pond in progress started 4/21/10

[michey1st]

Good thing you figured it out! I've been wrestling with a tiny bit of water loss myself -- it can be soooooooo frustrating! :banghead3:

All's I can say is, this weather has been really, really wierd. 80+ degrees in October, a solid week of rainfall, now it's almost 80 again. I hope this does not bode ill for the winter... do you think you'll get the new pond in this season?

 

[addy1]

Luckily I have certain "failure" points. Any time I have lost water in the big pond, I check them first. Well not luckily, but at least I know where to look.

1) the bog wall, roots, will build up, create a dam, direct the water out of the bog. That has only occurred once.
2) the stream, plants will root into the stream bed, re-direct the water flow. Or a critter walks the stream, moves rocks, causes a blockage. If I can not find a leak at the other failure points I walk the stream while it is running.
3) the new shubbie tank water fall, after the rain the dirt settled, one edge of the liner under the rocks dropped by 1/4 inch or less = water leak. Darn hard to spot but I know where to look.
4) the preforms, usually that is the failure, the one large one has smacked me 3 times now....it is gone

I have the pond set up where I can turn off the shubbie tank, the preforms, the stream without affecting the big pond. Makes it easy to track down water issues.

Hoping to fix it before "winter" spring is such a busy time. I am setting up two bee hives in the spring, so will be learning bee keeping, also weeds, lilies, veg garden on and on lol

We are sitting around 70 out here, slightly cooler than dc. Honey might go back to work tomorrow, waiting to see what our brilliant politicians do.

 

[j.w]

Glad you can just take it out and use a liner. Will give you less headaches in the long run. Maybe you can use it somewhere by itself so it can't mess your pond.

 

[koshki]

Addy, I took most of the day to read through your fabulous thread. It is so nice of you to share your adventure with us. My hubby has been talking lately about buying some property up north from here, and what I've seen so far has had at least some areas of a substantial grade. You have given me lots of ideas, and that has made me warm up to his plans.

Of course, I could not manage the grade in your yard in my wheelchair, but watching how your downhill stream went through so many switchbacks made me go, "hmmmmmmm."

I love the wild look of your yard, but I have one burning question...how much time do you spend deadheading? Because I haven't seen a single past due bloom!

I showed a few photos to my hubby. He really liked the idea of the bog. This is a new subject to me...will have to do more research.

Thanks again for a great read! Oh, and I would love to see some winter photos!

 

[addy1]

Our slope is around 25% if not more, it is darn difficult to walk, when mowing I slid off it all of the time. With switchback paths you could manage it. I would walk rocks up the hill, two steps up one step back to get stabilized for the next step.
I used to hike the grand canyon, the path without switch backs you could get down to the bottom fast, but climbing out you always walked the switchback path, a whole lot easier to go up that sort of gentle slope, took a lot longer, many more steps but easier.

Now deadheading, hummmmmmmmmmmmmmm. have not done it yet. I am going to be better at it, now that we are getting bee hives. Keep those blooms going. It seems the plants keep blooming all summer without working to much on them. Deadheading will get a lot more blooms. I treat the yard like the pond, work on it off and on, but it does not run my life. Now that I have found out I react to black eyed susans i.e. horribly, I need to be careful what my arms touch. Horrible dermatitis.

I love my bog, it keeps the pond in great shape with minimal work from me, that was my whole plan. I could ignore it all summer and the pond would do fine.

Digging a pond on the slope takes some work. The down slope side of the bog has a 8 or so foot berm, the upslope side of the pond needed to be dug down 3-4 feet to keep the down slope berm manageable. Get a laser level, sure helps. The stream was a pita to dig on the slope. I can walk the stream easy, if you head up the slope straight up, it is still hard to walk. Everything was a pita to dig on a slope, but sure did learn as I went. All of my other ponds on flat land. I figured out, after done, dig a flat entry for the tractor, makes it easier to work the slope.

I will post some winter stuff later.

 

[addy1]

Love love love my bog, the water is so darn clear, still need to groom for winter. thisis the five food deep area, the furtherest you can see is around 20 feet. 27 this am, a little ice film on the small non running ponds.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Just beautiful Addy! Your fish are moving very slow, so your water must be very cold now I see. There underwater home is truly a paradise of beautiful colored fins and shiny crystal clear water!

Can you keep the camera going under the ice too?

Get those arms better soon too!

 

[addy1]

The water is 43 today, dropped 20 degrees in the last 4 days. They are doing the slow cruise.

The camera is fine under the ice, if it got froze up in ice that might cause a problem.

My arms are not swollen or red anymore, but they itch all of the time. One of these days alllllll better lol.

 

[koshki]

Wow, that video is just wonderful!

Did you plan for your underwater camera, or did that come later? Can you watch it remotely?

 

[addy1]

We installed a dvr system to mainly watch wild life, I was offered two underwater cameras at a cheap price that worked well with the system. So we watch the deer, fox, herons, fish. Very few people lol

We can watch it via a tv screen above our real tv. I can also check on the pond via the phone or computer via internet. Makes it real easy to check on the pond when not at home. And love having a no care fish pond in the living room

 

[addy1]

koski, my original underwater camera had to be replaced, rock fell on the lens, camera still works just can't be under water. This is a new one, dome security camera that is also underwater safe. Just installed a month ago or so. All of my cameras are hard wired, we had installed pvc piping for various things when digging the pond. They have come in handy. Water, electric, cameras.

 

[koshki]

Such great ideas! I keep adding to my list for the future.

 

[j.w]

Nice relaxing video addy and yes your water sparkles it's so clear!

 

[sissy]

addy I had no choice but to have all the poison ivy and stuffed sprayed as you can inhale it and get poison ivy and stuff inside you .I had it twice and it was no fun .Throat was swollen and stomach was affected by it .I still have problems to this day from it .It happened the first year we moved here and the second year we were here also and then had a pro come in and spray it all and he used some type of oil that was not dangerous to humans or pets and he showed me all the info on it .It was not cheap but well worth it and been free of it since .He did say it should be done every 3 to 5 years.

 

[addy1]

Do you know the name Sissy? of the oil, the entire perimeter of our yard had poison ivy, I stay away from it. Never knew I was allergic to the darn state flower. So now when I cut down flowers I need to keep my arms totally covered up, then wash in cold water to remove the hairs from the plants on them.