Little Pond on the Prairie

In goes the New Pond!

 A huge thank you to Dudleys' Excavating for a great price and a great job.  They actually dug the whole thing with that tractor and got most of the measurements within an inch of what I requested.  It was amazing.  In fact, we didnt have to shovel anything until we added the walls.

 We did not use treated wood- if we happen to get a tear in the liner we wouldnt want the chemicals to get into the pond.  We do realize that we could possibly have to replace the wood in five years.....the cost of the interior wood was 330.00 the cost of the fish that wood die is around 1200.00.  So I dont mind replacing the wood eventually....is safer for my koi.

We concreted in 4x4's-put 2x4 on each side of the 4x4's for framing purposes.  The walls are made of 2x6x10'.  This is just the interior wall that holds the liner.

We then put 2x6's from the top down to ground level.  Then back filled the outside of the walls for support.

These were the solution to not wanting my plants in the new pond.  I made two lily ponds flanking the stairs of the large deck.  We put in all of my water lilies and waited one week to see how they would do.   GREEN water.  I ordered anacharis from Bonnie's Plants and added bunches to both lily ponds.  Two days later........CLEAR water.  Each lily pond is about 2x6 feet long.  liner.  no filtration.  no added oxygen.  20-40 baby mosquito fish and one 2 inch comet and lots of snails to take care of decaying leaves for me.  All have done well since we built the ponds. 

During really hot months, I would have to add about two inches of water a week. 

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At this point we put up the 4x4's for the shade structure and started the deck.

You can see the space between the interior pond wall and the outer wood wall.  Later we placed 2x8's on top to frame it out and give people a place to sit around the pond.

 This is where it got tricky.  We needed four people to get that really heavy liner into place.  We held it up with clamps while it filled, so we could adjust the liner as it filled.  Let me tell you how cold that water was....my legs were frozen to the point that I couldn't walk.

Once it was within three inches of the top we stapled the liner to the interior wall and cut off the excess.

 We put on the top and painted the exterior.  Then I went to work planting and decorating the area. Stamp it done!

The geraniums are going crazy in this location- they love a drink of pond water!