Would like some suggestions please.

I'll start by being honest. I like change and I like adding to my gardens and often do something just to rip it apart and start over the following season. LOL

Okay, here is my pond. It is one year old as we moved last year. I'm no stranger to doing ponds as this is the 5th time I have put one in. I'm not a pro but I know what works and I know what I like. ;) My ponds have always been in the back yard, surrounded by tropicals and my personal little oasis. Since I have over 7 acres now, it's right out front smack dab in the middle of the yard, dead in front of the house.

I started with a 10x15x4 lined hole. The depth is probably closer to 5 now as I added a row of cinder block around the edge to raise the garden around it a bit. There is about 6' of flower bed all the way around the pond. There is much more bed at the one end because I am a tropical junkie! Behind the pond I have a bog garden about 5' round. I've also started stepping some block for a waterfall. I was planning to make the bog larger and am not sure what I am doing with the water fall. Then I was thinking of mounding dirt and rocks up behind the water fall for a more natural look.

I'll post a few pics and hope you will offer some interesting ideas for me.

This is from the front (what people see when they drive by). You can see the bog to the rear left and what will be a smallish waterfall to the rear right.

Here is a most lovely view from the back! LOL At some point I might add another pond to this side of the bricks so it sort of has the huge pond with and island effect but would essentially be two seperate ponds.

This is what I see from my LR and Kitchen windows at the moment. Not so pretty so I need to make up my mind and get it done.

Here is the same view from further away.

As you can see, it lacks winter interest seriously! This is before the bog and the one day waterfall and expanding the garden beds. It is also after the ornamental grasses have been cut back.

This is the bog and pond before the plants filled in.

Badseed

I have a pond and waterfall. Picture below. The waterfall goes into a small pond (about 6' wide X 4' deep) then has a gravel bed that filters the water and then it cascades into a larger pond.

THAT is beautiful! I think I bought the only farm in all of Ohio that has no rock! LOL If I had the budget, I'd do something like yours. ;)

if i had all that land id rent one of those small back hoes and make a bunch of ponds all conecting to each other with canals id do each one diff. Regards Paul

Ooooh! An excuse to rent big toys, umm I mean tools, yeah tools! LOL

I rented a bobcat to put this pond in. All my others (at my other house) were hand dug. It was sure fun to be able to dig on in a couple of hours! I used my extra rental time to place the clay around the foundation of the house that was needing it badly. I rented another bobcat shortly after that to move around a bunch of dirt I had hauled in. I'll take any excuse to play bobcat!

My daughter just helped me dig a bog on the side of the house which will be getting expanded. The water table here is quite high and a good rain brings on small lakes. A moat is suddenly sounding kind of fun. LOL

Michele,

That is one pretty pond from the front. I can see the dilima from the kitchen. I hope you get some good ideas. Sorry that I cant help cuz I am in the same boat. My hubby says he has it all figured out and I trust him but dang it I cant see the pictures in his mind. This is all I see right now.....LOL

And oh yes give me an excuse to rent the big toys. I love it.

Beck

Since you have the land why not maximize it! As far as waterfall the higher it is the better if it is. I I like to hear the waterfall!!! You need a powerful pump from AZ ponds.I have a 4 foot water fall which I love and if I had the budget when it was being done I would have loved a bigger and higher water fall.You have a very nice pond and renting a digger is the only way. Happy ponding!! Bellie

Yeah Beck, those men like to keep us in suspense, huh? ;) Have you asked him to make you a little sketch or anything? Tell him you want to start planning for planting. The way I see it, the worst of yours looks mostly done. Digging the hole is the worst part if you are doing it by hand. It's pretty fun if you get to use a bobcat or the like.

I used a walk behind for levelling out the back yard at my other house and that was pretty fun too! At some point I do need to get another bobcat here to finish up some drainage solutions. When your land is flat, you don't have a lot of options. LOL

Bellie, I actually did get a nice pump from AZponds! I bought a new pump in the spring. I don't remember right off but I want to say it does like 4500gph. I tried putting the outflow hose in the bog like a veggie filter but it only pushed the water over the edge which was not really exciting. I think the pump is powerful enough to do something better. Maybe I will experiment with my extra bricks and the size of the waterfall to see if I can get some more splash and noise. ;)

Once I get this all figured out, I am going to find some way to sneak a Japanese Maple in behind the waterfall. Everything on the side toward the house gets full sun. Once the plants take off, I can use part shade and shade plants on the other side. Eventually I want to fill the front of the garden with low growing plants that get larger as they go behind the garden, so you can see the water from the road but not really be able to tell where it stops or starts.

