I mentioned in my intro post that the pond I am currently working on is at our county extension office. It is in the Master Gardener Butterfly/Pollinator Teaching Garden. I volunteered to do a pond makeover project as the fullfillment for my inservice portion of my Master Gardener Training.
As you enter the garden, the very first thing I did is get a Pollinator Zone plaque to go on the gate! Now I just need to get it hung along with the Wildlilfe Habitat plaque.
The garden has been established for many years, and in fact needs some thinning. The predominant color scheme is red and yellow and the preference is for Florida natives or Florida-Friendly. The garden does not get supplemental irrigation. Recently, a very large laurel oak was severely pruned, and much of the garden is now much sunnier than previously. Including my little pond spot!
This is how the pond looked the day I volunteered.
The brown rain barrel is connected to a float valve (under the crooked white pot). There is no actual roof collected rain that falls in the barrel, just rain from the sky. The Master Gardener's keep the rain barrel topped off with tap water when necessary to keep the pond topped off during dry spells. A Smartpond 560 gph submersible pump is in the bottom of the pond with the intake connected to a homemade 2 gallon filter and output to a small water fountain. The pump is connected to a timer so that the pump can be shut down during the middle of the day during the summer (???).
The pond itself is a preform in sand. Our native soil is sand. It is not level, but I see no indication of water getting under the preform. I can't find my measurements now, but the pond is roughly 7' x 4' or so, with a shelf all around the inside stepping down to a deeper section. There are reportedly 4 lilies in the pond that are not potted. The pond is full of gambusia and one lone gold fish. Poor guy, he needs some company. In time ....
My goals and objectives:
- make the pond area 10x10 look much better by our fall MG event
- adhere to the butterfly/pollinator Florida Native/Friendly theme of the garden
- minimize maintenance requirements
- make the pond as error free as possible and able to run on it's own for weeks at a time if needed
- move the pump and mechanical filtration to a position that can easily be cleaned by any Master Gardener volunteer regardless of physical abilities and/or knowledge
- improve the water life conditions inside the pond
- do all of this with minimal cash outlay since our county like most others across the country is broke
Oh, and I did mention that my garden pond experience is just barely past beginner????
Alrighty, here is the concept drawing I included in my project plan:
And the pump box, which is not actually what I am now planning since I've gotten myself some ed-u-ma-cation reading Addy's how to bog thread. Briefly, I'm changing the outflow from the tub to the bog to pipes instead of free fall drips.
Over on GW, waterbug's comment was to keep the bog and loose the pump tub. My goal for the pump box is to make the mechanical cleaning part of the job easily doable by anybody regardless of their physical abilities or lack thereof. A skimmer would be nice, but it's not in the budget. Fortunately, with the laurel oak on its way out the leaf drop is not very bad.
This is what the pond area looked like the day before I took my mini vacation at the local hospital.
The concrete block was salvaged from around the garden and right now is just eye-balled leveled. The next step in construction is to get the block border leveled and more sand dug out from the inside. The bog will be the area from the edge of the concrete block to the preform. It will be built using scrap pieces of EPDM I have. And a boat load of EPDM patch tape and PL Roofing Flashing Sealer.
Here is a rough sketch of the planting plan. As well I have a bunch of mondo grass and society garlic that will help to fill in and soften the edges of the preform.
Oh, and I have got a black milk crate that I am cutting the ends of and covering with EPDM to cover the float valve. To sit on top of the float valve cover, I'm crafting a fairy toad house garden patch, complete with toad house, palm tree water station, gazing pond, pink flamingo, shell path and rubber boots. Because after all, fairies wear boots.
This is the plant list I've come up with.
Bacopa caroliniana
I've gotten starts and divisions from other gardeners, and ordered some seeds. Have a mini aqua nursery going out in the back of my veggie patch, hoping to get a head start on growth.
Hmm, well ... that is about it for now I think. Did I mention I'm practically a beginner? So fire away with any suggestions, comments, critiques and what have yous.
As you enter the garden, the very first thing I did is get a Pollinator Zone plaque to go on the gate! Now I just need to get it hung along with the Wildlilfe Habitat plaque.
The garden has been established for many years, and in fact needs some thinning. The predominant color scheme is red and yellow and the preference is for Florida natives or Florida-Friendly. The garden does not get supplemental irrigation. Recently, a very large laurel oak was severely pruned, and much of the garden is now much sunnier than previously. Including my little pond spot!
This is how the pond looked the day I volunteered.
The brown rain barrel is connected to a float valve (under the crooked white pot). There is no actual roof collected rain that falls in the barrel, just rain from the sky. The Master Gardener's keep the rain barrel topped off with tap water when necessary to keep the pond topped off during dry spells. A Smartpond 560 gph submersible pump is in the bottom of the pond with the intake connected to a homemade 2 gallon filter and output to a small water fountain. The pump is connected to a timer so that the pump can be shut down during the middle of the day during the summer (???).
