Last weekend was another lovely one, and it was spent in the garden. Our pond had sprung a leak and had sat half full all winter. The fish had been moved to a tank in the conservatory as they were freezing in the ice over the winter and we didn't want to loose anymore. ( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden ) (Before we started) So, Mark and I emptied the pond and started looking for holes. The water was pretty manky as the willow would shed all of its leaves into the water, and unless we were quick getting them out, the water would turn stagnant. Since the pond had a leak, and because we knew we were having the willow pollarded, we didn't give it a great deal of attention over the winter. We did find 8 frogs whilst emptying the pond, and they were put in a bucket and chucked back in when the pond was refilled. ( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden ) We found several holes...typical! The first was very annoying as a root from the dreaded 'snowberry' had pushed through the butyl liner. I thought that was the whole idea of using butyl...tough as old boots. So, repair one. The next repair was 2 holes, one more of a slash, the second and hole. We could work those out as during the winter, the snow had pushed some sharp slate into the pond where our old waterfall was and this had obviously slid down the wall of the pond, slicing as it went. The third 2 holes were puzzling, but we think we have solved the mystery. Perfect triangular stab marks. Well, I know we have the heron visit our garden from time to time. In fact, he cleared us out one afternoon, so Mark decided that these 2 stabs were heron beak stabs. Maybe yes, maybe no, but at least they were found and patched. ( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden ) (Hopefully you can see the repair here. Mark used a butyl patch and fish friendly, quick drying silicon sealer.) Now a touch of relandscaping. A work colleague of Mark had given him a plastic waterfall. Not ideal, they never look natural, but practical and I am going to plant heavily around it, and get a few boggy creepy things to put in it, so hopefully, in 6 months time it will look more at home. It slotted in nicely at the side of the pond and the filter and wiring was all sorted so I could get on with the pretty things. The plants all went back in - several iris, a reed, 2 waterlillies, and hardy lobeilia and marsh marigold. Then a few plants that I had knocking around plugged a few gaps. At the moment, it looks a little stark and fresh, but it will soon settle down. The fish were put back 24 hours later and when I checked on them at dusk tonight, they were swimming around happily. ( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden ) I shall take more photos as the seasons wear on and hopefully you will see improvements over time.
I do have a little table and chairs that sits by the pond. It is a lovely place to perch at dusk, watch the dragonflies, newts, frogs and fish and listen to the birds all chattering. I do love my garden.
I'm glad you found all the leaks EJ and Mark managed to mend them. We built a retaining wall once we'd dug out our pond to stop tree roots from piercing our Butyl liner. So far, it seems to be working. Your pond is looking great and the waterfall will soon blend in once the planting is all established.
Chapeau! You guys did some very difficult work there on that pond liner. It must have been a nightmare. Maybe you should buy one of those blue heron decoys. The ones here that are so common really look lifelike...and they seem to work. You will need to find some way of insuring that the birds stay out of the pond area, otherwise you may have to do all that work again in a year or two. Well I feel compelled to compliment you again for your finished product. That pond looks very nice with all the plants and everything. Great job, you two.
Your pond looks lovely, EJ. Well done with finding and fixing leaks and congratulations on your waterfall. Now for the "enjoy" bit.
EJ -- love seeing your pond but really love seeing your garden in your past few posts. It looks like it has lots of different areas of things to explore and enjoy. I have to compliment your fence -- did you guys construct it? I'm in the process of deciding how to replace my old wood fence and thinking about a horizontal board design. It looks like yours has footers of some sort? It looks great.
You two sure had your job cut out for you but you did a great job.I love the waterfall and the pond.It looks great now and in a while it will all blend and look gorgeous.
Your pond is very pretty. I had startd with a waterfall feature like the one in your pictures. But I could not figure it out so I never put it on the pond. Your pond is amazing!!!
What a lot of hard work it is emptying and cleaning out a pond (I am dreading my summer's work of doing mine). Yours looks so lovely with the plantings and all. How wonderful you have frogs as well. Love their croaking/peeping. Very well done!
