Show Me Your Deck Beside Your Pond

[Lardeelion]

Yes it is a musa basjoo. It comes back with a vengeance! I started with three plants originally three years ago and last summer I ended up with around seventy!! However, dont fret, just cut down the ones you dont want but you will have to do that about once a week. With that being said, you are supposed to put about a foot of straw on top after cutting them down for the season but the summer before last I didnt put anything over one set of them because I didn twant them there anymore and they came back anyway.

And thanks for the compliment.

That's terribly fortuitous, because mine is next to my wee little pond, which I insulated this winter with a ton of straw and was worried about the banana plant being covered! Who'da thunk it?

 

[addy1]

My deck has a small pond on it that is the beginning of our stream, the large pond is at the bottom of our slope.

I don't have any non snow pictures with me.

 

[Priscilla]

Here's my deck. I decided against putting up a railing (even though I have small kids), I built a fence closer to the house, a kind of holding pen (LOL), so they can't get out to the pond unless we let them out of the fence (they can also swim). The deck started as out a small place for me to have coffee in the morning with the fish (its 10 feet by 6), then it suddenly became a gathering place, so I added on the curved bit and another 6 feet.

I kind of staggered the edges because to let it follow the pond, I'm sure it can be cut by something, but I don't have that tool and I built this deck myself - so be gentle if you have any criticism (my back still hurts and I'm still missing skin from certain accidents).

Any ways, my pond is still a construction zone, even though I have fish in it and I haven't hid the liner yet in places.

Mine is more of a natural shape, set in some rocks (which made for interesting digging), BUT I am attaching a cool picture of a pond I LOVE with a deck all around it - maybe a possible inspiration to you. Think this will be my next pond for sure.

 

[vent1962]

We sometimes call it our "deck" or patio, but it's really more of a courtyard.

WOW!!! How awesome is this? Oh my, I would never get anything done except sit right there! Spectacular job.

 

[addy1]

Like the staggered look Priscilla, I would not cut them.

 

[Lardeelion]

Yeah, I agree, Priscilla. It looks really awesome, and I salute you for doing it yourself!

Do you worry about your kids? My younger is 3.5, can swim and is big enough to crawl out should he fall in (and I'm only planning 18-24 inches) but I'm worried enough about it that some days I abandon the idea entirely.

 

[Priscilla]

Lardeelion, In my first picture you can see a colorful fence in the background, that is a totally enclosed, attached to the house, 4 foot fence. That area is a playground. The boys are not and have never been allowed outside that area without an adult. We live near the ocean on a large property, so they will not be allowed to roam freely for many years.

I didn't feel that I needed to set up another fence around the pond due to this existing enclosure.

I hope you can come up a safety solution that will allow you to proceed with your pond. My boys have learned so much from the pond and its cycles in just the short time we have had it, but also leading up to building it. We are working on our waterfall and the boys build their own designs with smaller rocks and use the hose to see how the water will flow and how moving rocks will affect the flow.

Safety is key with children.

 

[Lisak1]

We have family friends who have a pool. Their rule was always NO ONE swims alone. No one. Not child. Not adult. Now that they are all adults the rule still applies - everyone has to have another person with them if they get in the pool, even if the other person isn't swimming. I think, if my kids were small, I would make the same rule about the pond - no pond visits unless you have an adult with you. The fenced in area is ideal, Priscilla. Having clear, unquestionable boundaries makes it easy to enforce safety guidelines. And really it's no different than, say, having a street in front of your house - you teach your kids to respect the rules that you establish to keep them safe.

And you are right - kids (and adults, too!) learn so much from being able to observe and explore a pond. We love our pond!

 

[Catfishnut]

Lardeelion,

Sorry for my excursion into that territory and deviation from your initial starting point.

Now, back to actual decks... and structures. I never took any pictures of the deck that I built on my river bank, but I wasn't kidding when I said that my deck fell in the river. It was only eight feet wide (going out into the river) and 12 to 14 feet in length parallel to the water flow and along the bank line.

There were two cottonwood logs about 18" in diameter and 40 feet long which lodged and anchored themselves against my river bank. These logs made it difficult to fish from the bank, so I built a deck across them and attached it to the bank. now I could walk down to the river and out on the deck and fish or just sit and dangle my feet in the water. Very comfortable and a great view of the river. But this river is rather precarious and violent at times. A few summer gully washing floods and a couple of ice jam floods in the spring took my deck and busted it up into splinters and took it on down to the Gulf of Mexico.

