New creation

[JamieB]

I’d be lucky to find a rock! It’s all old flood plain, almost no rock. When we rent a bob cat or what ever, it’ll be to fix the moats in the driveway. But the house gets 90% of any money not for bills and groceries. We have to put 3 support beams up in the living room ceiling first.

 

[Mmathis]

I’d be lucky to find a rock! It’s all old flood plain, almost no rock. When we rent a bob cat or what ever, it’ll be to fix the moats in the driveway. But the house gets 90% of any money not for bills and groceries. We have to put 3 support beams up in the living room ceiling first.

Oh, no rocks here, either...... at all! We are in an alluvial flood plain, but have tons of gooey, gloppy, hard clay. You have to carefully plan any digging you do as there is a narrow window of opportunity between hard as cement or sucky quicksand! The little Bobcat we rented was WONDERFUL — so easy (and fun!) to operate. Hubby and I fought over who got to “drive,” and I joked that I wanted to drive it down the street and see if any of our neighbors had any digging to be done, LOL!

 

[JamieB]

We have either mud, or hard dirt. Very little clay. Good quality dark rich soil, when most of the state is red clay or sand. The river bank is sand! But not where I’m digging. When I burried my dog, I had to dig down about 3-4 ft to find any hint of red.

 

[JamieB]

That’s what I’m digging in now ( when I’m home to do the digging that is)

 

[myswtsins]

Love watching pond builds/moves. No skimmer?

 

[JamieB]

Love watching pond builds/moves. No skimmer?

Not yet, I need to get one, and a bigger pump. My “ pond” right now is just an above ground pool I dumped my excess feeder gold fish into when my turtle didn’t eat them. I was never into ponds prior, prefered tropical fish like Gouromi, easy care. Then I added a bunch of minnows, to save them from the stream drying up, next thing I know, I’m looking into turning that into a pond, ended up with anchor worms, and found this forum. Now I’m all gung ho to make a real pond, with a big, a big pump, lots of plants, full deal. Lol, it’s my new hobby.

 

[JamieB]

At almost the end of my day! I take it as a good omen.

 

[JamieB]

I’d love to do a rock wall like this. The creek that runs through here was rocked many many years ago, I hate to see where they’ve done a patch on it that isn’t in the same style. This section is heavily loaded down with cat tails, causing it to clog and overflow. But the wild life loves it.

 

[JamieB]

Did some more digging. I’m moving the dirt I pull up over to support the bog berm, making that part wider, and now the bog berm dirt from when I started has had time and rain, it’s settled enough that I know I need to build it up more. I’ve got 2/3rds of the grass removed. Plus one deeper pit that Dad dug. So I’ll keep working on it bit by bit. My arms are still sore from last week, but I’m trying to push through.

 

[JamieB]

Ive got 5 lillies in the pond, none of which are providing a lot of shade to my fish yet, but my pink ones about to bloom again! And I’ve got 3 planters of lillies in the grow out tanks, one of which I’ll be moving over maybe tomorrow. Lots of fish. Many will get culled and given away.

 

[Mmathis]

@JamieB If you walk around on the berm, jump on it, etc., you will get better compaction and faster than simply letting it sit there.

 

[JamieB]

@JamieB If you walk around on the berm, jump on it, etc., you will get better compaction and faster than simply letting it sit there.

I do. And the cats, and dogs, and who knows what wildlife! I packed it down by foot when we first did it, but it still settled by about 1/3rd over time and with rain. And I decided it needed to be bigger... I think I was around too many engineers the two weeks I was gone! ( seeing as I was at my annual training with an engineer battalion...) lol. Now I get to keep digging, build it up more, and see what other changes I come up with. I’m already contemplating a lotus pond...

 

[JamieB]

I’m shutting this idea down for now, the field south of us is planted in cotton, which is a very chemical spray heavy crop. I’m thinking the drift cause the die off I had, so now I’m working on a new pond idea on the covered porch. Trying to keep from going overboard. But if I keep it simple, a wooden frame 30”x82”x73”, lined with either a liner or marine grade epoxy, with bog boxes along the railings, and maybe a shelf with supports. A simple pump in a filter box, pump up to the bog boxes, which would fall the water into the bog shelf or back into the pond. Filtration, circulation, and airiation all in one. That part of the porch has a water spigot and power outlet right there. My big concerns are are leaks and drift from the cotton field. It’d be easier to cover that with a tarp to keep drift out.

 

[sissy]

remember to think about the worst case for snow and runoff from it .But I love when you pull into a driveway and see a pond .It is welcoming and relaxing .I remember snow storm in NJ where snow was almost up to the second story of my house

 

[JamieB]

remember to think about the worst case for snow and runoff from it .But I love when you pull into a driveway and see a pond .It is welcoming and relaxing .I remember snow storm in NJ where snow was almost up to the second story of my house

Snow? Nah, I don’t think I’ve seen much of that around here. I’ll get some pics of my new location to post later, right now kittens demand milk!