project pond

http://restfultrailsfoodforestgarden.blogspot.com/2012/05/memorial-weekend-2012-pond-updates.html

We have been working on this pond now for nearly 10 years (when the contractor dug fill out of our field for around our house after housefire).

It has been a slow process as Joel rents backhoes for long weekends in the summertime, digs, piles clay, waits for it to dry and crumble, moves it, rents another backhoe, digs again, lets clay piles dry out, moves them, over and over.

The last dig's clay piles had not yet been moved and were just getting dry enough to tackle so this is what we did so far this weekend..including blocking the overflow, bringing in water from a neighbor pond, filling it a foot above the existing level, adding a new overflow 2 " above new level, etc.

Would love to have feedback from anyone who has ideas.

The SE corner of the pond will be dug again, to get the original shoreline back after the last dig, and all the banks will be cleaned up except the north bank where i planted a bunch of plants already..and knowing Joel he'll want to dig more on the entire east side, until he runs into trees and shrubs, and then he'll have to go around them (maybe make more islands, who knows)..anyway..this is his baby ..the digging..i just do the planting and enjoying (Joel is my son who lives nextdoor and this pond is behind his house but on our land)

I have several photos of an area that Joel wants to be a Japanese style island in the future so ideas on that are very welcome..hope to get that digging and levellling done this year. I have also got a lot of food forest gardens and food type plants around this area including lots of nut trees, fruit trees, berry bushes and even put in some grains and vines in the area..

feel free to give tips and comments..thanks

I have extreme pond envy and will probably never be able to have a proper earth pond because our soil is not the right type and we don't have the resources to seal a large pond naturally. But I love seeing other people's pond projects!

please feel free to send up a convoy of dump trucks and a backhoe and you can have ALL THE CLAY YOU WANT..here it goes well over 10' deep (the farthest we have dug to find out how deep it goes)..haven't used a soil sample auger to find out..buit know it goes at least that deep.

When we get droughts in July the pond level does drop, but now it is deep enough it never really goes dry..although the shallower end by the swing will dry up in severe droughts we are hoping that our raising the water level will help in that aspect...and maybe make the cattails less welcome

update: very happy that several days later the new dam where the old overflow was and the new overflow pipe are holding and maintaining the new water level, so far. And also the water lilies and other plants are adapting to the extra foot of water overf their heads..woo hoo. It is nice having it so full.

its.
beautiful.