So.. it's been a while since I posted! The original pond from back then (around 2013) is doing well - but that house is now a rental, and about a 90 minute drive away, so I don't get to see it all that often. Thankfully, the pond itself is not very high maintenance.
New house, new pond(s)! The first of which is this.. mini-pond?
The backstory is that the house was built in 1960, at a time when cut stone and large permanent planters were extremely popular, both inside and outside the house. I sometimes wonder if they were required by building codes at that time! As such, there was a huge stone planter built onto the front of the front porch, and a second smaller one inside the house (which will eventually become the base for a big aquarium).
Due to poor design, the gutter dripped into that planter and froze every winter, and by the time we got the house, it was falling apart. The stones were fine, but the mortar between them (and the concrete interior) were toast. Shortly after buying the house, I gave this thing a good kick, and down it came. It took maybe 2-3 weeks of evenings / weekends to rebuild it.
Instead of filling it back up with dirt, I've installed pond liner and started turning it into a water garden. So far, it has some water hyacinths and a few small shubunkins, along with some duckweed (which was mostly bought as fish food). There's also a filter / fountain thing at one end that pumps water through a chamber of crushed-up sandstone, to provide a home for bacteria. The idea is to have tropical lilies in there along with maybe a lotus, and a few taller plants either inside or in pots around the outside. It'll be about 65% covered by plants, with fish swimming around between them.
For winter, the lilies and water hyacinth can come inside. I will put a rigid cover on top, and keep the water heated (with an alarm to warn me if the temp control cuts out) to a little above freezing - maybe about 38F?
Next steps are to paint the wood, touch up the stone work a little, finish the fountain thing at the end (you can sort of see what I'm trying to do, although I don't think I'm there yet), and add more plants. I'm not 100% sure what to expect in the end, but I can't wait to see where it ends up!
New house, new pond(s)! The first of which is this.. mini-pond?
The backstory is that the house was built in 1960, at a time when cut stone and large permanent planters were extremely popular, both inside and outside the house. I sometimes wonder if they were required by building codes at that time! As such, there was a huge stone planter built onto the front of the front porch, and a second smaller one inside the house (which will eventually become the base for a big aquarium).
Due to poor design, the gutter dripped into that planter and froze every winter, and by the time we got the house, it was falling apart. The stones were fine, but the mortar between them (and the concrete interior) were toast. Shortly after buying the house, I gave this thing a good kick, and down it came. It took maybe 2-3 weeks of evenings / weekends to rebuild it.
Instead of filling it back up with dirt, I've installed pond liner and started turning it into a water garden. So far, it has some water hyacinths and a few small shubunkins, along with some duckweed (which was mostly bought as fish food). There's also a filter / fountain thing at one end that pumps water through a chamber of crushed-up sandstone, to provide a home for bacteria. The idea is to have tropical lilies in there along with maybe a lotus, and a few taller plants either inside or in pots around the outside. It'll be about 65% covered by plants, with fish swimming around between them.
For winter, the lilies and water hyacinth can come inside. I will put a rigid cover on top, and keep the water heated (with an alarm to warn me if the temp control cuts out) to a little above freezing - maybe about 38F?
Next steps are to paint the wood, touch up the stone work a little, finish the fountain thing at the end (you can sort of see what I'm trying to do, although I don't think I'm there yet), and add more plants. I'm not 100% sure what to expect in the end, but I can't wait to see where it ends up!
