Thank you all for my first pond

[SarahT]

Your pond is fabulous, your documentation is fun to read, and will be helpful for the next pond builder.

 

[GBBUDD]

The tuckered out will pass, the money shock will pass, then will come the ok we can put a little more into our oasis . I'd suggest keeping an eye out on the local stone yards. In our area you can find sand stone lime stone or even conglomerate with shapes that the rocks are longer and thinner like a said three man rocks im sure your machine can handle that but i am the bigger and bigger is better guy when it comes to ponds and rocks

 

[GBBUDD]

Your pond is fabulous, your documentation is fun to read, and will be helpful for the next pond builder.

@SarahT it would be nice if you did a little something on a favorite are a of your pond too

 

[Pablo]

Your pond is fabulous, your documentation is fun to read, and will be helpful for the next pond builder.

Thanks! and saw your comment on the plant thread, hope things get better for you soon.

 

[SarahT]

Thanks! and saw your comment on the plant thread, hope things get better for you soon.

Very kind of you. I'm caregiving for a family member and he has needed more help in the past few months, 4 to 7 hours a day. But we feel lucky, as Hurricane Idalia didn't cause us any damage.

 

[SarahT]

@SarahT it would be nice if you did a little something on a favorite are a of your pond too

Time, time, time ... thanks for the encouragement.

 

[YShahar]

Good to know, thanks.

Funny side note, wife did take buckets of water out of the pond this morning, the water level was stressing her out with more rain to come.

The usual fix is to determine where you want the pond to overflow, dig a little drainage channel, or even a small stream leading into the garden from the pond. You can line the stream or channel with some liner off-cuts if you need to transport the water any distance. Otherwise, you just add gravel so the water can flow down and gradually sink into the soil (French drain). The main thing is to be able to control where water exits the pond when it gets over-full, so that it doesn't make a muddy mess.

In my pond, the overflow is right by the steps going down into the pond, and it will eventually flow down about two meters down into a planting bed. At the moment, it's just a low spot with a bit of liner off-cut tucked under the pond liner.

 

[Lisak1]

I love how you say "my first pond" - haha! It's addicting! If we had more room, I'd have more pond. As it is we have the big pond, the patio pond, the pondless waterfall, and the stacked slate sphere feature... water at every turn!

And I know the feeling of relief when you first turn the pond on and everything. Just. Works. Water level was a big stressor for us with a negative edge. I have a picture of my husband and two of my boys sitting in patio chairs just staring at the pond outlet, calculating in their heads - height, width, level, water flow. Setting that rock was a day's worth of brain work. When we finally filled the pond and the water level was perfect - what a great feeling! It seems silly now, but that's because we got it right the first time!

 

[addy1]

I have one edge lower, stacked with rocks (keep fish in) but now realize they wouldn't leave. It is a small area, low enough to let hard rains flow out and down our hill. I do gutter feed my ponds, hard rains = a lot of water flowing into the ponds.

I love how you say "my first pond" - haha! It's addicting! If we had more room, I'd have more pond. As it is we have the big pond, the patio pond, the pondless waterfall, and the stacked slate sphere feature... water at every turn!

I have around 11 ponds now, from large to small. And a patio stock tank pond. Started with one lol.

 

[GBBUDD]

Time, time, time ... thanks for the encouragement.

I saw you have some Personal matters to deal with don't worry about any requests of mine .

 

[Pablo]

I love how you say "my first pond" - haha! It's addicting! If we had more room, I'd have more pond. As it is we have the big pond, the patio pond, the pondless waterfall, and the stacked slate sphere feature... water at every turn!

And I know the feeling of relief when you first turn the pond on and everything. Just. Works. Water level was a big stressor for us with a negative edge. I have a picture of my husband and two of my boys sitting in patio chairs just staring at the pond outlet, calculating in their heads - height, width, level, water flow. Setting that rock was a day's worth of brain work. When we finally filled the pond and the water level was perfect - what a great feeling! It seems silly now, but that's because we got it right the first time!

Thank you! It was a huge relief, you never know if you really screwed something up until you turn it on. Negative edges are beautiful. I briefly thought of one but remembered that I went to law school so I would not have to do math

I do have a funny story related specifically to you Lisa. Back in July my wife took our daughters to a mini-golf place down on the Cape. She texted me a picture of them feeding koi in a small pond at this place, there were dozens of koi. Most people would be "oh that is so cute" but my first thought when I saw it was "Oh Lisa would not be happy with that many koi"

 

[Pablo]

Thank you @addy1 and @YShahar for those ideas, I should be able incorporate something like that. Some of this is just new pond anxiety and the unusual situation of having so much rain right after turning it on, and a lot more rain to come this afternoon and possibly this weekend. It really just flowed to the back and into the woods. The pond is not near anything like a patio or building that the excess water would cause an issue. Just add one more thing to the "to do" list.

 

[SarahT]

I saw you have some Personal matters to deal with don't worry about any requests of mine .

Ha, what? ME, worry? It's been a crazy few years Down Here in the Heat&Humidity.
I have wanted to share some views. I even have a sequel planned whose working title is, "Coming Soon, The End of Algae". You can guess what the first is? "Ha! Even my bog can't keep up with the Florida sun" (thus the second bog in the planning stages.)

 

[Pablo]

Ha, what? ME, worry? It's been a crazy few years Down Here in the Heat&Humidity.
I have wanted to share some views. I even have a sequel planned whose working title is, "Coming Soon, The End of Algae". You can guess what the first is? "Ha! Even my bog can't keep up with the Florida sun" (thus the second bog in the planning stages.)

Lol, just one more thing to add to your plate. I am glad I have quite a bit of shade so algae will be somewhat controlled with that along with the bog (at least that is the hope, lol)

 

[j.w]

Gosh I feel sorry for all you folks who really get dumped on a lot w/the rain. Fortunately us here in the PNW only get rain most of the time that is the showery stuff so not much overflow in the pond. Once in awhile we get a good dumping but the rain just squeezes out through the lowest spots between rocks or plants etc.
I do have the rocks that everyone hates so much around a pond but as they have been there for so long now plants have pretty much covered them all up. I built the pond almost 20 yrs ago before I knew much about it all. Also have the volcano waterfall,lol! Not building another one the way I should have at this point............uh, uh, no way, will just enjoy it the way it is now