Hey Bad Seed do you go to Aqua BID ?

I'm afraid I have never heard of that. Wanna share? ;)

I received a bit of inspiration while on a drive the other day. Off the side of the road, there was a small creek. Above it though, was a waterfall that looked like a sheet of glass! It was a large flat rock or many together, that formed a line some thirty feed wide and the water spilled over it into the creek. It made awesome noice and gave the appearance of a small rapid waterfall.

My initial thought before seeing that, was a stair stepped waterfall but the movement lacks some umph. What if I skip the steps and just do the taller waterfall like I saw? With the water dropping from a height of four feet or so straight down, wouldn't that give me the sound I want plus aerate the pond? Right now the hose is just shooting out into the pond.

Anyone have any thoughts or have done this?

Boy....can't put pics in here today but my friend has a smaller version of your problem......making all of the sides a 'pretty view'.......

What she and her hubby did was mound up the dirt where she wanted the waterfall to be but terraced it as they did it.....using stones, flat rocks, drift wood etc. .....kind of like switch-back type roads...do you understand what I am trying to say here?

So the back side of the waterfall is actually a terraced planting area with plantings to make it look very natural. Using rocks and driftwood or old logs...whatever to contain the soil of the mound so it doesn't erode. ......(actually, now that I think about it...she has old bricks, and broken concrete imbedded in the dirt to keep the terraces secure...that stuff doesn't show....it's hidden by the rocks, wood....etc.)

Her water fall actually tumbles down one side of this huge mound in a rocky stream bed then on to the falls which drop directly into her pond.

Her waterfalls are pretty but too quiet for me.....Mine fall down about 4 feet but not in a sheet as you described....I use flat stone to direct my water in a horsehoe type shaped falls....some rushing...some just dripping...

One thing about waterfalls....most can be tweaked even after they are installed by just moving a few rocks here and there until you get the sound you want.

edited to say.....I forgot to tell you how beautiful your new pond already looks.....I love the size.... I want to do the several ponds connected by streams thing on the east side of my house. I still have about a half acre there I can tweak....LOL I want 'garden rooms', bridges, wildflowers, native grasses, native shrubs and trees out there.....Dreamin' again...always dreamin'....got to win a lottery or find a money donor.....

This message was edited Sep 18, 2006 3:24 PM

Thank you very much for the ideas and the time to type them all.

When Dave gets the quirks out, I'd love to see pics of your friend's pond and waterfall.

I have a bunch of cinder block out there, even more than I did in the last pic. LOL I'm solving two problems at once. I needed to remove some raised garden beds from my other house and need to build up for the waterfall her so why not?!?!

I don't want the grand rapids but don't water just slinking over the edge either. I use the water from the output to aerate the pond and for looks so I am trying to think out what I would really like to do.

If the gardens are ever "done", so will we be. :) I hope mine are never finished!

I'm still trying to post some pictures about the floating islands....no luck. I saw where another person managed to post a picture of her netting rig ......so I tried again.

When I hit 'preview' it did it's thing trying to get the thumbnail and eventually said that the thumbnail was there............but......*sigh*..........it wasn't. So there is still a glitch somewhere. I will post pics when I can.

I found some pictures of the pond in the making....not really the ones I wanted to show you but you can get the idea from these.

Here is what the top of the mound looked like when it was first being built.

This is a picture of the side of the mound but not the one I wish I could find of the back of the mound....and it's plants growing more mature every day....I hope I didn't delete it by accident....Oh well....if I did, I can just go down and visit her again and take more pictures.

NOTE: If you look hard at the bottom left of the picture, you will see her small floating island which had not been planted for very long. I have posted about these in this forum. I don't have one yet...I am working on either a group of smaller islands linked together or a large one...My pond is approximately 6000 gallons.

