Hi you all - long time no...
I've been terribly busy all summer - here is why:
I cannot emphasize this to often;
It is because of you, good unselfish forum-people who have taken the time to post building threads, answers to questions, helpful hints etc. that I was able to learn all the "how to's".
This thread is my contribution to all of you. Honest. THANK YOU! *BigSmile*
This is what my garden looked like when I bought the house, the photo is taken in March and displays the emptyness clearly .. but I saw the potentials immediately
Then I made a "photo-shop" drawing of the new pond to be. I decided that I would start with planning the pond and then create the garden around it.
I moved in on May 28th - my birthday actually and couldn't have got a better birthday present.
Before I finished unpacking and was half-settled in my new home, I started on the pond.
I just couldn't wait to get started! The fish were in a 26 gallon plastic container, and I was worried that they would suffer in there - though I found out as the days went by that they were actually ok since I did frequent water changes etc.
You can see the container in the following picture, this is when I (finally) started the digging!
..and a "few" shovels later
I was so surprised that the soil is almost rock free and it is the perfect plant soil. Even better then the soil bought in a Garden Center .. so it was quite easy to move it.
And yes, I did it all by myself by hand, using my shovel, without any help from others .. this next picture is taken when I was finished digging. Notice the huge piles of soil - just wait to see where it went to - that comes later *wink*
It is 3 feet deep at the deepest, 1 feet in the shallowest parts.
and a view towards the house - the pond is formed like the number 8, the pond closest is the mud pond, the one next to the house is the lily pond. In between on the narrow part the future bridge is planned to be and the fish can swim back & forth ..
Oh my, creating this post and looking at the pictures brings back the memories - it was raining / pouring every day, thankfully it stopped raining every now and then for one or two hours, but the soil was soaked really at all times.
All my plants were stored in plastic bags in the corner closest to the house, actually it rained so much that I never needed to water them, not even the lilies!
..actually a few of the non-pond plants almost drowned, my apple tree was suffering for a while until I poaked a few holes in the plastic bag .. this next picture shows a few of my pond plants!
They all survived actually!