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During last year's end of April holiday, we hired a mini digger to build a pond and dug a rough hole.
We weren't expecting the next step to take over a year to get around to! Having decided that our rough hole in the ground wouldn't really cut it, we bit the bullet and hired 2 men who knew what they were doing with a digger, and who turned the rough hole into this:
They added a shelf along one side and a shallow area at one end which will become a bog garden. We covered the excavation with a layer of sand:
We created a wall to separate the pond from the bog garden:
My parents came over for a pond-lining party:
During the course of last Sunday we got the underlay and liner in place and began to fill the pond.
The bog garden got a filling with water to flatten the liner. This will be pumped out when we create the bog:
The other half and I still have to conclude our argument about where to build up a rockery for a waterfall that will go around/down the middle of/next to the bog garden and I think we need to increase the height of the wall and shore up a low point in the banking, but it's already been idyllic to sit on the edge of the pond in the sunshine, dangling our feet in the water and watching the sky reflected in the water's ripples, and the water reflected on the branches of the willows at the edge of the pond.
It's now payday and my fingers are itching to get out my bank card and splurge on plants! I can't wait to see it planted up and see what moves in!
A closed mouth gathers no foot.
Probably! I have a few of her on there. Was I preening her?
No - whistling & letting her bite your finger!!! Must look up the others! So entertaining
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
Ah, you're Capn Blackbird. I'm just watching WhistlyGirl bath!
Our herring gulls are red listed birds. Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.
I am! The other half is PiratesAhoy - also worth a look.
A froggie now guards my waterfall :)
The first rockery plants are also in - 2 gentian that I've had lurking in pots for a while now.
I also planted some more holly and pyracantha hedging along the wall and used some spare pond liner to keep the weeds at bay.
Once that was done, I spent an hour or so kneeling on the flattened cardboard box that this came in
It took me longer than I thought to put it together, partly because the allen key was apparently made of cheese, partly because I screwed up and put something in the wrong place, but mostly because I took some time out watching the blue and great tits queueing up for a bath in the water under the little willow by the beach, then Mr and Mrs B having their baths, and then a dozen or so long tailed tits investigating the big willows. I can't wait to spend some time out there watching them in the comfort of the new bench rather than crouching on cardboard in my wellies!
This is the view from the bench
Because the hawthorn hedge has lost its leaves, you can just about see the rest of the garden through it, and so you can just about see the pond from the house. Once summer comes and the hawthorn is fully-leaved, you won't be able to see anything from the other part of the garden! Eventually once the new hedging has grown up enough to do the screening job that the hawthorn does at the moment, the hawthorn can be lowered and we'll put a gate through it at the end of the garden path.
Maisie, this is looking wonderful! Your garden will be the envy of everyone when you've finished!
Ok then when do you open to the public, what a fabulous oasis you have created
Of all creatures, man is the most detestable, he is the only creature that inflicts pain for sport, knowing it to be pain. ~ Mark Twain
Suffice it to say there will be no gardening for the foreseeable future! Remind me again which bit's the pond...
There used to be a lake around to the other side of the house about 100 years ago, and with this part of the land being about the lowest point, flooding is to be expected, so I'm not too bothered. It's just annoying to be prevented from doing anything out there, especially as I wanted to get 2 tons of soil in here to make a woodland bulb garden between the willows :(
So, it's still pretty disgusting out there
but despite the weather being chilly enough to freeze the pond over, it was all hands to the wheelbarrows over the weekend. The ground frost actually made it easier to move the barrow - at least for a while.
I liberated the whole rockery from the spare liner
and did the same at the other end, leaving the underlay to wick up water from under the liner to be dried out by any sun that cares to appear,
shuffled some cobbles around to make the beach blend into the surroundings a bit better
then joined forces with the other half to trim back the willows to give light and space to the new growth and make room for some landscaping topsoil to raise the level and put some woodland bulbs into
and finally got rid of the huge bag of pebbles off the driveway to complete the seating area.
It's looking a bit more complete around the pond now, and the pond is sitting better in the landscape. We just need the ground to dry out and the grass to grow back!
Fantastic progress Maisie, looks an ideal spot for those chairs ...........only thing missing is the cup of tea and cake !!
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Regards, Hazel