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Spring fed pond - Step 6: Landscaping and Lighting

23K views 98 replies 26 participants last post by  jmhk 
#1 · (Edited)
Spring fed pond - Step 1: Planning

My kids have been trying to dig a pond by hand for the last year or two. Given the typical perseverence level of teens/tweens and the fact that the ground is hard-pan clay, I actually was impressed with their "progress" which was approx 12 foot diameter and 12-18" deep. We had our friend's Kubota this week to put in some drainage pipe, so my husband decided to give them some help. We now have a 12 foot diameter, 4 foot deep bowl-shaped pond dug - so the serious next stage planning needs to start.

It is located in an area that has a natural spring - it was wet nearly year round and in the springtime you couldn't even walk there without sinking into the mud. So should I be thinking about putting a liner in or just leave it natural bottom and let it start filling up? The expectation is that this will be a very lowtech setup - low stocking, native plants to the maximum extent and only solar powered aeration/pump. It receives morning and midday sun, but is shaded in the afternoon.

The only pond I have ever "owned" was a competely self maintaining one that my father/grandfather dug some 50+ years ago - it has some large goldfish in it that survived and bred all on their own during that entire time - no human feeding, no nothing, but it is more like 20x50 foot and 6 foot deep, out in the woods. It was fed by springs and ground runoff.

So hit me with your thoughts on how we should proceed....
 
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#28 · (Edited)
Step 3: Final Grading

Spring is here, which in the northeast means rain. I got slowed down a bit.... Anyway, it was finally dry, if not sunny this morning, so I was able to finish the leveling/final grading.

My husband helped me lay out the grade with the laser level earlier this week before it started raining again. Here is the mess I started with at 9 this morning. The lower side toward the deck still needed to be raised by a foot in some places. That side ended up being built up by about 18-20 inches from original grade.



Finished up around 3:30. One last check with the laser at dusk and I hope it should be all ready for the liner. Well, at least once we get some junk carpet for underlayment. My hubby declined to look for any while it was raining this week :hihi:




Started to layout some rocks for the waterfall - these all came out of the dig!




 
#32 ·
Thanks for the kind words, all.

Hope to get the main liner in with water by next weekend. Bought a few plants today that are soaking in tubs - seeing them should keep me on schedule. My starters are Almost Black (dark red), Charlene Strawn (yellow), and Rose Arey (pink) hardy lilies, Giant Marsh Marigold, Lemon Mint, Mares' Tail and Variegated Cattail. I plan to get Forget-Me-Not, Pickerel Rush, and Lobelia Cardinalis wild from the lake, plus anything else I see and like as I walk/boat around this spring and summer.

The stream will follow and I hope it won't take me nearly as long as the major digging did. I will be digging out and putting liner under the waterfall/stream also. Spray foam is on order and I looked at all the streams today at the pond store to get some ideas on how to put it together. But I expect I can just run the pump alone with the water line for a few days to have some circulation going before I get the waterfall all set in place.
 
#33 ·
Step 4: Add Water

Finally found some underlayment. The carpet store said "Sure, we will leave some old stuff out for you - we don't want you to get cut pulling stuff out of the dumpster with old blades, tacks", etc... Well they never left any out for us and I was getting deperate until I saw a craigslist curb alert :bounce: Yippee - plenty of carpet and pad to do the whole pond.

We had enough to put down 1 layer of carpet and 2 layers of padding in the deep end where the worst of the sharp rocks are. In the shallow end there are 2 layers of padding on the flat area - I was able to make that end almost rock free. On the vertical sides there is one layer of padding material. Almost felt like I was in a bounce house as I was walking around on it.




With the :help: of one teen and a very strong husband, we manhandled the 45 mil Firestone EPDM liner in place. That stuff is heeaaavvvyy!!




We added about 500 gallons of water to start. I am filling it using my well, so it will take me 4-5 days at that rate unless the weather decides to help out. Check out the cool fountain statue - not sure if it will stay permanently, though :icon_lol:



 
#36 ·
I have that same liner... it may be heavy as hell but mine is 11 years old this summer, and has dealt with the dog clawing its way out after going for a dip, dealing with Michigan winters (btw a cheap floating heater and a bubbler=all you need for the deep winter, as long as you have gas exchange and surface movement at the exchange site you are all good to go), and other assorted endeavors, and the liner looks like we put it in yesterday. Plus if I remember it has a 20 year warranty too. It's good stuff.

Also if you ever have to get in to do work, the shelfs help you out big time with that too.... I'm planning on expanding mine this year though :hihi: just found a bunch of liner, and picked up liner glue and stuff, so tempting to make a plant section aside from the floaters we got.... Have you found any plants that can survive the winter and bounce back? I have a few I always bring inside and just keep the soil very damp, but they are a pain to keep alive. Been dying to find some hardy plants.
 
#37 ·
We have a great local pond store that sells stuff that is hardy for this area, many are native to the area. The plants I have so far are listed in post #32. I am also collecting what I can locally from the lake. Crossing my fingers that everything will make it through the winter if I sink them in the deep end once cold weather hits in late fall.
 