This message was edited Sep 19, 2006 10:21 AM

Bingsbell that is one gorgeous pond.

Badseed I would love to see pictures of the pond you are speaking of when you can.

You all are making me jealous.

Oh well mine will be there sometime Just a matter of when right now.

Thanks for sharing
Beck

Beck...This is a brand new pond only a couple of months old. My friend has always loved my pond which is nothing like this one and she had no clue what to do. I told her to get creative, dig a hole and go for it!

Boy!... Did she and her hubby get creative!!! They had never done anything like this before and I was so pleased to see the concept of her planted mound with the stream coming off the top, winding down to a small but affective waterfall.

Dreaming is what got most of us the ponds we have....and then, of course, we want more, new, different, larger, smaller, connecting, streams, etc....and BOOM! a pond is born.

There are so many super ideas that people have gotten by dreaming of their ponds and pictures help share them for those who are still dreaming. So dream on....dream big, little, deep, shallow, ......but dream....your pond will happen. Once the seed is set....it germinates and a pond grows.

By the way, these friends of mine are already planning their second pond.....ponding is a voracious, wonderful disease.

Hey! Look at the fact that Badseed is on pond number five.....and still going.

Yes I see that Badseed is going pond crazy.....LOL But her ponds are beautiful. I cant wait til she gets the inspiration and makes the rest the way she wants.

This is our second pond and 3 times the size of the 1st just in the pond itself not counting the waterfall. My hubby has it all figured out he thinks...LOL.....you know how things change as you go. But he has wonderful ideas and I cant wait to see his idea (dream come true). And I am the landscaper around here. Hopefully we will get to most of it yet this year, If not there is always next year right.

Beck

Badseed;
Sorry I have just been sitting here on the side.
Really love Jeri11's water fall.
There are many others as well that I really like . This is what I came up with this last spring. It has changed a couple of times. But this is just another pic.
And that is my homemade island there with lotus growing in a tub in the middle of it. I made a small ring of styro foam around the tub and set a frame of PVC pipe around that, covered it with a section of black filter material. Then used rocks to weigh it down some. Will probably make a few changes in that next year. as Im thinking of turning one small pond into a biological filter.
and may use the tub in the island for mostly hatching the eggs I happen to rescue.

I like that Idea of the island. It does look natural. Good job.
Jeri

randbponder, you have done a super job coming up with your own creation of an island.

That looks much like the ones I have been posting about elsewhere in the forum.

Another thing I like is the various color of rocks in your waterfall. Unless I traveled a ways, I don't have such a choice of colors.

Thanks;
The majority of the rocks are from right around here. And I just pick them up from some of the farmers or gravel pits. most were free for the hauling away. With the exception of the red flagstone I used for the spill way of the falls, and there were three black volcanic feather light, I did buy.
Many farmers will pick up a troublesom rock and carry it to the edge of the field and pile them along the fence. Usually if you ask, many will let you haul them away. Another good source would be from construction sites, mainly new roads and such check with the forman or job suprendant. They usually bury them some where on the right of way before the project is done. That is unless they have areas where an errosion control is needed for a wash area by a culvert or such.
Of course I am not familiar with your area So I would be at a loss as to know where to look.
Just a little curious, is the topsoil There very deep, where they can or can't dig basements, for houses? That could be another place to check with.

If you are like me buying all the rock would be out of the question. It takes a little snooping around and sometimes work. but then some work is fun. Especially if it is for yourself and there is no real deadline. Oh I do have one picture of a rock my brother picked up at the foot of the Columbia glacier, He picked up for me. We took them to the bus, and picked them up when they came back from Alaska trip. Was jusr wondering if most of the rock in your area was like that.

randbponder.....I live on a farm and right in this particular area we have no rocks on the farm.
The Yellowstone River is not far from me and several blue ribbon trout streams too. The rocks are beautiful but not many of the red coloring...mostly grey, brown, dark grey , light pink and sandy colored. They are also rounded...river boulders....not rough edges with the character that your stones have.

