Pre-Formed Pond

As I continue to ponder how to install these 2 ponds I have acquired, I also decided to take a trip to both Home Depot and Lowe's for some ideas on what is available in accessories and necessities for this setup.

However, even though I have a location picked out - or approximate - I still had no idea how to install 2 ponds that would make it so that one pours into the other.

After looking at picture after picture after picture of such, I finally came to the conclusion that for the best effect, one pond is going to have to be raised slightly higher than the other. Even though I am using pre-formed pond liners, this is going to be quite the challenge for me as I have never even attempted to install anything like this.

It will, however, answer the question as to where I am going to put at least some of the dirt that is dug out of the ground. I will have to build up dirt on the sides of the raised pond with some of that dirt, and if I choose to, I can also use more dirt to build up a waterfall.

Let's just get the ponds in the ground first and then consider waterfalls, pumps, bio-filters and the like. After seeing the price tag of bio-filters, I am definitely going to try to build one myself with some help of one particular site on the net with some people who have been toying with ponds and trying to keep them clear for a couple of decades now.

To the end of getting them installed, I started to move all the landscaping rock out of the way and am watering the tree that needs to be moved heavily. It is a very small tree - maybe 2 feet in heighth, still a "twig", basically, I am hoping it will survive the transplant process. A little vitamin B will help it with shock. I may do that transplant today. Just prepping everything to even start digging is turning into quite the load of work.

I am not, however, deterred, because the eventual outcome will be WELL worth the effort involved.

I am just glad that I am dipping my feet into this unknown by starting with relatively small ponds. When I get it all installed and get plants and a few fish in there and learn how to keep it clean and looking wonderful, THEN I might consider going to a much larger set-up using a liner instead of pre-formed.

But, a larger setup will cost a lot more money and that is a thought for the future. I'm looking at probably a couple of months of install - at the pace I work it anyway - to get it to the "finished" point. That's because I have a lot going on around here, I devote an hour here, a couple hours there to projects such as this until it is done.

Yesterday, I got the half inch line installed for the remaining plants that are not serviced by the drip system. THAT was a pain with all kinds of bends and feeding the line underneath plants and attempting to get it at least a bit underground so that my landscaping rock will not push holes through the tubing. I closed off the end and I powered it up with a full pressurization of water. It held for an hour and that's all I needed to see. I mean, it held pressure for an hour with no visible leaks anywhere in the line, which is about 90 feet long with various 90 degree bends. Meaning several areas where potential leaks could exist.

I have been very pleased at the outcome of the drip system. It is remarkably easy to install, even though at first you definitely have your questions and concerns, and it works QUITE well. It doesn't just save time, it also saves a lot of water. You are applying water to the root zones instead of just using a hose and getting the entire area around the plant wet. A remarkable waste of water in such a situation, I am going green, so-to-speak, with this drip system setup. I have spent more money on it than I thought I would.

I can only add here that I am GLAD that I get employee discount on the entire system or the end-cost of this system would have been nearly quadrupled. Yes, quadrupled, that's the amount of discount I am getting on most every product that I needed for it. I checked the prices at Home Depot and Lowe's, which is where I would have bought the stuff if I had to buy it through normal methods.

Basically, I would have only got one portion of the system up and running at regular prices.

I am headed out there shortly to continue getting more done on the drip system, as it takes precedence over the pond. Though, I will also undoubtedly move all of the landscaping rock out of the way today and probably get that tree transplanted.
OHHHHH gag, I totally forgot - again - to clean that carpet in that room. Well, it'll take half an hour. I can't believe I forgot about that, I got totally absorbed into the world of ponds and it just totally slipped my mind. Off to work!!

G'day.

ben