#38 ·
One step closer and it's looking like a pond now. There is a lot of plants that you can put in your pond that will survive through the winter. All of the plants in my pond except for some taro and a couple of others stay in the pond year round. If you can find stuff growing in the local waters around you that's always a sure bet that they will survive. I have several plants that were found in local rivers, lakes and ponds. And a few that I have bought. I would be diligent in keeping the mint under control or that stuff can become really invasive. It took me forever to completely rid my pond of that weed and i wouldn't put it again. Installing a water garden can be a ton of work but you will enjoy it so much when you get it done. I'm looking forward to seeing it all finished.
 
#39 · (Edited)
And the water keeps on trickling in...

Still have about 2-3 days of filling yet at the rate of about 500 gallons a day, but have enough water depth to get plants on the shelves. Lilies went in the deep shelves on fill day 2 and I started loading up the high shelves on fill day 3.

Plant list to-date:
Almost Black (dark red) hardy lily
Charlene Strawn (yellow) hardy lily
Rose Arey (pink) hardy lily
Giant Marsh Marigold
Lemon Mint
Mares' Tail
Variegated Cattail
Ribbon Grass
Yellow Flag Iris
Bronze Iris
Frogbit
Water Lettuce

All the plants (other than floaters) are in pots so hopefully it will be easier to control any that want to run wild like the cattails, mint or ribbon grass.






 
#42 ·
lauraleellbp, no matter what height most of the shelving ends up make sure you have a few strategically placed so you can climb in and out. So at least in one area shallow, medium and deep shelf next to each other.

All the rest:
Look up the plants you want. If they all seem to prefer deeper water then make most of the shelves deeper or set them on the bottom. If you want a mix, then make at least one shelf deep enough for the mid-range plants, then you can add a brick or something to raise the shallow water plants to the right height.
 
#43 · (Edited)
I'm hoping that just having the pump (Danner/Pondmaster Proline 2600) sending the water through the waterfall weir, which has a filter pad and bioballs, will be adequate. The guy at the pond store didn't seem concerned with that design. I really didn't want the expense and complication of having a skimmer since I planned on lots of floaters, but I guess I will see over time if I made the right decision.

I have a variety of depths: 12 inches-20 inches for the high ledges. I didn't really plan for them to be 20 inches deep, but when I put the laser level on the shoreline, it was obvious that I need to raise the lower pond edge up quite a bit; but I was too lazy to go back and raise the low spots on ledge. ~24 inches for the deepest part of the shallow end. ~36 inches for the deep lily shelves and 48 inches for the bottom of the deep end. It makes a nice stairway for me to get to all the levels. Those depths I hope will be good for the plants I plan on. I have many of them currently raised up on overturned pots since those are the recommended "mature" depths and, of course, all of my plants are newly potted.

I don't know exactly what soil was used for the plants I bought pre-potted in non-mesh/non-draining pots, but from the weight and color of soil that seeped out when I soaked them, it appears to have quite a bit of clay. They are topped with small gravel. The pond shop here will split/replant your overgrown pots including all the soil, new pot and gravel for just a few dollars a piece. For the plants that I got from the lake, I lined plastic mesh Laguna pond pots with landscape fabric and then put the plants in lake muck - which again in this area is very clay based. I topped with about 1 inch of small gravel. I have read that some are recommending just putting the plants in only gravel, with no soil at all. I might try a few that way to compare how they grow vs. the clay based approach.
 
#44 ·
I'm hoping that just having the pump (Danner/Pondmaster Proline 2700) sending the water through the waterfall weir, which has a filter pad and bioballs, will be adequate. The guy at the pond store didn't seem concerned with that design. I really didn't want the expense and complication of having a skimmer since I planned on lots of floaters, but I guess I will see over time if I made the right decision.

I have a variety of depths: 12 inches-20 inches for the high ledges. I didn't really plan for them to be 20 inches deep, but when I put the laser level on the shoreline, it was obvious that I need to raise the lower pond edge up quite a bit; but I was too lazy to go back and raise the low spots on ledge. ~24 inches for the deepest part of the shallow end. ~36 inches for the deep lily shelves and 48 inches for the bottom of the deep end. It makes a nice stairway for me to get to all the levels. Those depths I hope will be good for the plants I plan on. I have many of them currently raised up on overturned pots since those are the recommended "mature" depths and, of course, all of my plants are newly potted.

I don't know exactly what soil was used for the plants I bought pre-potted in non-mesh/non-draining pots, but from the weight and color of soil that seeped out when I soaked them, it appears to have quite a bit of clay. They are topped with small gravel. The pond shop here will split/replant your overgrown pots including all the soil, new pot and gravel for just a few dollars a piece. For the plants that I got from the lake, I lined plastic mesh Laguna pond pots with landscape fabric and then put the plants in lake muck - which again in this area is very clay based. I topped with about 1 inch of small gravel. I have read that some are recommending just putting the plants in only gravel, with no soil at all. I might try a few that way to compare how they grow vs. the clay based approach.
I didn't think of using clay based soil.... I have to dig a new hole for the bigger skimmer I picked up, and will be digging into pretty much straight clay (UGH), so maybe I'll use that with some aquarium gravel... Caribsea makes substrate but it's 20 bucks for a 20 pound bag, which would only fill about half a pot...

