet sand, so I just dunk the whole pot in a plastic tub under a light and keep it cool. I only have space for one water lily, so tropicals are worth it as they bloom so much more, and the scent is amazing. The flip side of restricting them is that each year corms grow out of the pot and start their own plants, which I try to give away. Anyone want one this fall? Friso, that is a bunch of Eichhornia crassipes, or water hyacinth, a floater which is a great filter as they suck up a lot of nutrients, outcompeting suspended algae. They do bloom and are pretty, but are quite invasive in warmer climates where they can overwinter (not my zone), so perhaps they might not be a good idea for your zone? I'm not sure, I take some in each winter, and they only really get going in late July for me. Which brings up clear water. I think you're going to have a problem with maintaining it without some sort of circulation, as well as some oxygenation (waterfall). I say this from experience and a ton of research. If you want, I can fill you in on my past mistakes via email (send me one if interested), but here's the basics: I don't overstock with fish and I never feed them (both of which would contribute to excess nutrients, thus suspended algae). I have tons of plants, including oxygenators and good "filter" plants. I had a small waterfall, but had the pump directly under it, not circulating the water to the rest of the pond. I would also use beneficial bacteria once a week, but would always have algae (string and suspended, the kinds you don't want, versus the kind that inhabits the walls of the pond, which you do). Finally one year, I raised the waterfall to add oxygen and moved the pump to the other end of the pond to circulate the water. Since then, I've had clear water from mid-spring on. There are more details, like the potassium issue in water gardens, but basically small ponds like ours won't act like big ones in nature, I think. Plus, a waterfall/bubbler makes a great focal point! Mike_in_chicago - Chicago, IL, Zone "5b"   Gardenfiend  Supporting Member My Weather My Garden Posted on Friday, July 20, 2007 - 02:11 am EST :    Unfortunately, I don't think tropical nymphaeas would do as well here. I think they need reliably hot summers (which we don't have in northern Europe). Anyway that's what I've read. Water hyacinth isn't hardy in Europe either, but they spread so fast each year that it is even worth while just tossing in a new plant each spring. Mike, my own pretty extensive experience with garden ponds doesn't really bear out what you wrote. I have never had waterfalls or indeed any kind of circulation, but algae haven't been a problem except maybe in the very first months of a new pond. Sufficient quantities of plants and very few (or no) fish seem to create the right conditions for clear water. I may be heading for trouble now, though. Last year, as a favour, I took in 7 small native "wild" fish that had appeared in a friend's koi pond and were somehow deemed a health risk to her fish. They spawned this spring and now there are swarms of tiny babies swimming about in my pond. I'm hoping something will eat them up! Gardenfiend - Germany, Zone "7a"   Mike_in_chicago  Supporting Member My Garden Posted on Friday, July 20, 2007 - 07:15 pm EST :    Mara, I find your pond experience interesting, and I bet I can learn something from it. Perhaps it's the lack of fish that allows for clear water? Or the general temperatures? Or perhaps I was doing something else wrong, and changing the circulation and oxygen levels was done at the time that something else changed. How large is your pond? Mine is around 800 U.S. gallons, with the surface 80-90% covered by mid-summer. Anyway, I consider Chicago summers quite chilly, but it's all relative. We can have hot days in the 80's (F), but often plunge into the 50-60's at night. It's enough for this tropical lily, though I don't know what the temps are like in Germany, just Italy. Are summers cooler or shorter where you are? Mike_in_chicago - Chicago, IL, Zone "5b"   Treelover  My Favorite Photo My Garden Posted on Friday, October 05, 2007 - 06:25 am EST :    Great job on the pond! We can't have one as our garden is too small and its just not safe for the kids. I was thinking of making a bog garden tho using an old baby bath. Treelover - County Durham,UK, Zone "8/9"

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