When we bought our property 19 years ago there was an in-ground pool behind the garage. The pool had some water in the deep end, and was dry at the shallow end. Over the years it has filled with rain water, and become a living pond with frogs and dragonflies and duckweed and lots of other water critters. For a long time I have wanted to make use of this resource, and finally this year I got around to this project. I have liked the idea of the Chinampas for years, and decided to build one in the shallow end of my “pond”
I built a wall of old “HT” pallets with some sticks and logs, and closed off 6ft of the shallow end. The shallow end is about 3ft deep sloping to 5ft at the deep end. I filled the enclosed end with all sorts of rotten logs and branches and leaves from around the property and finally, once I could walk around on it without sinking in too much, I added dirt and compost.
I redirected the pluming that used to run to the pump and filter to drain off to a lower area, so that the water level will not get too high and drown the roots.
We have sandy soil on most of our property and it’s nice to have a place that stays moist during the summer drought times. Also the duckweed I skim off the pool surface is used around my regular garden plants as a fertilizer and mulch.
The cucumbers have done very well in this garden, the sticks I used in the wall doubled as a trellis for them. I didn’t know how they would do with “wet feet” but they have continued to produce much later in the season than is normal for my garden. Usually by now the striped cucumber beetles have killed them off. I suspect the frogs have been helping with that.
Some extra sweet potato slips I stuck in there have taken off and surrounded the pool with vines and leaves, though I wonder if they will make any storage roots in the wet conditions. This fall will tell.
