Thursday, 7 February 2019
Predicted snow did not arrive and so we were able to continue on with the bigger pond. A small land bridge divides the two ponds for several reasons. It will allow me to get to the boat for boat gardening. It lets us avoid a weird L shaped liner fold. And it isolates problems so a leak would be easier to find and fix.
The back garden still had considerable snow.
I raked all around our new work area to remove packed ice.
Those hoses from yesterday were lightly frozen into the smaller pond. When I tossed little smooth rocks on top (to go to the bottom and hide the liner), they just sat.
Allan’s photo:
The second pond had more little rocks to remove (the results of having been a scree garden). Allan deepened the bottom a bit and we sculpted the edges.
Allan’s photos:
Allan is able to hop in and out of the pond more easily than I could.
We siphoned water out of our faucetless rain barrels, bucketed out of others, used every bucket of water we’d had sitting around and every green jug Allan had filled up last week…
…and we still had to use metered water to fill up the last few inches. I could not wait for more rain to see how it looked full.
While the pond filled, I found some marginal pond plants reseeded into the patio (from the water boxes) and potted them up in plain bagged soil, not potting soil, put little rocks on top, and placed the plants at the back of the small pond. I had hidden the liner there with some driftwood
There was a sudden crisis when I realized that we had not used the board and level method of making sure the sides were even. The west edge was deliberately higher, but the land bridge was too low for the pond to fill high enough to cover up my pond planters. Fortunately, I had saved a wheelbarrow of the brown sand for just such an emergency. Much rushing about, squabbling, and swearing (mine) ensued but we averted catastrophe and got the land bridge built up and tamped down so that the pond could fill by dark.
I even had time to add just a few rocks.
Snow is again predicted for tomorrow. I hope to have time to work on hiding the liner. We ended up with enough leftover liner and underlayment to make me question our measuring skills. If the extra liner does not have enough of a wide part to make another mini pond or stream, I can use it to make a bog garden. Allan measured it and put it tidily into boxes.
Frosty (age 14) had wanted nothing to do with this icy and challenging project.
It’s looking great, and the boat looks like it’s on water in the photo of the larger pond. You guys are tough working in the cold. (I know firsthand how frustrating cold wet weather can be for an outdoor project. Am trying to paint, stain & tung-oil windows of an unheated potting shed. It’s slow going because the temp. needs to be above 52 degrees.) Can’t wait to see the ponds finished!
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I know how frustrating it can be to paint or stain something in the winter. Allan’s big outbuilding (it’s a bit too grand for a shed, nice enough to be turned into a tiny house!) is unheated.
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I’m with Frosty. I would have been inside watching you through the window saying, “Good job!”
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😀
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Love it
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Thanks!
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A lot of work has gone into making the ponds. Well done to both of you.
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Thanks, Mr T. Your wealth of frogs is one of our inspirations.
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“Rushing about, squabbling and swearing” — lol –sounds like me and my hubby tackling a garden project! You and Allan rock! You have put a lot of thought into the planning and construction of your ponds. Nice work! Frosty looks so comfy in the warm house.
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Sometimes we do not work well together! 🙂 but we get results through all the argy bargy.
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Ha! I don’t know why, but those stones on the ice are just funny.
So are Skooter and Frosty, of course.
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I thought they were funny, too. Stones and cats.
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Supposedly, the first koi that were a gift to America from Japan were sent to San Jose, and eventually ended up in the koi pond of the San Jose City Hall. That pond is both inside and and outside. The problem was that the koi were so happy there (like who would not have been happy to be in San Jose in the 1950s?) that they proliferated. Another pond was built in Kelly Park to accommodate them, where they continued to proliferate, until they were given to those who wanted them, and eventually marketed as ‘California koi’. They are the ‘cheap’ koi now.
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Very interesting indeed!
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Sadly, the old San Jose City Hall has been replaced by an even newer City Hall downtown. I do not know what happened to the old building. It really was rad!
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That’s a darn shame.
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