I live in an ancient river bed...which has sandstone cliffs on the sides or rocky rolling hills. My waterfall is built with these flat pieces of stone called Harlo (named for the area they were taken from 100 miles north of me. It isn't as porous as the stone around here.

We have large areas here and there throughout that have gravel pits or mines with again...all rounded stone....not rough until until it is milled. Many a farm has gone under the large machinery to mine the gravel...but mine won't be one of them. The rocks are several feet down below the top soil and are never brought up by the plow.

South in Wyoming there are places to get the red type stone but it is mostly scoria....the stuff people use for mulching in their landscapes. Not to my liking.

If I were younger, I would take trips for big rock hunting....unfortuately....by the time I retired and was able to do what I am doing, my body isn't as willing as when I was young.

The picture of your waterfall looks like you are out in the country near farm ground....are you on a farm?

No not a farm. Just 1 acre on the very edge of an unincorporated town of about 130.
Yup,,,,my body seems to have slowed me down too. Guess I could say I retired three times. First in 96. when I ruptures a disc in my lower back. and could not work for two years. The company wouldn't take me back. unless I could do the same work I had been doing. So when I was well enough, I found an easyer job for a few years. Worked there till I was 67 then loafed around for a while took a trip or two to the Carolinas. Then a friend of mine kept asking me to come help him out, doing delivery service. so there was another couple years of work. But now some of what I used to do all the time, is very hard and I have to take some breaks to get things done. Strange how we didn't factor in to our thoughts, that our bodies would actually be that much weaker, and hurt so much.
One of the rocks I found isn't up on the falls, I could not get it up that high. It is really solid it is only about 10" diameter but weighs at least 145lbs it is "solid" it is just laying there sort of beside the pond ha ha, it isn't going to go very far from that spot.
Seems like years ago we had planed on taking a trip up to the area near Yellow Stone and look for what they call Montana agate, I do some rock polishing when I have time.But I don't seem to be into it as much as I used to be. We haven't totally given up on that idea yet but it seems to be a ways off. We have a granddaughter that lives near Goldbar WA.
and would like to go visit them sometime maybe if we can save up enough we can yet.
Well BingsBell I think This is the time, when we take time to smell the roses!

I like the idea of putting another pond on the house side of yours and leaving an island in the middle. You could have a bridge over the pond to the island. I also thought about having a stream bed that somes around to this side and spills back into the pond. You'd get extra filtration and aeration with a stream. Then you could have some marginal plants that also filter your water growing in the stream bed. Only thing I don't like about my stream is that in the summer I get a lot of evaporation. But I grow water cress and primulas directly in the stream and the primulas get huge.
Man, you've done a LOT of work since last year!

Michelle,

I just found this thread. How is your pond coming along? Check out the links to see the pond at my house (built by DH, DS, and friends): http://davesgarden.com/journal/d/t/jasmerr/1971/
http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=2475262

The area where the pond is was flat when we moved in.

This message was edited Oct 5, 2006 8:42 AM

HOLY MOLY Jas! You are a maniac like me! LOL How much ground does that actually cover? Your land does look pretty flat. So did you haul in dirt or use the escavation soil to build up? I spent so much time drooling over the pics, I don't remember what I just read! LOL Very awesome!

Love it Jas! Wahhhhhhh ...I want a pond again!!!

Soil and some boulders were from the excavation. The pond is large; about 35 feet across. The lower pond (second link) is maybe ten feet across. The "river" was a natural swale in the yard that DH dug deeper.

Edited to add: I think this photo was taken in the fall of 2004.

This message was edited Oct 5, 2006 9:32 AM

Ponds, ponds, ponds. Wonderful pix and ideas. Where is a good place to buy waterlilies and other water plants? this for my brother in VA near Richmond. I want to find a US supplier and buy some goodies for his brand new pond.
inanda

Jas, incredible pond!

What feet are the most shallow and most deep areas?

The deepest is about 3 1/2' ; shallow areas gradually slope down from the shore.

Jas,
How do you keep the stones along the edges from sliding into the pond?

It certainly is a nice touch ...and I love your use of boulders.

I refuse to looks at Jas' pond anymore. I've already mentally pondscaped a good acre out front, brought in tons of dirt AND rocks. LOL