My first pond

This is my first attempt at building a pond. My Mother-inlaw had a "do it yourself" pond kit. It came with a liner pump/filter and some attachments for a fountian. The pond, and the garden that came with it, werent very thought through. I just sorta started without and plan of any sort. In fact, after i dug the hole for the pond i didnt know if the liner would cover it all or where to put the dirt. Luckly the liner fit, just barley, but it worked. I need to find more pictures of it. This is the only picture i really have on the computer and its croped from a larger photo. I dont have very many plants in it and the plants surrounding it are small (eairly in the season) but it still looks nice i think. Other then that i dont know what to say, I did everything myself, even built a waterfall out of rocks pilled ontop of eachother. Wasnt the best waterfall since it shot most of the water down itself and not into the pond, but i was proud of it. Ok, heres the picture.

heres what the garden looked like

and the rest of it. (notice on the first picture where all the dirt went from digging the pond)

heres the falls:

heres my fish that i had

and finnaly, some toad eggs, most of them hatched into toadpoles but then they were briskly eaten by the fish.

keep in mind i was 19 when i made this. not that age matters but from an experience stand point im very pleased at the way the whole thing turned out. Only thing is that I have my own house now and have to start all over. The wife says i spent too much time on the garden and pond at the last house and spent too much money that i can only have a garden this year. I did spend a lot of money and a lot of time on it so i see her veiw. one day i will, hopefully, have a pond and fish agian.

you pond is beautiful! Did you raise koi in them? I am thinking of adding koi to mine I just have reg feeder goldfish in there now but some are 10 inch plus and thousands of babies I've been supplying goldfish to all the neighbor kids :-) my pond is 10 ft deep on one side then tapers to 4-5 feet then a lower pond is only about 3 feet deep. I'm in zone 5 and would also like to know what type of pond flowers or plants would be hardy here. I also have a boggy area up the one side about 18 inches wide from the pond. Any suggestions are welcome. I also mostly get afternoon sun on the bigger one as its under a larger roof area.
Kim

Wow- that looks great!!! I think for your first attempt, that is incredible. :)

nice pond...I would only say the waterfall is a bit much it looks out of place being so tall and pointy... otherwise excellent.... that waterfall looks like a dog owners night mare...and remember the soil underneath can raise and lower over time and TILT to one side or another as mine has thus causing a possible domino effect ...unless your rocks are glued or otherwise stuck together ...but that too is problematic since no adheasive lasts forever and you got to be careful with the real powerful stuff ..your fish might kaput from it ...

Anyway overall graet job...David

I might add the dirt from digging your pond is best used for the waterfall giving it a more natural look ...and less distance to move it...it alows you also to use less stone and you can more easily hide your piping with in it..just my opinion though David

Kim,

I had koi at one time which are beautiful but they will disturb your water plants so I recommend adding a layer of gravel on top of each pot to keep silt to a minimum. If and when I get another pond I will have two ponds - one for koi only and another for goldfish and water plants.

That's a great pond! Don't you love it when something you don't really plan turns out that good? I actually like the waterfall stone. I think it looks neat with the water dribbling off of it, and when the string algea starts hanging down off of it, it will look positively 'northwest'- ish! I'll bet it has a nice sound. The garden is beautiful, too!
Too bad that the wife isn't interested in your hobby. My dh doesn't do much of anything in the garden (which is really just fine by me), but he loves to sit outside with a cool drink in the summer and watch me putter around. And he loves the pond and doesn't begrudge the money I spend on it or on the garden. Maybe you need to get your wife a special bench to sit on and sip a cool drink while she watches you putter around! She might grow to like it!

Mr Eli, What a beautiful job! Especially amazing for a first attempt at 19! I'm in awe of the cantalever flat rock on your waterfall. How did you get that to stay?

I hope you get another pond soon!
Dave

Thanks for all your replies. Pixy, i think i do need to invest in a nice bench if it will work on the wife. and Dave, the flat rock stays just by having the rock on top of it. the whole waterfall is rocks on top of rocks with some pebbles and dirt filling in the gaps.