I got a wild notion to move my pond and give the kids back some yard. Well, here is where I am, a week into my project. It has taken some time to dig up most of the plants on one side of the old pond, so I have somewhere to deposit all the gravel and dirt from the new pond (formerly known as the playground!). LOL This one is about 10' round. The old one was 11x14.
Oh no-moving a pond? That sounds like a terrible amount of work. I would probably keep the old pond and build another (not any better am I?) Well, maybe this will give you the chance to do all those things that I say "if I were doing this again with what I know now..." about. Bigger, deeper, and more easily accessible are my list!
Well the problem is, or is that problems are??? LOL Anyway, I have six daughters ranging in age from 2 months to 10 years old. I have hogged nearly every square inch of the front yard and more than my share of the back yard! :O I am moving the pond closer to the house so they can have some back yard back. We have only 1/4 acre and I want them to have more play space. It IS a lot of work, but I am calling it this years weight loss program. hehehe It is always something. But with six kids, it is also always something fun! The one good thing, like you mentioned-I can get rid of the plants I don't want and rearrange and only put back the ones I want. :)
Maybe the older kids can help dig? My friend and I had 4 nasty old boxwoods to remove and her 8-year-old daughter worried one out of the ground all by herself while we did the other 3! I was impressed. Nice of you to give up garden space. I keep fencing more of my yard to keep dogs out of plants!
Believe it or not, they are helping. LOL They all do or try to with the exception of the baby. I remembered posting this when I dug the first pond, before the expansion. http://davesgarden.com/t/270106/ Even the dog helped! It is going slow because we had to tear down the play set, move it and rebuild it in a location where I am having to till out some ground. Oh my!! Sounds like my kind of job!
OMG, I remember when you spent days out there DIGGING that pond!! You move water features like Howie and I move furniture inside!
LOL Well at least you know how to do it now. And you can do the improvements that you know you want too. Just too bad you don't have an arm that is a backhoe. That arm could scoop it up for ya.
Happy Ponding, Lani
My! Crazy is right!
Can't wait to see this progess, will the dog and kids be helping again? Your other thread was just too cute :)
Yes, Lani, a scoop arm....She should hire Hellboy. http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/hellboy/
Whoops! I forgot to come back. Hubby switched to second shift this week and we are trying to switch schedules. LOL I have the plant ledge completely dug and I am about half way finished digging the deepest part. If the weather holds out, I am hoping to finish digging this weekend. I really did consider renting a small bobcat for $125/day. Trust me I did! LOL I work a lot cheaper though and the work is good for me???? I may go rent the equiptment to move all the dirt and gravel into the old pond hole though. I think I am wearing down. hehehe
My dad rented a bobcat years ago and dug out the hole for our cement pond. I was in highschool at the time. They are the coolest!
I dug my own pond all by myself! It was a hole to fit a 300gallon stock tank, round. Not sure if I would want to do it again. You know how we all want bigger ponds!
Hey! Whadaya mean going from 11x14 to 10'??? I thought we were suppose to go BIGGER?
Looks like you've got a family like I grew up in. I had three sisters. What a riot we had!
I decided to save money and dig by hand. Then my neighbor came over and told me he would have a dingo for the weekend. Well my neighbor has not let me borrow his dingo (bobcat) yet. Sigh. I finished digging the pond hole, even got hubby to help and used my tiller to grind down the last few inches. LOL After it was all cleaned out, we layed in carpet and the liner and filled it up. Now I have to move in all the rocks, plants and fish and finish planting. Here is what it looked like last night when we decided to call it a night.
Oh, Henry10 and his SO came over yesterday, helped catch the fish, took a bunch of pics he is not allowed to post and hung out for a couple of hours. Wasn't it nice of him to get dirty?? :)
Ya know- I never thought I liked round ponds- but you proved me wrong!
Darn you!!!! Now I gotta go dig a big round hole in my yard! :-|
That's gonna be beautiful when you're done!
Badseed, you did it! Congrats and can't wait to see the finished product...and see, you inspired crim!
Looking like you are getting it done in warp speed too. I love how the plants are all lined up around the pond like they are waiting for the opportunity to jump in as soon as you humans get out of their way. :~)
LOL All the perennials are planted and the tropicals are still in pots. I sunk the banana pot in the ground. I was afraid to plant too much because I didn't want to stomp it putting the liner in. When I get done, I'll have stones or small paths or something to get to the plants. Bad thing is, that is only the plants from one side of the old pond! The veggie filter and canal are still full of plants, as well as a kiddie pool and rubbermaid tote. LOL I did put the water lilies in yesterday and am trying to decide what to do with my lotus. I am thinking of setting the lotus on top of something in the center.
Here, we are experimenting with a farm trough I bought to hold the fish for a day. It works out nice with a threaded drain hole on the bottom of one side. My pump hose fit right on a fitting in it. LOL This thing sounds like the grand rapids!
Look at all those good oxygen bubbles! I couldn't catch the fish in the pics. The keep trying to swim up stream. LOL
I love it!
Looks GREAT Michele!
See I told you that trough would come in handy!
(We're going to have to grab one of those smaller ones.
I can see a front yard feature already!)
It was fun snagging out the fish and flipping them to the girls.
They had a blast trying to hold on to them
w/o being 'bitten'. lol
I will attest to the dog helping.
A digging fool that one!!!
Ric
wow.... wonderwoman!
That is going to look SO awesome!
My butt is SO kicked!! We finally got the dingo, but too late to get the most use out of it. We back filled the old pond hole, made paths around the new pond and levelled some but my back yard is trashed in a major way. Neighbor did say he got a promo and we could get some nice BIG tools again. LOL I could learn to like that dingo! Nothing like a power tool to make you feel all womanly. LOL
Wow, you've been busy (like that's anything new??). The pond's looking great, Chele.
It's looking great Chele. You sure have worked hard on getting it done.
LOLOL, ahhh, is that what that feeling is called!
It kinda looks like one of those alien cirlces to me.......
Don't move weeds...IT'S RIGHT BEHIND YOU!!!!!!!! LOL
You all are too funny! LOL I'll be back soon with pics. This sure has been a wild adventure and back breaking too! I still have one whole bed of plants to move as well as what is left in the veggie filter. Then there is that weeping willow.....
**standing to applaud**
My MaMa taught me to stand up when someone deserved our respect. And girlfriend,,you certainly got mine.
"T" :)
Awe thanks!
This was the back on 6/13.
This is the back today. What have I done???
Then this...
turned into this...
which right now looks like this....
and I can already tell that the pond is going to be invisible again. LOL And I am supposed to have all this done for a birthday party next month. ACK!
Looks great and yes, you have lost your mind!
Looks great. I think I will put off my visit for awhile. I might get put to work. lol
Wow! Michele!!! Its looking wonderful! What an awesome job you have taken on!
Can't wait to see it sometime - looks so different!
Here's a shot from Saturday after the fish went on vacation.
Ric
Yep, that was the old pond. sniffle sniffle. Ric, now tell them how the kids yelled at you for being in their playset, then later joined you! LOL
Here is that same area now. Anybody have some sod?? LOL
