Gardens,ponds and stuff

And more.....

It gets better !!.....honest 

Wait...it gets better.....promise !!

Aye ...theres more.... 

Hi Guys ,for some reason I;m accidentally posting some of these twice and gettin them out of order too..... but hope you're gettin the picture just the same ??? ...lol  nearly there !!

Finally.... the builder...at the beginning and at the end...lol

Wow! Beautiful Job. Thank you for the update. You have been busy.

Hi Joe,glad you like it..... and heres the back garden ...just started demoloishing the other day,old pond ablaze with old fencing....complete rehash on  the cards ,this time with trains.... 

Looks great. Nice to see other "pond" folks. Now you just need some lilies, plants, fish, etc! I've got two on my property, one in the front yard (below) and one in the back, soon to be demolished and have a bush planted in it. 

 Old photo of the front yard pond, the sidewalk is a bridge going to the front door over the pond. That bridge is also slated for reconstruction as it is crumbling and not very stable. A few things have changed since this was taken about 3 years ago. 

I'm also very lucky that my employer has 7 show quality koi ponds on it's 104 acre campus...they are all just STUNNING...beauitful lilies, koi, etc. 

Golly Davy, what a transformation. You must be dog tired.

Well done mate.

Davy, I am glad I awoke you from the cobwebs with a forum message! Looks great please stop by Seacoast New Hampshire, USA! if you do I will buy you a Lobster dinner.I could use your muscle for my home landscaping projects! 

I used to have a Koi pond with a liner. once done in your front yard are you going to build a G scale or O scale back yard railway? Sorry your Scotland succession did not pass this time.

George

Hi Guys,  SJC, the fish and lilies are now in,....mind you..... I put 7 goldfish in,4 gold,and 3 black characters,apparently the black ones are bred in Israel and unlike most goldfish which are born browny black these ones apparently stay black their whole life,well,they lasted two days , I noticed they weren't very "street wise". Normally new fish in a strange enviornment will "duck for cover" if they hear or see anything potentially threatening...not these,just swam about willy nilly....well, I reckon a Heron had them for his breakfast the other day for I got up early AM to find them gone and one of the gold-goldfish breathing its last...so there are 3 "streetwise" goldfish left. The Herons in this area ain't shy, they'll visit the tiniest ponds in the middle of urban areas,usually early in the morning, its a brave guy who will keep expensive Koi around here. I know of guys who have lost literally thousands of pounds worth of fancy fish in one night. Old Herons wiping out their whole stock..  CHRIS...dog tired....no half dead more like...lol.... GEORGE... I'll come and eat your Lobster no problem,but i think by the time I finish this re-hash of my back garden my heavy-duty landscapin days will be over...., not as young as I used to be and the old body is beginning to feel its age, my brain is stuck at 20 years old ,unfortunately my body isn't !! ...hate this gettin old !! And yes ,this new back garden project includes re-building the O gauge railway. Only part of the old intended layout will remain.namely the turntable and the run up the left hand side of the garden but  even those areas will of necessity have a changed track plan. Anyway guys I'll post a new progress thread, right now its mainly demolition work thats in progress though,will be a while before I get to laying track as theres a lot of preparation work and landscaping to be done first. Oh well,sun's out so sittin here online isn't gettin anything done....watch this space !!  Davy 

Davy,

I had the same problem with my pond. Fish were disappearing, until I realized a Blue Heron was taking them. Wound up building a mesh cover and that stopped it.

If you put a fake heron statue near the pond the live heron are lone feeders and will not come around. You could also put a fake alligator in the pond and it will do the same.

Stephen

That's a lot of work but the end results are fantastic.

Davy Mac,

Good luck with your water feature.  I have had one for close to 15 years and have never lost a fish to a Great Blue Heron,lucky I guess.

I attribute that to a couple of reasons:  a cast gator and an owl.  Besides that,it is difficult for them to glide in here due trees.  The Great Horned Owl came from a garden catalog.  It is very realistic with a bobble head.  You might try one.

As you probably know,ponds are labor intensive.

Some day I may put in a garden railway.

Norm

Cheers guys,...might stick my wife out there on guard duty....she'd frighten anybody when she growls....lol  

I also have not had any heron loss. My neighbor's cat however has been known to "drop by" to visit occasionally but I'm not aware of him actually getting anything.  The majority of my fish are older and very large. Unfortunately, I lost my last Shubunkin that I had for many, many years and was very large. Just lost him recently. Didn't see him floating and he isn't in the pond. Maybe the cat finally won!?!