The pond itself is a preform in sand. Our native soil is sand. It is not level, but I see no indication of water getting under the preform. I can't find my measurements now, but the pond is roughly 7' x 4' or so, with a shelf all around the inside stepping down to a deeper section. There are reportedly 4 lilies in the pond that are not potted. The pond is full of gambusia and one lone gold fish. Poor guy, he needs some company. In time ....
My goals and objectives:
- make the pond area 10x10 look much better by our fall MG event
- adhere to the butterfly/pollinator Florida Native/Friendly theme of the garden
- minimize maintenance requirements
- make the pond as error free as possible and able to run on it's own for weeks at a time if needed
- move the pump and mechanical filtration to a position that can easily be cleaned by any Master Gardener volunteer regardless of physical abilities and/or knowledge
- improve the water life conditions inside the pond
- do all of this with minimal cash outlay since our county like most others across the country is broke
Oh, and I did mention that my garden pond experience is just barely past beginner????
Alrighty, here is the concept drawing I included in my project plan:
![pondconcept.jpg](/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Flh6.googleusercontent.com%2F-6bcuai4LvfY%2FUBmo9YuXsmI%2FAAAAAAAADAg%2FufhzbkyLSFU%2Fs640%2Fpondconcept.jpg&hash=40dc5e3222529c5d902d4fa1d6c7a18c)
And the pump box, which is not actually what I am now planning since I've gotten myself some ed-u-ma-cation reading Addy's how to bog thread. Briefly, I'm changing the outflow from the tub to the bog to pipes instead of free fall drips.
![pumpfilter.jpg](/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2F-sq0iyyuX19g%2FUBmo9LubTbI%2FAAAAAAAADAc%2FYjiRwCsihDA%2Fs640%2Fpumpfilter.jpg&hash=55c7080fa92b8dc5757143f42b75ecc0)
Over on GW, waterbug's comment was to keep the bog and loose the pump tub. My goal for the pump box is to make the mechanical cleaning part of the job easily doable by anybody regardless of their physical abilities or lack thereof. A skimmer would be nice, but it's not in the budget. Fortunately, with the laurel oak on its way out the leaf drop is not very bad.
This is what the pond area looked like the day before I took my mini vacation at the local hospital.
The concrete block was salvaged from around the garden and right now is just eye-balled leveled. The next step in construction is to get the block border leveled and more sand dug out from the inside. The bog will be the area from the edge of the concrete block to the preform. It will be built using scrap pieces of EPDM I have. And a boat load of EPDM patch tape and PL Roofing Flashing Sealer.
Here is a rough sketch of the planting plan. As well I have a bunch of mondo grass and society garlic that will help to fill in and soften the edges of the preform.
![CCI08012012_0001.jpg](/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2F-gODDDWrETD0%2FUBmuNnIDegI%2FAAAAAAAADA4%2F4iOCCBNbmcw%2Fs640%2FCCI08012012_0001.jpg&hash=9c109687885690bc6f7a298189de03fd)
Oh, and I have got a black milk crate that I am cutting the ends of and covering with EPDM to cover the float valve. To sit on top of the float valve cover, I'm crafting a fairy toad house garden patch, complete with toad house, palm tree water station, gazing pond, pink flamingo, shell path and rubber boots. Because after all, fairies wear boots.
This is the plant list I've come up with.
Bacopa caroliniana
Blue bacopa, Lemon bacopa
- host plant
- native
Canna flaccida- host plant
- native
Florida Yellow Canna Lily, Golden Canna
- host plant
- native
Colocasia esculenta 'Fontanesii'- host plant
- native
Black Stem Taro, Black Stem Elephant Ear
- growing 4 - 8’ tall provides perches for dragonflies
Hibiscus coccineus or Hibiscus grandiflorus- growing 4 - 8’ tall provides perches for dragonflies
Swamp Hibiscus, Scarlet rose mallow
- host plant
- native
Juncus- host plant
- native
Corkscrew Rush
- native
Iris hexagona- native
Louisiana Black Iris
Iris virginicaBlue Flag Iris
Liatris spicataBlazing star
- nectar plant
- native
Lobelia cardinalis- native
Cardinal Flower
- nectar plant
- native
Lythrum alatum- nectar plant
- native
Loosestrife
- native
Ophiopogon japonicus- native
Mondo Grass (Green & Variegated)
Pontederia cordataBlue Pickerel
- native
Tulbaghia violacea- native
Society Garlic
I've gotten starts and divisions from other gardeners, and ordered some seeds. Have a mini aqua nursery going out in the back of my veggie patch, hoping to get a head start on growth.
Hmm, well ... that is about it for now I think. Did I mention I'm practically a beginner? So fire away with any suggestions, comments, critiques and what have yous.