Song of Spring...

Remember I said the wood frogs had left behind eggs? Well, they are still hanging about in the pond! Here are two of the many that are in there, having an afternoon sun! Or maybe they are chatting about the new pond? Hmm...wonder what they are thinking???

Planning...

The fish are as happy as I am that spring is finally here! The wood frogs came back which made me really happy as I wasn't sure what they were going to do when they arrived and their previous mating pool had been replaced. They however found the water just fine and as you can see right in the center of the picture here is a mass of eggs. Now if the fish don't eat them and we don't have another freeze, the pond will be loaded with tadpoles soon.

I sat by the pond for a while today planning the landscaping of it. I've decided on some nice Carex Bowles Golden for around the front edge where Zoe is. The back side will have a small seating area, ferns and some sort of fence to break the wood line from the pond. I've also come up with a brain storm to build some raised beds at the skimmer end to plant perennials in. It will help to insulate as well as hide the skimmer.

Off to dream some more gardening plans up!

Welcome Home!

It's like an episode of Extreme Home Makeover, but for fish, frogs and plants! I was able to catch everyone with relative ease. The frogs were a little harder and the muck that I had to dig around in to find them was a little gruesome, but they've really taken to their new aquatic wonderland!






The fish are incredible happy, they've been swimming all over the place and I've even seen them up under the waterfall doing whatever it is that fish do in waterfalls lol! They seem to really enjoy swimming against the current in the water and have also been exploring the deeper spots in the pond.









I love the waterfall and the sound that it makes. You can hear it all over the yard and it's so peaceful. There is something so calming about sitting out here next to the pond and just watching the fish! It's been a huge job but I'm so glad that we did it.

Of course, there is still more to do but what garden project is ever really done!

Waterfall..

The pond is now up and running! Granted we've got a TON of landscaping to do, but all in due time! The water is cycling now and will do so for the next week or so before we move the fish and frogs into their new digs! I bought some small plants, a dwarf cattail and a zebra rush. I'll be adding my water lilies, lizard's tail and iris soon enough. Stay tuned!

We're Rocking Now!

Randy stopped and got a truck load of medium and small river stones on his way home this past week (Since the rock places are no longer open on the weekends.) So we had to wait till this weekend to get back at it. The good news was the liner has held water this week and there was no leaking anywhere near the skimmer!

We placed some of the larger stones along the bottom and at each 'step' to help hold the liner in place. Then we started adding the small stones a few at a time. After we get all the rocks in we will get the water fall hooked up so that we can start fully filtering the water.

Progress!

Well as you can see we have a big hole with a liner in it. It's now the end of June and it's been pretty warm out, filling it with water and swimming in it is sounding better everyday!

It took a lot of digging, moving of dirt, rocks and roots to get to this point. It was a mess and of course it had to rain on us numerous times filling the hole with water and making a muddy mess. It made progress slow, because moving that dirt once it is wet is near impossible.

We are off to get rocks for the bottom and for building the waterfall area. Once those are in we will fill it up with water!

So it begins...

The vision is to take this area and turn it into a new pond. For a few years now I've been wanting a bigger pond. The one that I have is being quickly out grown by not only my plants, but my magic goldfish as well. (They are magic because I did not buy them, one day there were baby fish in my pond and each year since then they have made more baby fish and are running out of room.




The fish are only in this lower area and it's I think around 200 gallons if that. It was a 'kit' pond that I got from Sam's Club. It came with the small upper part and this lower part. The one in the middle was a freebie from a gardener and was added a couple years ago. The maintenance is touch as leaves abound in my yard and keeping a smaller pond clear of debris and algae is not an easy task!





So we are going to start digging a big hole to put in a new pond. Wish me luck!