Wisconsin Pond Build

[sissy]

you said hobby I thought maybe 3 or 4 at the most but I can see you are getting set up for quite a few .

 

[herzausstahl]

lol Sissy, in the beginning my kill rate was a 100% due to the misinformation I got so I would pick up more as I went along to experiment and see what I could get to stay alive. That was the best thing I found in one of those articles on the sites I posted, the guy said you are probably going to kill your first tree, but you will learn from it. Plus one had rules for how many changes/styling he could make to a tree at a time and hasn't lost one when he sticks to it, and I have seen that ring true as I've gotten further along in the hobby. I lost one this summer because I did a lot of heavy pruning last summer/fall and instead of repotting in spring I did it in late June/early July thinking it would hold, but it didn't. Just got over ambitious, so now I take it slow. I think I picked up more as I realized it was a hobby that required patience, so this way I have more trees that can all be in various stages of styling to keep me busy with at least one to work on all the time. Plus, just like ponding, it gets addicting.

 

[herzausstahl]

Speaking of plants I did recently collect some plants from the area and will see how they handle being in the water. Along the hiking trails I go to frequently there is a section that has literally hundreds of horsetail growing in it, and I had planned on collecting some here sometime, but then I found some in a different location I wasn't expecting. On of the areas I go hiking in is a valley and has trails running throughout the whole thing. One I like starts at a park on the side of the valley runs through the bottom and then back along the upper side back to the park. There are offshoots of this that go back down partially into the valley through a lot of cedar trees. Like these here:



As I took the path back up the side of the valley I ran into a little ravine in the side that the trail went through. The wall sides were covered in moss and had patches of horsetail growing in them. Was really cool to see, and I only picked a few bunches and left most of it there. I covered the roots with moss, wrapped them in my shirt, added a little water to keep it moist, and placed it in the pouch of my hiking back pack (luckily my daughter was patient during the process ).



And here's some fall color for everyone, its been in the 70s here for the last several days.



Here is the horsetail in the pond. I placed it next to the deck on a shelf and buried the roots among the rocks and covered them with small river rock and pea gravel. So I will see what happens.



Then not to be done, I dug some Cattails out of the ditch near my parents house.



Then I dug all the dirt away from the tubers/roots and ended up with these:



Then I placed them around the pond and anchored them in place again like the Horsetail with mostly pea gravel and some small river rock.



So far it turned out nice, I am guessing that next spring I will want to cut away the dieing/dead leaves, but I wanted to leave them in place so I knew where I put them and until the tubers roots got lodged into place more before I dislodged them trying to cut out the roots. I don't plan on adding a lot more plants to the shelves of the pond, but I do plan to get some more lily's in the bottom so that I get a healthy dose of pads on the top and to add some shade for the fish. Plus I will add some Hornwort in the spring and Anacharis if I can find it.

 

[sissy]

yeh I like the second pic of the tree with the roots all exposed looks like a work of art .I go up to fairy stone park here and pick up fairy stones and I have even brought a couple of tree trucks hollowed out with the roots still attached and I picked up 100's of fairy stones .They look like crosses and I buff and polish them .You can google fairy stones and see more about them .The park is about 35 minutes from my house and I like to go up to the natural bridge .Now that my son bought me a digital camera it is easier to take a pic .Your daughter is as cute as a button .I have a lot of different moss on my property here .I have been to a lot of places here that are not considered sights to see and sorry for people who miss these things and only go to advertised places .Galax and Hillsville and Stuart are great places to visit and now that I bought the place in Pittsville VA I found there are great places there to visit .My favorite right now is Frying Pan Creek and the name suits it well .

 

[herzausstahl]

Sissy,
I checked fairy stones out, they look really cool. Do you work the stones into your landscape? Digital camera's are awesome! lol A lot easier to store and share, plus you can take multiple pictures and just keep the ones you like. Thank you, my daughter is adorable when she isn't being sassy. I usually like to find the places that not everyone knows about, they are less crowded and usually seem more natural because they haven't been disturbed as much.

 

[sissy]

fairy stones are small and most are only a half inch big ,I do have 3 that are more than an inch .But takes some looking and luck to find them .I will take some pics and post them ,bet your daughter would love looking at them .Hey just wait kids get bigger .The new cameras are great as when you take the pic and you can see it then and dispose of it and take a new one ,no guessing .I had plans to go out today but raining and we need the rain bad .I got all my pressure treated would for a fence and planter I am going to build and it's the new kind of pressure treated wood and safe.I had unloaded half already.It's pretty neat .I took down the cover for my pond now at least some of it ,need to start working on it again

 

[herzausstahl]

I did notice that about the stones in the picture, but wasn't sure if you could work something out with a bunch of them in a display. lol my daughter did turn into a rock collector when I was getting them from a nearby house that was being built, she loved finding ones that she could carry and always wanted to help. and don't worry, she's at the age where she wants to help and she has no fear which means I always have to keep an eye on her, especially when I'm near the pond. She is good and stays on the deck, but the second I get near the water or walk across the rocks past the waterfall to the other side, she thinks she can do it too. but that's also why she's never outside alone. the wood looks like what I used for my deck and fence for my yard, do the little stickers say AC2 on them? where are you planning on putting the fence?

