Central Florida pond under construction

[CountryEscape]

That's it, I'm going to try a carnivorous garden. First I have to find a place to buy the plants. Do you have a good source, Addy, or did you find yours local? I've never seen carnivorous plants locally at any of our stores. I figure will have to buy on-line, but want a good reputable place, don't want to pay for plants that will arrive dead.
Also, wondering about the large pots I have. Intended them to be lotus pots, but I evidently cannot grow lotus, except the one I got from the lake, thought it was a lily, but pretty sure it's a lotus. It's in the pond, so I have 4 very large pots with no holes in the bottoms. Would they work? That way I could see if they would grow, it would keep me from getting too many plants, and if they multiply and grow, then I can think about making something larger in time.

 

[sissy]

welcome back ce and hope you enjoyed yourself

 

[CountryEscape]

I had a great time with my kids and nephew and his family. We all got along great, and it was a fantastic time in Hawaii! Only thing I wished I would have been able to do would have been to go to the big koi breeder, Kodama Koi! Their website said not open to the public, though, and I didn't want to lie and say I wanted to look at fish to buy. I'm NOT a good liar. LOL

 

[shinksma]

Well, this is probably weird for most of you...

I'm back here on the forum after an almost ten (10) year hiatus.

A lot of stuff changed in those years. Including the pond situation. What had been my main pond got damaged, repeatedly, with deer falling in and tearing the liner, then a heron poking holes in the repaired-then-replaced liner while catching fish. I resorted to using just the smaller hard-shell pond, only to have all the fish eventually taken by racoons or herons, and the conservation area started to invade, along with a ground-hornet nest, and the horsetail got out of control, and then a lot of personal life stuff happened and I drifted away from that portion of the yard work. The pond got forgotten and overgrown, and dried out.

Earlier this year we decided to tackle the pond area, even if just to clear out the encroaching conservation area and figure how if we wanted to repurpose the area. We got it cleared out pretty well, removing small weedy trees and shrubs that had become established next to the "pond", and I was inspired enough to redevelop the pond again - over the course of the Presidents Day long weekend I pulled out about 6-8 inches of "stuff" (dead and alive weeds, with a significant amount of dirt/soil), and cleared out the surrounding area even more thoroughly.

The pond is now full of water again, with a little waterfall from a little 9 gallon feeder micro-pond, because "why not?". I added some comet goldfish from PetSmart, and have added a few marginal plants. Also picked up a water lily. And I'm using a piece of wire-grid "fencing" laid across the pond, hoping to stop those pesky racoons and herons from getting their next meal. The pump that sends water to the micro-pond is encased in a large mesh square pot (like you would use for a water plant) so the fish can't get close enough to get pulled in - and it makes it much easier to keep the inlet clear of other debris.

Oh, and a few underwater-capable lights (one is above water, one is below, and one is at the water level).

We're satisfied enough with how it looks and ability to keep it clear that we've ordered another 165 gal hard-shell pond (with a spillway) that will waterfall into the micro-pond (which then spills into the existing ~100 gal pond). The resulting set-up should be pleasant enough and easier to maintain.

As long as I stay on top of the weeds, keep the pond (and pump inlet!) clear of debris, and keep the conservation area at bay, this should be a more successful long-term endeavor.

I probably won't post here very much, but thought I should say "thanks" to the forum for still being here, and providing some inspiration in my efforts towards the reclaimed pond.

 

[CountryEscape]

Sounds like a lot of work, but worth it in the end. Glad you persevered and now can enjoy the pond again.
How about some photos? Especially if you have before and after photos!

 

[shinksma]

Sounds like a lot of work, but worth it in the end. Glad you persevered and now can enjoy the pond again.
How about some photos? Especially if you have before and after photos!

I do have some photos, need to see how far back I took them during the rehabilitation project!

 

[shinksma]

Ok, I didn't take photos of the area before starting the clear-out, but I did take one part-way through the reclamation effort, after clearing the high grass and other invading stuff. The rigid pond liner is to the right (after removing 8 inches of dried up muck and grass), while the left side has a flexible liner underneath some soil, intended to be a boggy area. Now it is just more dry soil.

And here is the current look.

 

[shinksma]

Wow, I just spent a few minutes looking at the photos I had posted ten years ago. My oh my, the pond area has certainly changed since then! And I had such a big pond compared to the tiny thing I have now.

I have a lot of work to do to get it back into such a nice clean look, no matter the smaller size of the actual pond now - but that's what weekends are for, right?

 

[sissy]

remember anything you love to do is never work . The results are worth it

 

[j.w]

remember anything you love to do is never work . The results are worth it

Hmmmmmmmmm, can't say I agree w/you on that one! My yard and gardens and ponds sometimes are more work then I love doing but the last part about how the results are worth it is good

 

[sissy]

JW I say the same hing at the beginning of the work but after it is dne than suddenly the pride comes in and it does not seem like that much work . But we sure are sore as heck from the work . I know i was last night after a whole week of weeding , mowing and trimming . Was supposed to rain and we were supposed to have thunderstorms ,I never saw that but the humidity went up when the sun came out . all the race fans are here for the Martinsville VA race . I can here the cars and see the campers parked at the camping grounds out on 58 . No money but they still come and because of it every gas station here raised gas prices up to over 3.40 a gallon and some in Martinsville over 3.60 a gallon . WHAT A RIP OFF

 

[shinksma]

remember anything you love to do is never work . The results are worth it

I don't love to cut back 3 feet of invading conservation area, but I need to do that to reclaim my yard. And I'm no spring chicken any more - hacking back Wild Florida is no quick task with a grass trimmer.

Hopefully once I get stuff restored to some semblance of stability I'll be able to switch to maintenance mode. I'm occupied this weekend with a different "hobby", but the next few weekends after that might be very focused on yard work and continued pond-area restoration. Some cooler weather would be nice, but it's too late to hope for that - I think we'll be in full summer mode from here on out! Highs of about 90 deg F this weekend, and the humidity seems to have returned...

 

[shinksma]

So I posted a photo of the pond area with the small "feeder" pond waterfalling into the small but only pond I had remaining. Here's an earlier photo from a bit higher up - you can see the empty spot behind.

Our new "upper pond with spillway" arrived, and this is what it looked like roughly situated in that spot (it was a bit bigger than I expected, not a bad thing):

And here it is installed fully and functioning, infrastructure-wise, a couple of plants relocated to its shelves, just needs more decorating with rock to hide the sides, and another plant or three. I even added more underwater lights!

 

[shinksma]

Here's the new configuration with pond lights lit up in the twilight.

 

[shinksma]

Completed the infrastructure (repurposing a bunch more of retaining wall blocks) and decorated with every scrap of river rock flats I could recover from my excess piles. Added a few more plants too, sourced from Lukas nursery in Oviedo.

Going to Pebble Junction tomorrow (probably) to get a bit more of those river rock flats to fill out the decorative elements.