Ysabet Vs. The Pond Of Doom
Okay!
Once upon a time, I decided that I wanted a second garden pond in my backyard. It's a very small yard, L-shaped and with the widest area only 18 feet long by 12 feet wide. But it's big enough for me to have clotheslines strung, a veggie garden, an herb garden, a young pomegranate tree and a large and crochety Autralian Willow that shades half the yard.
It also has a preformed pond sunk into one corner; it's about 5 feet long and 3 1/2 feet wide, and sits about 3 feet deep at its deepest spot. It's a bit overgrown with waterlilies and parrot-feather right now; but it does pretty well, and I wanted one up by the herb garden and next to the back porch, which is pretty wide.
So... first off, I asked myself: what kind of liner should I put in? A pond liner can be *anything* that'll hold the water in and keep the dirt out. And I had this humongous cooler with the lid broken off, and I thought, "Hey, nice rectangular pond!" So I dug the bloody hole (which, as any desert-dweller will tell you, is not an easy task. You soak the ground; you dig a few inches; you fill the hole with water; you wait; lather and repeat.) And I sat the cooler in, and looked at it a bit doubtfully... because, well, it was *awfully* rectangular and kinda small.
And THEN my little sister Denise informed me that any pond which might have once held Bud Light as contents was clearly and thoroughly a Redneck Pond. And then I informed her that, Redneck Pond or not, I had never bought Bud Light and never would (because it's horrible beer and should be poured back into the horse it came from, basically.) But you know, she had a point. And it really WAS awfully small.
Hang on, I said to myself (I do that a lot): don't I still have that humongous rubber-sheet pond-liner that I used in the backyard when I wanted a second pond there, in the year before my divorce when I still HAD a house? Why yes, I answered myself: so I did! And I unearthed it, and looked at the smallish hole, and went 'Hmmm. This should be..... bigger.'
So I dug a bigger, deeper hole. And sank the sheet into it and staked it down and filled it and arranged rocks and put water-plants in and...
Anyway.
From Drop Box
And Bob, of course, supervised.
From Drop BoxI think it came out fairly decent. It's really a bit longer than those pics show, about 4 feet long; and since I took them I've put in a purple-blue dwarf waterlily and some other aquatic stuff, and that stack of rocks at the near end allows a small trickle of water to drop down into the pond continually. It's tiny, a seep rather than a waterfall-- the pump's about the size of two decks of cards stacked on top of each other. It'll do, and next week I'll put fish in and hope for the best.
So there's Pondzilla; I'm happy with it.
Once upon a time, I decided that I wanted a second garden pond in my backyard. It's a very small yard, L-shaped and with the widest area only 18 feet long by 12 feet wide. But it's big enough for me to have clotheslines strung, a veggie garden, an herb garden, a young pomegranate tree and a large and crochety Autralian Willow that shades half the yard.
It also has a preformed pond sunk into one corner; it's about 5 feet long and 3 1/2 feet wide, and sits about 3 feet deep at its deepest spot. It's a bit overgrown with waterlilies and parrot-feather right now; but it does pretty well, and I wanted one up by the herb garden and next to the back porch, which is pretty wide.
So... first off, I asked myself: what kind of liner should I put in? A pond liner can be *anything* that'll hold the water in and keep the dirt out. And I had this humongous cooler with the lid broken off, and I thought, "Hey, nice rectangular pond!" So I dug the bloody hole (which, as any desert-dweller will tell you, is not an easy task. You soak the ground; you dig a few inches; you fill the hole with water; you wait; lather and repeat.) And I sat the cooler in, and looked at it a bit doubtfully... because, well, it was *awfully* rectangular and kinda small.
And THEN my little sister Denise informed me that any pond which might have once held Bud Light as contents was clearly and thoroughly a Redneck Pond. And then I informed her that, Redneck Pond or not, I had never bought Bud Light and never would (because it's horrible beer and should be poured back into the horse it came from, basically.) But you know, she had a point. And it really WAS awfully small.
Hang on, I said to myself (I do that a lot): don't I still have that humongous rubber-sheet pond-liner that I used in the backyard when I wanted a second pond there, in the year before my divorce when I still HAD a house? Why yes, I answered myself: so I did! And I unearthed it, and looked at the smallish hole, and went 'Hmmm. This should be..... bigger.'
So I dug a bigger, deeper hole. And sank the sheet into it and staked it down and filled it and arranged rocks and put water-plants in and...
Anyway.
From Drop Box
And Bob, of course, supervised.
From Drop BoxI think it came out fairly decent. It's really a bit longer than those pics show, about 4 feet long; and since I took them I've put in a purple-blue dwarf waterlily and some other aquatic stuff, and that stack of rocks at the near end allows a small trickle of water to drop down into the pond continually. It's tiny, a seep rather than a waterfall-- the pump's about the size of two decks of cards stacked on top of each other. It'll do, and next week I'll put fish in and hope for the best.
So there's Pondzilla; I'm happy with it.