Picture of Planned Pond Area

Here is a picture of the area where I plan to put the pond next year - this is the magic location #3! I used paint software to make a really rough draft of what the finished area will be like. The first thing to do will be to move plants in that area (don't need to move/cut any trees, but I do also need to move at least one hydrangea, about 30 hostas, and an azalea). Next thing will be to dig out an outline about 10 inches deep and to pour the collar for the pond, then hire a fencing company to install the privacy fence. Next will be to dig the hole itself for the pond, install plumbing for the two bottom drains, put in the bottom drains, concrete in around the plumbing, slope the bottom, put in the underliner, then the liner, a few beginning rocks around the top to hold down the liner, sculpt the waterfall (will probably need professional help for this), hook up filter and pump - both external - to plumbing, fill pond, test everything, let it run for 6 or so weeks, THEN it might be ready for koi.

Now...none of you will hold it against me if it is not fish ready until 2010, right?

Piece of cake : )

Elizabeth

I don't know how to design water flow and movement but keep it in the back of your head that you do not want any "dead areas" of the pond. These are areas where the water doesn't move and the water gets stagnant.
Your pond is sited in a very nice location. What is the sunlight there? Most water lillies need full sun. You stated you need to move hostas so I am guessing there is not a lot of sun. You might want to trim the trees a little so that a corner or so gets more sun for more planting options. The hostas can be grown right in the pond. They love the pond!

I am guessing this is your weekend at that fab Koi dealer. I can't wait to hear what you learn from him and what his place looked like.

We actually cancelled the koi dealer trip because the weather was supposed to be bad today. I emailed Rick a few days ago to let him know we are not going to be visiting, that we'll plan on going some time in spring. He was very understanding and told me that there will be some seminars coming up in the spring.

So, nothing to report on that front, unfortunately. Now, of course the weather has been more or less fine all day, though we did have a little freezing drizzle. I-80 becomes a death trap in bad weather, so I would much rather play safe than sorry with winter travel.

The area is mostly shaded, so I am not going to try to grow water lilies in that area. I'm not really interested in water gardening in the koi pond except for maybe a few floating planters so the fish can have cover from predators, some water lettuce and maybe a submerged oxygenator.

IC: Remember all that Ammonia and the nitrates and other junk the pond has because of the fish? Well, the plants help the fish and the water quality in a big way. Maybe taking a branch or two out of the canopy above to give some sunlight to even the tiniest corner would be good for your pond. Even water lettuce needs light. In addition to the safety plants add (water lillies are great for that) the plants are used during spawning and for fry to hide in.

In my pond, I have 100% sunlight and wish it was more like 2/3 sunlight with the rest being shade. Because I had to dig up my whole garden there is very little left at the site of my pond. In a few years though, I will have that 2/3-1/2 sun-shade combination. Probably in 5-10 years I will be aggressively hacking away at the trees to have more sunlight! My stream is nearly 95% shaded which keeps the water cool in the summer. Another thing about the leaves and shade is the fall clean up. I netted my pond yet it still was a pain because the amount of leaves pushed the netting underwater and clogged the stream and it overflowed onto my patio. I plant to build a pvc pip covering (bubble shaped) with netting attached so that the net can't dip into the pond. Hopefully this is the solution for my leaf problems.

Most of those trees, unfortunately, belong to my neighbor who does not keep up his property line. The trees are in various bad states, they are just junk maples planted way too close. Two are dead and will eventually fall on my property, but not in the path of the koi pond. I've brought it up numerous times over the past two years because one of the trees is quite large and very obviously dead.

I've trimmed the rest of the trees along the propert line almost as high as I can reach - my step-father in-law gave me a really neat pole pruner the extends to fourteen feet for Christmas so I can do more damage with that when it is not so slippery out : ) I cut a few branches the other day just for practice and it works great, but I cannot get the really high stuff. There are also power lines just a few feet past that line of trees on the neighbor's property and I can only get what is overhanging on my property (legally). I have three trees on my property that will also be coming down over the next few years - a catalpa, locust and junk maple all planted way too close to the house and leaning in directions that make me nervous. It is really expensive to hire a tree company around here and all three are much too large for me to tackle myself. I cannot afford to have them taken down this year, but they are in the "master plan" for this yard.

Believe me, I hate the tree debris and I know I'll have to have my pond netted for most of the year! The privacy fence should help a lot with debris and leaves. As it is right now everything just rolls into my yard from side. His yard is about four times the size of mine and I swear ALL of the debris from his trees ends up in my yard! When the privacy fence is up, I will slant the netting from the fence across the pond, so stuff rolls away rather than getting stuck in the pond.