I think you should be fine without a skimmer. Just looking at your pond you seem pretty far away from any trees, I have an evil tree that drops all type of junk into the pond all year round, plus the bamboo (just ripped it all out this week). The multiple shelves will help you a lot, I only have one mid way at each side (around 24" deep, pond is approx. 5 feet deep), and it's hard for me to get in and out. (I'm 5 feet tall, when I stand in the pond I can't see out).

Thank you for the response btw! I'm excited to see your pond completed! You should be able to make a pretty beautiful and well disguised waterfall, especially with the hill next to the pond. Makes me wish I could have MPS LOL. But alas backyard is full...
 
#46 · (Edited)
Up and running in ghetto mode!

Lots of activity in the last week. The pond is finally full, lots of plants in place and we have fish!

Here is the final water level, just have the sump pump running through a garden hose at the moment to provide a bit of circulation. Quite a bit of pollen on the surface, but the water is still rather clear for having no filtration yet.





Collected some free plants from the lake to fill in a bit more:

Sensitive Fern


Pickerel Rush


Eastern Marsh Fern


Bought some Hyacinths


I put 50 rosy red fathead minnows in even before the water level was final. :fish1: The latest residents for this year moved in on Sunday: 2 Orange Comets, 3 Sarasa White/Red Comets and 4 Shubunkin goldfish.





The newcomers seem to please the existing neighborhood - this fellow came to visit but I hope it isn't expecting a minnow dinner:


Loads of work to still do:
1) Streambed
2) Waterfall Weir
3) Final pump and waterline
4) External Landscaping
5) Dig 5 gallon well for spring water collection/fill.

Here's a quick video to capture the pond in full ghetto mode for posterity... (Yeah, I finally figured out how everyone embeds the youtube mini view window right in the post!):bounce:

 
#48 ·
Congrats on getting it all filled up! Can't wait to see the waterfall/creek go in, it's going to be stunning!

Btw I wouldn't worry about the dragonfly with goldfish in there. We've had them land on the water, but most goldfish are such little piggies that they'll eat anything that hits the surface. (mine try to eat bubbles LOL)
 
#50 ·
The sump pump is dead, long live the new pump!

The poor undersized sump pump gave up the ghost on Tuesday. So I quickly put together the first half of the plumbing - the pump, quick disconnect and 1-1/2 inch water line. I just put the other end of the hose between two of the future waterfall/stream rocks, but it doesn't look half bad. The circulation is huge compared to that little sump pump and all the debris in the pond is stirred up. Bad for now, but hopefully good once I get the filter in....

Pump fitting was only available in CPVC, water line is PVC.... you can't glue those two types of fittings together so... Ugh, quite the Rube Goldberg mess


I had to paint it black to disguise it a bit...


So, the pond is still in ghetto mode, but starting to pimp it a bit:hihi:
 
#51 ·
The rubber pvc couplings are awesome for connecting the one way valve (if you don't have one I highly recommend getting one, it's about 60 bucks-thats what I paid the other day, and it helps your pump out quite a bit.) to the flexible PVC. I swear by them, they last for an extremely long time, and I have no water leaks.

Example:
http://www.watergarden.org/s.nl/it.A/id.722/.f

Totally worth the 7 bucks!
 
#52 · (Edited)
Step 5: Building the waterfalls and stream

♫You load sixteen tons, what do you get?♫
♫Another day older and deeper in debt..♫

Well, maybe not quite that much, but I still moved at least a few ton of stone this weekend! Here are the supplies I gathered Friday night - from the leftovers when we built a wall 20 years ago...




I started out by cutting away some of the excess liner and getting the underlayment ready to place after moving the rest of the stones out of the work area.


The "Help" - NOT!.... Between Friday and Saturday morning, I must have found at least a half dozen of these helpers. Most were garters, but I also found one lone baby milk snake (or possibly a corn snake??) as I was moving the big flat rocks that had been dug from the pond excavation.


I layed out the first few courses, then put the hose back on it to see if I was getting the desired effect. Looks like it will work well at this height.


After I had the stream nearly built to length, I hooked up the waterfall weir temporarily to see how large the flow would be so I could place it correctly at the top of the stream.


I hope the whole thing doesn't slide down the hill with age and freeze cycles....


The weir was leveled in a bed of sand, topped with a half concrete block for a stable base.


The top will have a load more stones built up around it to make it blend into the hillside - so it seems a bit out of place still. You can see the rock I will be cutting to fit into the spillway sitting just in front of the weir.


I ran out of time and energy, so I still need to foam in all the stream rocks and build up all around the sides and end of the stream. After all, I do need a second job after I get home from work each day :icon_roll. I did at least get most of my edge rocks placed around the pond itself.
 
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