Ponds

One of the most interesting projects I have ever done is my backyard pond. Almost as soon as the pond was filled, wildlife began to arrive. In two days I had diving beetles, damselflies and dragonflies. The damselflies had black velvet wings with a dot. Also, soon to arrive were leopard frogs. They seemed so "tame" that they would sit on the edging around the pond as I hung clothes out to dry.

When I set out to construct the pond I didn't really know what to do. I had a neighbor who had a pond at her former residence and she gave me some ideas that she had used on her pond, such as the shelf under the edging.

First I asked myself, where would the pond look the most natural and be close to the house? Remember, ponds and bird stations must be easily seen from the house or you tend to lose interest in them. You don't see what is happening, therefore, you don't think anything is happening. I picked a natural low spot (not always a good choice if there is excessive runoff), that was somewhat surrounded by wax myrtle, situated off the back of the house.

I laid out a design on the ground and dug out the soil. The kids hauled it away in their wagon as I dug. The sides were slightly sloped and the bottom was more or less flat. I then proceeded to cut a shelf. The shelf holds the plastic in place. This is accomplished by your edging material being placed on top of the plastic once the pond has been filled with water and the liner has taken on the form of the shelf.

To cut the shelf you need a level board (2" x 4" x however wide the pond is), a level, and a sturdy knife about 5-6" long. I sliced the dirt around the edge as deep and as wide as one layer of brick (of which I carted over from my neighbor's yard). If you are using a thinner edging, then your cut will not be as deep. This shelf is continuous around the entire pond. However, to get it level I cut small sections opposite each other and in reference to an original line. As I cut I laid the board across the pond from shelf edge to shelf edge, put the level on top of the board, and made corrections as I cut. It does not have to be absolutely perfect as long as you compensate on the next cut. The brick will help to create a level appearance.

After you have your pond shaped and dug and the shelf cut, it is time to place the liner. Spread your liner over the entire pond with the liner edges extending past the edges of the pond. The reason your plastic is larger than the pond is because you have to allow for the sides, the shelf, and a little extra to fold under the edging. Place four bricks on each corner. These bricks will weigh down the liner let it pull down evenly as the water is added.

When the water has reached its highest point, which should also have flowed over the shelf, place one layer of edging on top of the liner that is now the shelf. The four bricks can be taken off. The liner should stick up from the back of the shelf from under and behind the edging material that sits on the shelf. I then fold this down on the ground and trim enough excess off the entire perimeter so that when I lay my final edging down the plastic will be underneath it but not showing.

The pond itself is now done. I like to wait a week until I add fish. This time period allows chlorine gas to escape the water and beneficial bacteria to grow and multiply. Plants I add right away. They help to maintain a balance. I do not use a pump. First, I do not have electricity nearby, and secondly, the pond has maintained it's own perfect balance with fish, insects and plants. The only maintenance I do is pull out the leaves occasionally.

You can purchase fish a couple of ways. First, you can go to a department store and buy 10 comets (goldfish) for a dollar. Or, you can go to a fish store and buy larger, supposedly better bred comets, which almost always survive. The 10 for a dollar fish are supposed to be feeder fish and don't seem to be taken care of very well. Most of them disappear after being put in the pond. This I assume is from disease or frogs eating them, as they are real small. However, the cost of the larger ones are $2.00-$5.00.

Before you start taking down the old you have to do something with all that good stuff you have growing and living in the old pond. Your first step is to make a batch of "pond brew". Plants can be moved to "new" water but fish need to have aged water. It takes 24 hours for chlorine to escape. Wouldn't this be an idea for drinking water! The good bacteria will start multiplying.

I had never done this, so this was all experimental, based on what little I knew about fish. I took two plastic garbage cans and rinsed them out. I do not put any chemicals, oils, paints, or other hazardous waste in my garbage. If I have any of this I take it to the county dump where they have a hazardous waste collection service. Therefore these cans are "clean".

I made two "brews". Start two or three days before you think you will need to take the fish out. I had my son go out with a bucket and fill a can up halfway with old pond water. Remember to place your can in a spot where it won't get overheated or abnormally cold (goldfish are a cold water fish). You won't be able to move it easily or at all after it is full. I then filled the rest of the can up with the hose. I put a couple bucketfulls of old water in the other can and filled it up with the hose. Let these two cans sit for two or three days to age.

Now you're ready to take everything out of the old pond. I took a large diameter hose filled with water, and sunk it in the pond before the water could drain out of the hose. Place one hand over the end that is going out in the yard and have someone keep tabs on the end that is in the pond so it doesn't come up out of the water. Pick as sloping a place as you can, drag the filled hose with your hand over the end, out to the lowest spot it can reach, throw it down and hopefully a siphon will start. If all goes well you should not have to do any of that sucking air to get the water going. I did that one time when the hose stopped because something clogged it up and inhaled a bit of water. Not a good idea! Try to keep the end in the pond from resting on the bottom, as this only pulls in stuff to clog the hose. You can rubber band a small piece of screen around this end to keep trash out. Do not let this end come out of the water as it will then siphon air and quit.

Drain the water down pretty low so that the fish will be easy to catch. Remember that fish have a protective slime layer so be careful when handling them. Take as much live stuff, fish, diving beetles, killifish, etc., out as you can find and put it in the can that had the most old water in it. Gently sweep with a net in the remaing water to capture anything else you can. Put it in the "old" can. Next take out the vegetation and put it in the other can. Give the fish can a little plant material too. In my case I disregard what level a plant should be sunk and just put it in the plant can. It is only going to be there for awhile and I don't have plants that are that specific.

Then the fun part begins. Like the whole pond project, have the kids do as much as they can. Pull out the bottom muck and go through it with your hands searching for anything of interest you want to go back into the new pond. I also take this muck and put it in the plant can to put back in the new pond for all those reasons one needs bottom muck! The liner is then pulled out and disposed of properly.

Next, the hard part. Digging the new shape. Since I went ahead and invested in a more expensive, longer lasting, pre-formed liner, it was not the same shape as the old. If you replace with a flexible liner you just plop it back into the already dug form of the previous pond. Easy! I chose a pre-formed hard liner because my dogs occasionally jump in and I know those nails climbing out have poked a few holes in the old liner. I have had this "dog proof liner" in for four months and neither dog has jumped in! Almost disappointing! But not quite.

When digging the shape for a preformed liner you have to dig about a foot and a half larger hole than the liner. This is because you must backfill right up against the liner at the same time you are filling it with water. This creates equal pressure on the outside and inside of the liner, eliminating undue stress on your liner. If you try and guess the exact shape of the hole to dig it won't work. There will be pockets where the liner is unsupported and the weight of the water will actually misshape the liner. Liners usually come with instuctions concerning installation.

It took me almost two weeks to complete the digging and backfilling. The fish did very well. No pump either. I assume, like the pond, the garbage can is so large it provided a stable environment. I fed them only once a day or once every two days to be careful in not polluting the water in the can. After the liner is filled almost to the top I put in the contents of the plant can. By this time the water in the can is aged and will help the new water in the new pond age. I let the new pond sit for two days and then put the contents of the fish can in.

I noticed no adverse affects on anything. The fish looked great. The plants have taken right to growing. It looked almost like it had been there a hundred years almost immediately. I went and bought a couple of shubunkins which are related to goldfish. They are spotty looking comets. All the fish have increased in size.