My first pond build - in slo-mo

[johnnyi]

Moved a lot of rocks yesterday and today. We came up with a system of using a hand truck to move them from the off-loading point in the front yard and wheel them to a carpet covered entry point in the pond. Then I would carry them the last couple of feet to their final resting place.







What we ended up with looks like this on the South side bog area:



The West side we were able to line with landscape cloth and then fill with dirt:





You'll note in the last shot we also have begun to cover the pipe coming from the main pond pump and we have begun to reduce the depth of our stream bed. The work isn't done yet but the hill behind will become flatter and more spread out to the right in the last picture.

I still have some rock to move but they will be marginally smaller and definitely fewer. I think that with an hour or so on one or two night's this week we should be ready to fill the weekend of 3/10, and be ready for mosquito fish the following week. :goldfish:

John :razz:

 

[sissy]

wow glad I'm not moving them .

 

[addy1]

Those are nice big rocks, a lot of work. Great job, that will look wonderful.

 

[CountryEscape]

I'm glad I didn't have any large rocks like that ... I would have needed to borrow someone to lift them into place. I'll have to settle for the smaller rocks for my production. Your pond is looking fantastic, really taking shape. Bet you're very anxious to see water running soon. And, next weekend is daylight savings (do you do that in CA?) so we will gain an extra hour of daylight starting on Sunday!

 

[johnnyi]

CE,

We definitely have daylight savings time here and it does start next weekend. I'm very much looking forward to running water through our "improved" (the jury's out on that) pond set up.

Addy1,

The rocks are nice and will be submerged about 60%, so they won't appear as big with water as they do in the photos above.

John

 

[j.w]

Humongous rocks to say the least!

 

[johnnyi]

Hi all,

We're filling the pond as we speak (write). Today we were pretty busy.

Planting and transplanting plants into the completed bog areas:







In this one you can see the pump underwater and beyond on the left, 1 of our 2 hardy lilies. The second one is in the glare on the right.



I've almost finished the plumbing re-do and have buried most of the piping.



Another couple of hours and it should be filled. It is just now seeping into the lowest bog area.

John

 

[CountryEscape]

Awesome, it's looks great! Bet you and your wife are so happy to have water running. Plants look great. Soon you will have lily pads on the top of the water, and then blooms. Looks like you had a very productive day.

 

[pondlover]

Really looking great. What kind of plants did you put in your bog?

 

[johnnyi]

CE, yes we are and yes we did.

PL, I'm going to have to make a list because I don't remember at the moment. I'll try to post something tomorrow.

We're going to get a small piece of 2" flex-pvc to connect the skimmer to the skippy-esque filter. Still no media in the skippy, but there's no rush since we'll need some warmer temperatures. We'll probably be getting some mosquito fish in a week or two. Then we will get some goldfish a week or two after that.

We're fortunate to live in zone 9b where it rarely freezes and never a hard freeze in the mid-western or eastern sense. Because of this we can get grow many things that don't have to come in for the winter.

Anyway, more soon.

John

 

[j.w]

I like your plantings and it's really coming together nicely and almost full of water. Go ahead pat yourselves on the back now, you both deserve it for a job well done...............well almost done...............well maybe never really done but fun doing,doing,doing and doing some more,lol!

 

[addy1]

Very nice, that will look great as it grows.

 

[johnnyi]

Thanks Addy1. The biggest experiment about it is the non-plumbed bog areas on the sides. It will be interesting to see what they do. I didn't wash the rocks or pea gravel and I notice that the water is slightly cloudy with a grey tint. I also notice that bubbles are forming from the waterfall and aren't popping right away. Our soil is clay-ish and I left the liner with dirt on it from the last fill.

I'm going to run out and get a short piece of flex-pvc to complete the skimmer to skippy run, and some of the window screen material for the filter and fire that thing up, hopefully by this afternoon.

John

 

[johnnyi]

Hi,

This is a partial list of plants in our bog area:


Black Taro 'Colocasia esculenta' (Black Magic)
Blue Bell 'Ruellia Brittoniana'
Common Mare's tail 'Hippuris vulgaris'
Corkscrew Rush 'Juncus effusus'
Creeping buttercup 'Ranunculus repens'
Dwarf Golden Sweet Flag 'Acorus gramineus' (Minimus Aureus)
Dwarf Horsetail Rush 'Equisetum scirpoides'
Imperial Taro 'Colocasia Antiquorum Illustris'
Lacy Tree Philodendron 'Philodendron selloum'
Lemon Bacopa 'Bacopa caroliniana'
Miniature Corkscrew Rush 'Juncus' (Curly Wurly)
Parrot's Feather 'Myriophyllum aquatica'
Pink Bell 'Ruellia Brittoniana'
Red Hardy Lily 'Nymphaea' (Conqueror)
Water calla 'Zantedeschia aethiopica'
White Hardy Lily 'Nymphaea' (Hermine)

John

 

[taherrmann4]

Johnny does the black taro grow new daughter shoots off the main root like green elephant ears?