posted 7 years ago
I've come up with a tentative plan for broadcasting water from the pond, to upper beds. I'm thinking of driving a post in the center and then using a lawn sprinkler that is raised eight feet in the air, with a length of pipe. This should allow most broadcasted water, to fall onto the surrounding land. I'm sure that some will fall directly back into the water, which will provide some aeration. Any excess will percolate and find its way back to the pond.
The swimming pond, that must be lined, sits on gravely ground close enough to the edge of the valley, that there is no water table in sight. Irrigation from this pond will be metered out more carefully, since any that runs through the soil, keeps going until it reaches bedrock and then runs down into the valley, and is lost to me.
I sometimes get small rubber liners, from demolished surburban yards. None are large enough for me to build a pond from. They are large enough to be used alongside a pond , as containment for a raised wetland. The soil can be sculpted so that the rubber will contain a certain amount of water and let any surplus flow back into the main pond. Just like a dish with a lower spout. Not only do surrounding wetlands create a more natural look, they absorb nutrient and return much cleaner water to the main pond. The usual method of doing this is to use one big, continuous liner. I like the idea of separate liners, primarily because I can get the small ones for free. Every new wetland, is another filtration system. Little 12 volt pumps are quite cheap. I plan to have one for watering each zone. Solar electric systems, require a means of dumping excess power when batteries reach maximum charge. Instead of using a resistance heater as is often done, my plan is to use excess power, to run pond pumps.
.......
Tidal pools...
When I have gone swimming in the ocean, which is rare, I like to go to places that have tidal pools. Freshwater ponds don't have tide , but similar pools can be created, simply by pumping water from the main pond , into a raised area that is shallow and therefore will heat up quickly on a hot day. Dark colored rocks aid in this process. In order to have nice clean water, the tidal pool, needs to be the last portion of a filtration system that includes lots of wetland plants. Pond water would be pumped to the very highest portion of the filtration system and allowed to run slowly through the saturated soil. A bathtub shaped dip in the liner, would allow creation of a pool , just before the water flows back into the main pond. Every morning, a water change could be induced, by running lots of water to the top of the system. The flow-back would end in short order, so that no more cold water is added to the pool that we wish to heat. A small quantity of water in full sun , lined with a black liner, can get as warm as piss by late afternoon. The perfect place for warming up after a cold swim. Peppers and other plants that don't want low night temperatures, could be planted around these pools. This would make good use of the stored heat, as they cool off each night.