One thing on our list of things to get done this summer, was
a pond.
My husband and I have always wanted a stone patio surrounded by flower gardens and a pond.
So each year we have been accomplishing one big project at a time, to ultimately get our garden complete.
This summer....
the pond!
We have three garden areas surrounding the flagstone patio. So this last area next to our shed, was saved for our pond.
First we drew out a shape that we wanted in the dirt. We chose an irregular kidney bean shape.
My dear husband, dug and dug and dug some more. It only took me about 15 minutes to get blisters on my hands and I was ready to call it quits!
Hubby was determined and got it done that day.
At it's deepest we wanted it to be 3 feet so that we could have some Koi fish. We wanted a shallow top shelf so we could place a bubbler rock and some plant life.
Next, after you measure how much liner you will need, it was time to lay an under-layment. This is like a thick felt blanket that protects the rubber pond liner from any sharp rocks and such on the ground.
Now comes the big, thick, heavy pond liner. The worst part was fitting it around the bends. Trying to pleat heavy, thick rubber is not fun:)
Looks like a big mess at this point.
I didn't like these white lines on the liner and noticed (after we already laid it down and were ready to fill it) that the under side was less obvious.
So.....
we took it out, flipped it and started again.
Like I said, this was not my favorite part. Laying the pond liner was difficult and time consuming, but we got it done!
Next step, water!!
We were pulling and pleating the liner as it filled with water, to try and get it as smooth as possible.
There's no way to avoid wrinkles, you just do the best you can.
The big rock on the right has a hole drilled in the center. The pipe from the water pump will feed through the bottom hole, so that the water can flow over the rock and into the pond. You need to measure how many gallons your pond will hold and then get a water pump for your pond. Ours is about 1200 gallons.
Now it's time to accessorize...pond style!
You do need to be very careful while laying the rocks, the worst thing that can happen is if you tear the liner.
Hubby did a beautiful job! I'm so proud. He lined the edges with a couple different kinds of rocks.
We picked out some water plants that will have blooms we'll get to see next summer.
He laid a few groupings of smooth smaller rocks on the bottom of the pond to kind of hide the one white line that we couldn't avoid on the pond liner.
Not a clear picture, but we bought 7 little Koi fish for our pond. They love to hide in those rocks at the bottom of the pond.
She's not the only pet anymore;)
She could watch those fish all day!
I'm so happy with it. It's very relaxing and sort of completes our garden.
Of course there is still lots we want to add and every year we get to watch our flowers and now fish grow.
Thank you for sharing with me!