I would rather disagree that ponds are labor and maintenance intensive. I do a big spring clean out. That is a lot of work but I enjoy doing it and the neighbors always come by to see the progress - draining, washing, etc. I just add some Algaefix occasionally and some food and occasional removal of leaves or dead plant matter and put the leaf nets on in the fall. Very little work. I've had them for 11 years. Only issue at present, not too bad but I'm watching it, is the seam in the liner coming apart at the edges. Thankfully it is a small section and I think it could be repaired.  Always watch your screws holding your liner to your waterfall/skimmer box. Had those rust and started leaking. Couldn't find the leak at all until my landscaper who put it in said check the screws - he was 100% right. The pond in the backyard is concrete and will be jackhammered shortly. No need to have it as it hasn't been really "running" for a few years, just sitting there.

I'd like to get a G gauge loop going outdoors with battery or live steam but that remains in the "dream" folder...!

Not to argue on the time to maintain my pond,but here is what I do weekly.  I have over 1000 gallons in my system with 2 waterfalls,a lava rock filtration and a skimmer with a filter.  The water quality is excellent for my 8 fish.  I have about 12 plants.  On a weekly basis I clean my netting,manually wash my filter and clean out my skimmer box of any debris that my clog my pump.  I have a pump that does  275-300 gph at about 10 feet.

What deters me from running a garden railway around and over my feature is that I have to get up on my hill a clear it of leaves and twigs that blow in or fall from the surrounding woods.  I do this on an as needed basis.  Fortunately I have an excellent water make-up valve that is worry free.  I have managed to create a unique little ecosystem here that supports my fish,salamanders,toads,frogs,and snakes.  I had to eliminate an aggressive water snake last year that put a serious hurt on my amphibians (and garter snakes).  I am very  comitted about maintaining an extremely high quality of water in my pond.

I am planning on a small expansion of my pond here as the weather permits,around 300 gallons. 

I would like to do the garden railroad but am unsure as to how I can proceed.  Perhaps I will look for a consultant to help me.

Norm

Norm,

Not looking to argue anything. Sorry I may have come across as that.

Would love to see your set up...sounds just beautiful! Maintenance certainly isn't something to be ignored and I bet that if you ask 1000 people how to maintain their pond, you'd get 1000 different answers! Whatever works for you.

Hi Guys,well to be very honest, I hardly ever touched my old front garden pond. Only ripped out some of the oxygenating plants now and again when they started to take over....other than that ...never touched it. Just left it to nature and it was always  absolutely crystal clear. This new pond has greened up a bit but thats normal after filling with tap water ,I will just leave it and let the plants do their thing. I am feeding the fish for now but I'll eventually leave them to it once the pond is established. I never ever fed my fish and they did just fine on what occurred naturally. leaf fall isn't a problem in my location. so I'm lucky in that respect. 

Ponds and trains, a great combination in anyone's book.  We have a nice pond in our

front yard since 2008.  I built a bridge over it in 2009 in the most narrow part (16 ft)at the request of my wife.  Willows we planted and the fruit trees provide shade for us and the Koi in the hot Oklahoma summers, the Grass Carp and Comets are good with helping to maintain the pond water.  Got rid of the native water snakes this past month due to their appetite was getting too large.  When they ate a couple baby ducks and some eggs, had to go !  Now, just to work out the outdoor track plan and build some bridges for the train over the pond...............  Three aerators and a water well flowing over two stone waterfalls I built keep the water fresh and oxygenated during summers

here. 

Better idea of what pond looks like this year.....

Thats a pond Texas!!.... looks great..... . Did you have to use pond liner/concrete? or did the ground retain the water naturally ??  Clay subsoil ?? Snakes....no thanks.... freak me out... in Scotland we only have grass snakes and adders,however not around this area...and I'm quite happy with that scenario... I did however transfer about 40 newts and some frogs to the new front garden pond from the old pond in the back garden. I'll be building a new pond in the back garden at some point in the coming months....

Dave,  We actually had water begin to flow in while digging it in 2008.  The soil is clay interlayered with shelves of hard shale.  Main problem with retaining water is with seepage between the clay and shale layers.  However, it can also supply water with wetter weather patterns as we lie downhill on the watershed and have the creek lower elevation in back of our property.  No, no liner, and no bentonite mixed into the soil for sealing it, as is local standard.  Just had to wait for the pond sides to seal naturally over a period of approx. 4 years.  Not the quickest way, but allows for a nice exchange of water with fresh water filling in from well.  Besides, the water is simply going into the ground and down to the creek.  Did consider pumping water uphill from creek to the pond, but head pressure is over 30 ft and chance of contamination from farm acreage runoff.