Oh well, that's life!

Now, I have an idea that I believe many people would enjoy for their pond if the pond and landscape could accomodate it.
It would require some serious construction planning and engineering, but is totally possible to create.

Construct a wooden span bridge over the pond from one side to the other and in the middle of the bridge, have a deck (or maybe a gazebo-like structure) with a nice table in the center and precipices (viewing areas) around the perimeter to lean over and view the fish, plants, water and rocks / water features at the deepest area of the pond. You would have your viewing area in the center of the pond looking outwards in all directions.

Depending upon the size of the pond, you could have maybe up to six or eight family members or guests out on this deck for dinner and really be at one with your pond. Your pond dimensions would have to be larger than most, of course, but wouldn't this really be a relaxing and beautiful spot?

Gordy

 

[Lardeelion]

Lardeelion,

Sorry for my excursion into that territory and deviation from your initial starting point.

Now, back to actual decks... and structures. I never took any pictures of the deck that I built on my river bank, but I wasn't kidding when I said that my deck fell in the river. It was only eight feet wide (going out into the river) and 12 to 14 feet in length parallel to the water flow and along the bank line.

There were two cottonwood logs about 18" in diameter and 40 feet long which lodged and anchored themselves against my river bank. These logs made it difficult to fish from the bank, so I built a deck across them and attached it to the bank. now I could walk down to the river and out on the deck and fish or just sit and dangle my feet in the water. Very comfortable and a great view of the river. But this river is rather precarious and violent at times. A few summer gully washing floods and a couple of ice jam floods in the spring took my deck and busted it up into splinters and took it on down to the Gulf of Mexico.

Oh well, that's life!

Now, I have an idea that I believe many people would enjoy for their pond if the pond and landscape could accomodate it.
It would require some serious construction planning and engineering, but is totally possible to create.

Construct a wooden span bridge over the pond from one side to the other and in the middle of the bridge, have a deck (or maybe a gazebo-like structure) with a nice table in the center and precipices (viewing areas) around the perimeter to lean over and view the fish, plants, water and rocks / water features at the deepest area of the pond. You would have your viewing area in the center of the pond looking outwards in all directions.

Depending upon the size of the pond, you could have maybe up to six or eight family members or guests out on this deck for dinner and really be at one with your pond. Your pond dimensions would have to be larger than most, of course, but wouldn't this really be a relaxing and beautiful spot?

Gordy

Well, first of all, I'm always up for a good deck-joke.

Sorry about your deck. We have terrible ice jam floods here in WV, too. I bet it was a great spot. Perhaps now it's a habitat for crappie?

Your dream deck sounds so cool. It also sounds like something I'd hire an architect to do. I'm actually doing that anyway, because the yard is so uneven and we want the deck to join up with the upper porch we plan to expand someday. If only I had an unlimited budget, and a nice, flat yard with no trees....

 

[Catfishnut]

Lardeelion,

No crappie that I know of, at least have never caught one. They are probably in there, but scarce. I get "catfish" here and I love them! Espressly the flathead catfish (Pylodictus olivarius). Best doggone catfish anywhere! You ought to taste this fish as I cook them! They are very delicious! Pure white meat, not fishy flavored.

Everyone wishes an unlimited budget, but that isn't in the cards for most of us. However, we can be brilliant and use our minds instead of our pocket books to create our own fantasies and glorious living quarters which can outshine the prettiest gold pieces.

You might be more lucky than you think... having a landscape that is full of trees and and uneven terrain. Other people pay to create such landscapes, you have it already present for you.

Gordy

 

[jmajid]

with the warmer weather we had, my wife and i were spending a whole more time than we perhaps should have, just sitting watching the fish...
would like to clean it up a little, have a deck or some raised area near it- i have a half in ground and half out of ground pond - we can sit quite close to the fish - most of them dont care - except for the really skittish ones... but once they get a little older and bigger perhaps they will calm down too and we can get back to a shoal of fish like we had...

 

[Sunshine]

This is what ours looks like. We spend a lot of time out there in the warmer weather. The patio is covered, the pond has an arbor over it.

 

[morewater]

 

[morewater]

Don't think about your deck all the time, you'll turn into a deckhead.