 

[sissy]

down near a ditch by my front yard to keep the lawn mower from sliding into the ditch .The ditch is for a large pipe that runs under my front yard to god knows where and the ditch if the lawn mower was to slide into it is almost 4 feet down .I had them at the lumber yard treat the bottom of the post with some kind of stuff that is supposed to keep them from rotting .They soak them in the stuff up to 2 feet .Thats why I had to wait to pick them up ,they soak them for 2 weeks .They warn you to try not to get it on your skin but said that it really is not as harmful as the other stuff they used to use .I will cut part of the top off as they are 8 ft long and I don't want the fence to be over 4 feet high .The posts are going to be 5 feet apart and boards on both sides ,bolted and screwed into the 4x4's .This way I know if I slide into it it will hold .I'm planning on 3 boards on each side of the fence and the fence in total will be about 20 feet or more long .That I have to see about when I get the posts in .

 

[herzausstahl]

Having just done a fence this summer (and digging 48 or so odd holes with an auger) I might be able to offer some advice. If you have a "reel" tape measure it helps when marking out where your posts will go. I got treated outdoor lumber for mine, but having them treat yours sounds even better, but I had so many and got it from a hardware store I wasn't going to do the extra treatment, plus all of mine are concreted into place. For the lumber did you get 10' 2x6's? It would help your spacing if you did, then you could line them up on the center of the posts. If you got the 8'ers it might be easier to go 4' apart and add another post. That way the middle of each board is solid on one post for strength. If you have 2x6's it sounds like it should hold especially since you want it to act as a guard rail anyway. How deep are you planning on going with the posts and were you planning on cementing them in place? The bolts are a good idea for support also. And if you are hand digging the holes, a 4' pry bar comes in very handy if you have rocky soil. Sounds like a nice weekend project!

 

[sissy]

I am cementing them too and the boards are deck boards 6 feet long and to the sides I am adding a 2x4 of each 4x4 as I found from the first fence I built it keeps them from warping. So each 4x4 will have that set up and and they will be space 5 feet apart and have a board going down to cover the seam of where the 2 deck boards meet on the 4x4 .It is and open farm fence style they use here to build fences .I have 2- 100 ft tape measure reals and the marking paint .I never understood the meaning of this pipe under my property and even the county has no clue where it goes as it must have been what the developer was required to put in and I called Brian who was the developer and he has no clue either and can't remember why it was put in or where it goes too .He came out to look at it but he is still not sure .Since my property is up on a hill way above this pipe ,I can't understand it my self .I have never seen a drop of water come out of it ,but the county will not let me cover it ,or I would have put a couple of ton of stone there to fill the area .I did my whole hill with stone so why not this thing .Since I own 3 acres on the hill he said he would never try to dig it up as that would unstabilize my property and they can't find it with a metal detector

 

[herzausstahl]

Ok that makes sense. Sounds like it will be a nice fix. That makes almost no sense what the pipe is for, especially if the developer doesn't know/remember. I don't think rock would have been bad, it could still drain, but I'm not surprised the county said no, usually the same around here from something like that. I wouldn't dig it up either, I would think that would get costly anyway just to figure out where it goes, but I guess it would answer your question! lol At least now you will have something in place so you don't have to worry about falling in it on the lawnmower.

 

[sissy]

I wish I could have came up with a better and cheaper answer for this problem ,because since moving in here I have been using the trimmer to cut the grass down in this area and that is not easy or fun .I was going to do a retaining wal ,but that is costly and then the county would not allow it all the way out there .Retaining walls have to be in 4 ft and a fence does not .I extended my drain under my driveway by 44 ft and put rock there

 

[sissy]

this is a pic of the pipe and hill and across from that pipe is a pipe that goes under the road to drain from the ditch pipe under my driveway maybe it makes sense to you as I'm confused by it .This pic was taken before I added even more rock and still plan on rocking all the way to the telephone pole

 

[j.w]

Hey sissy maybe that pipe was laying up top of your property at one time before it got developed and just rolled down the hill and got covered by dirt? Have you ever stuck a jabbing steel pole along the top to see how far it goes? Wouldn't that be funny if that's all it was?

 

[sissy]

yeh I tried a 20 foot pipe in there and taped a small led flashlight to the end of it and saw only pipe .I thought since my ditch pipes were 20 feet long thats what this would be .but called a supplier of the metal ditch pipes and they told me they come a 100 ft long so that killed that idea .could stiil be pipe they left there