In 2003, we decided we needed a pond. My husband brought in one of those little black plastic things. I looked at it and laughed. After a week long discussion, he brought in a backhoe, and laughed. The next morning he went to work...when he came home, this is what I suprised him with.
He was shocked...and recruited some help. The next week I ordered a EPDM liner and we recruited help again and got it put in.
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Then we filled that baby up with water.
I could hardly wait to get plants put in the water...I had no idea my hubby had been thinking of what he was going to do next to the pond.
This message was edited Aug 20, 2005 2:20 PM
Here it was a few weeks later.
Oh that goofy little black tub thing made a great underwater planter. I filled it with sand and rocks and planted the Umbrella plants in it. It took quite a bit of material to get it to sink. It was actually a boat for the first 1/2 of the day..lol
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Ok lets move on to a few months later... I found some Canadian geese decoys...added them for excitment!!
I went to the local sawmill and loaded the truck down with slab wood, which they give away. And built me a water shoot. Criss crossed the boards then laid a large piece of PVC pipe in it. Made a great feature to the pond. I loved it...but Hubby had other plans.
BTW...this pond almost caused a divorce...lol
OK...hubbys turn...He came up with another idea...took 2 weekends to destroy my water shoot and for him to build his idea...
OK...OK...His idea was kind of cool!!
Another shot...
Well it is now 2005, and he has come up with another idea....he has decided to make a guest house out at the pond...so I will try to keep you up to date.
It will be a great place to put family members who come for the weekend, huh??
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I wanted to plant some trees around the pond for shade and to help fight the algea battle...hubby said NO...he doesnt want to deal with leaves...so the pond stays GREEEEN!!!
I have water lilies in the pond..they are slowly mulpiplying...I have tryed frog bite, water lettus, water Hyc. none of them live more than a week or so due to the SUN!!!
I took a huge round cattle tub, inverted it, and placed flat rocks on it trying to make shade...that has not helped either.
Oh...BTW this pond has turned out to be(inside measurments 50 foot x 60 foot)
The water lilies.
Even got a Bald Cypress that is now about 5 foot tall in the pond....he has not yelled about the needles it looses yet. lol
I planted around the pond...hoping that might help with shade...but no...
My next idea is to add a Huge shade cloth over the top of the pond...and let vines grow up the poles to help with shade, or maybe 1/2 the pond covered in shade cloth and vines...then leave the other 1/2 open for the plants like Bald cypress and lilies, but I am so afraid that will look tacky....I geuss time will tell!!
I hope I have not bored anyone to tears!!!!
We are still married, and neither of us are crippled yet...so this might just work out...LOL
Boring? Are you kidding.
Your pond has turned out wonderful. Athough your watershoot was really cool looking, I think hubbies deck is awesome! You really have a handy man there...better hang on to him ;).
You know you could get some really huge pots to plant some smaller trees in, and when it gets cold, and the leaves start to shed you could just move them off the deck. Dogwood would make a great choice because they grow slowly, and usually get that wonderful sprawling canopy shape about them. I think the vine on the arbor idea is a good one too. It would give another dimention to the pond. It looks great reguardless. Keep up the good work.
Thanks so much !!!! That is a great idea!!! I have a few Huge pots, and tons of Dogwoods!!! Guess what I will be doing tomorrow!!!!
Thanks again for the fantastic idea!!
build a bio filter and add in with your water falls and that will take care of the alge problem
for ya.
You could try a UV sterilizer to take care of the green water.
Lana
Thanks for the tips folks...I will have to do some research on both and see what we can do!!
I appreciate ALL the help!!!!!!!!!!
Sue
Sue,
Incorporating a UV sterilizer and an external filter would most likely make a big difference in your water quality and color. No need to let that get out of hand financially either.
Now ... I'm a bit baffled about plants dying on you within a week's time. My pond is also in full time sunlight, yet my water lettuce and water hyacinth are going absolutely gonzo! I'm tossing pounds of the stuff onto the compost heap every weekend. Do you have fish? What exactly happens to the plants that have died? You're piqued my curiosity to say the very least.
I loved the story of the pond!! A ton of work and worth it. . . it's the tweeking that makes it fun. (and a little stressfull) We did a small one this year and are going to dig in next spring on our small lake. Love the guest house idea. Can't wait to see the final pic.
BWBUCK.... I do have fish...lots of fish, but my W.lettus and Hy, and frogbite dies. Water lillies, cattails, Bald Cypress,parrot feather are all fine. I do not understand myself. I just figured it was too much sun.
I put the plants in...they set for a day or 2 then..start turning yellow and brown...then disappear completely.
