New pond is complete!!!

[GBBUDD]

Would love to see the pond

 

[addy1]

Beautiful!

 

[Lisak1]

@GBBUDD - scroll up dude. It's gorgeous!

Beautiful babies @CountryEscape ! How did you get the great photos? Are these all in a tank?

 

[GBBUDD]

ah yes the aquascape prime contractor yes . They did a fantastic job . I could tell right off pros had there hands on this one. I love how they cut out the hill side and made the patio. I remember the original post

 

[Tula]

Wow 100 babies! Did you catch them all in the minnow trap you'd ordered? Very cool Will they winter inside in an aquarium or outside in the pond?

You just got back in town and now I'm out of town !

 

[CountryEscape]

Lisa, they are in an aquarium in the basement but only for maybe another week. We’ve sold about 35 so far. I’ll put the rest back in the pond before temps get too chilly for them to overwinter there and grow. Plan then will be to drain the pond down in the spring so I can catch the “kids”, put them in a large holding pool and get serious about selling them in the spring. They will be 5-7” long by then, I’d guess. Hoping we don’t have a repeat on population explosion in the spring!!!
Tula, the minnow trap was a bust. I caught a total of 1 fish in it. The fish that did get into it, also got back out. Smart babies!!!
GBBUDD, yes Aquascapes created the pond, but we had a landscaper do the patio.
We love the place and can’t imagine anyone not falling in love with it. Had two of our grandkids over a week ago. The 2 year old could not get enough of the pond. She was constantly up on the edge rocks, with Mom or Dad right behind her. They want her to learn about the danger without being overprotective so I was happy about that. She doesn’t talk much, but kept pointing and saying, “Fish!”
I can tell you all that I sit by the pond for an hour or more almost daily and just look at the babies. I have far too many favorites. My big butterfly Lucy has a butterfly and regular fin mirrors of her. They are just as pretty. So many new colors, too. There are so many color combinations. Some are goldfish and/or mules, but it appears the large percentage are koi. Attaching photos of some of my favorites that I caught and out back already.

Lucy Jr

This one has a maroon spot on the head and silver otherwise

 

[CountryEscape]

Hi, All! I took a picture of the pond this am with the net I built and out over it. Never had to net the two ponds in zip because the edge of the ponds were 8-10” above grade and I had very few leaves in the yard. Now I have a HUGE 63 year old hard maple tree. I may have to leave the net up through spring to catch the seed pods, or I’ll just net them out daily. The skimmer hasn’t needed to be emptied out since the net went on. Plus I netted out as many off the bottom as I could. (Precious owner had 27’ above ground pool, and I kept one of the very long handled nets for this pond.)

 

[sissy]

All I can say is WOW CE .I did the same went back to my old house when I went back to NJ when my brother died and was sad to see all my gardens beds all overgrown and my trees neglected and dead branchs all over the yard .Should never have went there ,But your new pond and gardens sure have the CE magic touch i bet your neighbors are drooling over it all

 

[CountryEscape]

All I can say is WOW CE .I did the same went back to my old house when I went back to NJ when my brother died and was sad to see all my gardens beds all overgrown and my trees neglected and dead branchs all over the yard .Should never have went there ,But your new pond and gardens sure have the CE magic touch i bet your neighbors are drooling over it all

Yeah it was hard to see all that work buried and her not even mowing the grass but it is what it is.
We had a party Labor Day weekend. All was completed on the pond and patio, plants were put in their permanent homes. All the grass that was killed by being driven over for two months had been shallow tilled, top soil spread on it, seeded and strawed well. By the end of September we had lush grass growing, so now the back yard is done. Can’t wait to see how everything comes to life in the spring.
I’m planning to “winter sow” lots of native seeds next month, and plant the seedlings in the corner of our yard (behind the pond). That corner was full of invasive honeysuckle, winter creeper, English Ivy, and weeds. Dave and I covered everything with cardboard, then thick layer of mulch. I bagged grass this summer to also put on top, and then we bagged mulched leaves/grass this fall, and that went on the area as well. Needless to say, none of the “junk” has made an appearance. I’ll plant the area heavily with natives both flowering and for birds and put excess plants behind our yard where it’s “wild”. If the deer eat them all, no worries. I’ll figure out what will survive and what won’t, and work my way into the other honeysuckle areas eventually. The owner is fine with me planting stuff there that’s native and pretty. He loves the wildlife as much as us, so some of the bush honeysuckle will get to stay for bird habitat. I’ll just have to be vigilant to keep it in check.
This corner is where natives will go. It’s larger than it looks, about 30’ long in left side, 25’ on the right side

This is looking down our back fence line. There is 6-10’ of space that got kinda cleared out when the honeysuckle was removed from our lot line to clear it for the fence. This is where I will plant the excess plants.

 

[sissy]

you going to make a veggie garden

 

[CountryEscape]

you going to make a veggie garden

Nope. Unless you call it a vege garden for the butterflies and birds. Since it’s just Dave and I, I’ll focus my outdoor gardening efforts on the outside critters. I have many milkweed varieties for the monarchs, and hoping to get a few natives that are hosts to other butterflies. Then witch hazel and other bushy natives for them all since they produce flowers for the bees, berries for the birds, and leaves for butterflies/moths. There might be a tomato plant or two for the Sphinx moths, too, hoping to keep those from my neighbors that have tomato plants.

 

[sissy]

I just grow 4 plants of each peppers and tomato's and pickles and squash , but i have potato's also .That is all I need .I used to have a big garden in nj because i canned .This year a bear stole almost all my apples and the hurricane blew all my peach's and pears and plums off the trees .Not many hummingbirds either but tons of butterflies

 

[stavo]

I'm a newbie, but I'm blown away by this pond. It's spectacular!

 

[CountryEscape]

I'm a newbie, but I'm blown away by this pond. It's spectacular!

Welcome and newbies can’t get enough info IMO. I was that person 11 years ago. Made my share of mistakes, but avoided many more by asking what seemed like silly questions at the time. So much knowledge in this forum and no one judges you. I love the people on here.