That neighbor likes the "forest setting" of those junk trees, which one of the predecessor owners of that property planted. I'm going to have my property surveyed before the fence goes in, we have a rough idea where it is based on a bunch of logs put in a long time ago by some long gone resident, and I know the property boundaries on the other sides because those neighbors had their properties surveyed before putting in their own fences, but if the line is two feet beyond the current boundary and it turns out those trees are on my property, they are all coming down! When I measured from the other side last summer just using a tape measure, starting at the known boundaries, it appeared there is a chance that those trees were actually planted on my property, but I'm not putting my hopes up too high.

My husband tells me that I spend way too much time getting angry at those trees, can you tell it is a sore spot?

Did someone get a chainsaw for Christmas?

No...don't get me started on chainsaws - I tried to buy two from the local Lowes and neither worked and then the manager accused me of breaking them. Got my money back eventually after the manager tried for 45 minutes without success to get it started. It was funny because the guy's name was Jesus - hubby said "He might be able to walk on water but he is not going to get that thing started." Bad joke but it was really funny at the time.

The trimmer thing I got for Christmas is manually operated, it is a combined pruning scissor on one side and mini saw on the other. It works great!

I found a home today for the little pagoda dogwood (about 5' high and 4' wide) in the picture (little tree on the left side) - a fellow DG'er wants it so we'll dig it up in early June after it is leafed out and it will go home with her. I was going to try to build the pond around the dogwood, but now I can expand in that area and increase my capacity by at least another 500 gallons - digging with a mini backhoe will be a lot easier, too since we won't have to go around the tree.

Lucky DG'r! I love Pagodas. Don't have one (no room) but I do admire them. You'll appreciate all the extra working room you can get around the pond for installation. Think about unrolling/unfolding the liner and sliding it into the excavation. You'll want at the minimum one side of the excavated area fully maneuverable. Plus, if it's sunny and hot when you start, leaving the liner lay on any adjacent lawn areas for any length of time can "cook" the grass underneath. Plan ahead that day.

That's a funny story about the chainsaw. I have about one about a pond pump. I bought a Savio ( very reputable brand ) 3960 submersible from my favorite local pond dealer. They are excellent people to deal with. The pump kept shutting it self off. I'd only had it 31 days. It kept tripping the GFI. It was no bigger an electrical load than the one I had been running but because this is such a reliable brand we thought we had an electrical wiring problem. My poor DH did absolutely everything he could to track it down. He worked all the way from the fuse box to the outdoor plug and even replaced the GFI. Finally we took it to another outlet, put in in a barrel of water and wouldn't you know it, it was the pump. So I called the dealer, who said they "never" fail but to bring it back. So, receipt and box and warranty in hand DH and I took it back. The pump guy at the dealer's went all through a mini electrical lecture of what could be wrong with our wring while he readied a barrel of water for the pump. My husband was getting a little hot under the collar. The look on the "pump" guys face was priceless when it not only blew their GFI but smoked their outlet to boot. I laughed right out loud. If he hadn't been at my DH so hard about electrical wiring I might have had some sympathy for the fried outlet. Needless to say we got a new pump, a new warranty and an apology to boot.

My first two Savio's did that this summer and we heard the same crap from the dealer and the exact same thing happened with it not working for them. No apology though. They asked my installer (I was with him at the time) what the hell the customer was doing with these pumps because they never break . . .

Well I'll be! Sounds like a factory problem. For the ponder to wreck a pump they have to either run it out of the water for an extended period or let it suck a rock into the impeller. Impeller damage is readily observed and thus can be ruled out. And who does that? I mean come on!

I had quality issues with Danner MagDrives and switched to Savio because of their reputation for reliability. No ponder wants to go away for a vacation and come home to find out their pump quit while they were gone. I have a brand new spare pump, fully plumbed, that I or my DD if we're gone, can drop in in a matter of minutes just by unscrewing the old pump and screwing in the new one. We've done a drill with her just to make sure.

I did this because way, way back when I first got started a big fat toad got into the impeller of my first pump and wrecked it in the middle of a Satruday night. Got up Sunday morning and no water over the waterfall. Lesson learned the hard way.

I had a leaf blower break this past fall, 5 days after the warranty ended, on the third time I used it. The repair people could not do anything for it and, straight face, accused me of shoving a stick up the impeller to break it. My only response was, "You have to be kidding me!" Really, that was their explanation, and they believed it! My husband tells me that I have an unjustified loathing towards people who fix things or work construction - after these kinds of experiences, can you blame me?

I was pretty sure that the dogwood, if it did not get knocked apart by the backhoe, would have got in the way when the liner went into place. I'm still not convinced that I will go the liner route, I want to find out what concrete would cost to put in (I would hire someone - don't think I can do that myself).

Elizabeth

My vacuum broke just 3 DAYS before the warranty would have run out. I remember insisting on taking it to the shop within that hour of breaking and my husband thought I was nuts and looking for an excuse to get out of the house (I get stir crazy very easily). It was right around Christmas and had I waited it would have put me after the date of purchase (they were closed for a few days during the holidays). I didn't even think about warranties at the time and thought the warranty probably was only 6 months to a year and was so very pleasantly surprised I made it in time.