1251casey....Best of luck with your pond!! It really is worth all the work and trouble.Keep me up to date on how it goes. Thanks for the kind words!!!!
Sue
Sue do you slowly harden your floaters off? I put mine in the shade and gradually introduce them to the sun's rays (here they are usually found inside a greenhouse, in a pond, and like all other greenhouse plants need to be gradually hardened off).
Ah ha...have not done that. My mom brings me those HUGE black garbage bags full of plants from her little tubs about every other week...her ponds get lots of shade.... we just dump the bags right into the pond. Maybe I need to set up my bath tubs in the shade...and more in 1/2 shade and try that.
Thanks so much for the tip!!! I will try anything!!!!
You're welcome...I think they will do well for you now. :)
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.... yeah, that hard shade to full sun thing will do it to those guys! A transition tub that you can slide around every couple of days would work. I have a huge weeping willow tree that I use for that purpose (amongst others). I start things off closer to the trunk where they catch very little morning sun and then move the pots (in your case a cooler to tub) out a little every few days until they're getting very little shade each day. Sort of odd how such insanely prolific plants can also be so amazingly sensitive, huh? But hey, even your most stout of desert plants would suffer a great deal after being "acclimated" to shade. By Pacific/Spineless Yucca has to undergo the same transition every spring where it comes out of the house for its "Summer vacation."
I am begining to think my hubby might be right...sometimes I not the brightest bulb in the socket.....but I WILL NEVER admit that to him!! LOL
I should have realized that...shoot all my other inside to outside plants are the same way!
Thanks folks!!!
Susan,
How's the guest house coming along? Do you have some new pictures to post?
Lisa Moore
Work stopped on it for a while. My husband has been working night and day since Katrina blew thru. He is still cutting trees and tarping houses for folks from sun up to sun down.
But as soon as he gets time to get back on it...I will ad more pics!!
Thanks for asking and watching the thread!!!!!
Sue
I think I married the wrong man.
LOL...marriage is great...I hardly see him , because he is a work a holic, and we cant afford gas for both trucks, so i stay home alot...so we don't have MUCH time to fight. I figure we will be married **til death do us part**...LOL
For all the joking around I do, we'll be married to death do us part too. But we could swap houses for a while now that yours has perfected the pond surround design with guest house. I'd really like to have that kind of decking around a pond. My husband and I are real good at fixing things but not so good at building things. Need anything fixed down in your neck of the woods?
LOL...my hubby starts to fix thing...but never finishes anything that was broke...but if he can start from scratch...he is a wiz!! LOL
Hummm do you have lots of paper and ink in your printer? I can send you a list of things that need to be fixed...lol
Maybe we should trade homes for a month or so, he can build you a deck and guesthouse, and you 2 can spend a month finishing all out unfixed things. Do you like animals? We have 2 baby squirrels and 7 dogs that dont travel well!!
LOL
Rats! Here I thought I was going to get a month of playing fix it with my husband in peace and quiet leaving you to fend for yourself here with our clan. My husband can fix anything and I can fix anything he doesn't fix by writing a check out of his checkbook. We're a great team. Him and his toolbox and me and my toolbox which has his checkbook in it.
Now about animals. We have 3 dogs, 8 cats, currently 3 Arabs (long story), and hundreds of carnivorous plants that need more care than all the animals put together and that doesn't even include all our boys- they don't travel well either. They always ask how many more minutes and argue about who has the longest frnech fry. Sue, you'd be getting the short end of the stick if we swapped for a month but I'd be thinking about how you were doing sitting out there relaxing on that deck your husband made watching your fish. You would come home to a house that was all fixed up but after a month at my house you'd probably have to sleep for a week straight to "recover" because just keeping up with the laundry here with kids can be a challenge. So, please do send that list because my fax machine has lots of paper.
blckwolf, wonderful pond and surrounding deck.. You are lucky to have such a talented husband. I have been a widow for about 12 years so have to depend on a hired man for what i can't do.
some excellent ideas above for creating shade. Near my pools growing on the arch that is over a small deck out to the pond, is a grape vine. This year has a bad infestation of lef hoppers so the leaves are dropping off and into the water. Normally that wouldn't happen, but i didn't notice the darn leaf hoppers soon enough to get rid of them. Other than a little late afternoon shade creaated by the grape, my pool is in full sun. If I can locate the right photo I will send it along. DonnaS
Awesome arch!
Please send your DH up north blckwolf256!
Wonderful... Ü
What a fantastic pond! rutholive's picture would work great for you to.
:) Donna
Ahem Lilypon... I believe I asked for her husband to be sent up north first. That would mean I get first dibs.
