Final pond update

This past weekend I finally finished building the pond -- if "building" is the right word. "Finished" is probably not the right word either, since this project -- like most parts of the garden -- will constantly be evolving, changing, and maturing. The bulk of the work is done though...

Ask me which is better: working with stones and water when it's 65ºF (18ºC) and sunny, or 35ºF (2ºC) and windy and drizzling and muddy. Actually, it's a tough call, since the colder one was the day I finished, which made the day much more pleasant despite the conditions.

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I won't go step-by-step on any of this, as it was really just a matter of finding different combinations of rocks that looked as natural as possible. I did the left and back sections first:

It was difficult to make it look completely natural, but I added some partially submerged rocks to help with that illusion.

It will look a lot better when it's all planted in the spring too, as there is a lot of planting space on this side:

With those sections finished, only the right back "corner" remained:

I did need to pick up a bit more flagstone, and a couple of pieces of "edging" stones.

Did I mention that in the last update already? It's all a blur now. Good thing I have these posts to refer back to once my memory goes completely.

Here you can see several components of what I was dealing with on the second day of the weekend, after rain Saturday night:

I had to extend the retaining wall a little bit, put down some mulch to keep my boots from getting completely caked in mud, and I used a board to kneel upon for the same reason: muddy, soaking wet knees in cold weather is less fun than it sounds.

After a bit of trial and error to find rocks that fit the final gap, I completed the edging:

I didn't trim or bury the liner edge completely around most of the back, as I'm not sure if I'll need to make some adjustments or changes in the spring.

I had a few longer pieces of flagstone left, so I decided to create a little overhang:

I'm not sure if I like this, but I'll leave it for the first year and see what I think after there are some plants around. I thought it would be a fun feature for fish and other creatures, but we'll see.

I may create an island in the middle of the water in the spring when the water warms up, and there may be some minor changes or adjustments I'll need to make, but I don't plan on doing much more with it this winter.

Take a look at the whole back edge, and see at how I tried to make it as "natural" as possible:

click for much larger size, or r-click and "open in new window"

Here's the whole "finished" project:

I can't wait for the plants!

This was a lot of work, but I'm so glad I jumped in and did it now before winter. If I had waited until spring I doubt it would have been ready for the frogs, but now... bring the little croakers on!

I wonder if I'll have turtles too?

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