In the spring of 2000, my son, Rich, and I came up with an idea: "Let's build a goldfish pond/water garden in the front yard!" Our first job was the initial hole which was dug by Rich's friend, Tom, and a backhoe. From there on out, he and I did all the work. We hand dug the rough hole until it was the shape and size we required, dug and shaped plant shelves all around the edges, and made a shallow area at one end for our marginal plants. This took a very LONG time, but once it was done, we inserted the liner and carefully fit it to our hole. We then filled it with water to settle it and began to wonder just WHAT we had gotten ourselves into......................
Because the yard gently sloped to the road, it was necessary to build a retaining wall at the back of the pond and pour a concrete edge at the front. My granddaughter, Lindsay, and I spent many hours gathering rocks at the far side of our pasture and bringing them to the pond site for the wall. Rich also lugged the larger rocks up out of the wash and made many, many trips bringing them to the site. He also built forms and mixed concrete for the front edge and built scaffolding to span the pond so that he could work on the wall. One rock at a time, with Rich's great precision and eye for perfection, the wall began to take shape......................
Once the wall and the front edge were completed, Rich made an overflow drain in the front and prepared the rocks for the future waterfall on the right side. We also ordered and installed a submersible pump/filter, and Rich began researching biological filters on the internet. He eventually built his own from a large plastic tub and lava rock. We used it temporarily, and it worked well, but we plan to move on to a larger pump once the waterfall is completed and will likely go for an external biofilter at that time, as well.
Now the time had come to order plants and decide on their placement. We started out with four water lilies, thirty anacharis, a few water lettuce and water hyacinths, and an assortment of marginals. We also decided that we would stock our pond with goldfish and comets instead of the more expensive and less plant friendly koi. Although we experienced the pea-soup algae not unusual in newly stocked ponds, through Rich's research and experimentation our plants did well and the pond eventually began to balance itself out. We lost a couple of fish for various reasons, but the majority are thriving.
By the summer of 2002, although the waterfall and the front edge were still not completed, the pond had at last become what we had hoped for. The fish were healthy and growing and the plants were blooming beautifully. That fall and winter, Rich did the plumbing for the waterfall, and the following spring we (he) decided on some additions and alterations. It looks like we will have to wait until next summer to see our finished pond, but I have no doubt it will be worth waiting for.
Song: "Hey Jude"