A New Garden Pond in the Pocono Mountains

[Annabellam]

I love it love it love it! I am excited for you. It is always a great idea to reward oneself and especially after something like clearing a loan, definitely worth celebrating with something you've always wanted, worth it!

 

[MoonShadows]

Update: Now that it appears old man winter has died a noble death, I am ready to start working on the pond...

I found some neat concrete garden border blocks today at Home Depot and bought enough for the pond border outline. They are 11.5 long x 3.5 wide x 5.5 high and have a ball-and-socket design, so I can easily create a hexagon shaped border...which is the shape of my pond.. Since the slope of the area where I want to put the pond is only 2.5", I decided to use these instead of retaining wall blocks.

I also got the perimeter outlined and began removing the sod...which I'll use for fill on another project. Then, I'll dig deeper, fill with stone dust, level, set the blocks, fill the middle, and begin constructing the pond. Pictures to follow....

 

[NH Homesteader]

Old Man Winter didn't die, he just moved up here. If you miss him, I'll gladly send him back

Looking forward to hearing about this and other apring projects!

 

[MoonShadows]

No, @NH Homesteader, you can keep old man winter!

Will keep you and all abreast of the projects.

 

[sumi]

Please do! (And keep winter )

 

[waretrop]

@MoonShadows Starting just a bit too early sir...You should wait just a few weeks. That little pond looks wonderful. Do the palm trees in the background come with it? j/k Can you put fish in it? I actually never saw or thought about an above ground pond. I love it and will be looking forward to the progress....

 

[MoonShadows]

I have 4 sarasa comets in an aquarium just waiting for their new digs. They are 2.5" - 3.5", but can grow to 12" in the pond. I also have some Anacharis plants growing like crazy. They should grow up the full 30" of the pond and are good oxygen providers while using waste to grow.

 

[MoonShadows]

The sod has been removed. (The pinkish lines to the left were other areas of consideration for the pond placement.) That cement you see on the bottom left is the top of an old cistern. This house was built in 1860. At that point in time, many houses used cisterns. In this case, the water was pumped up from a spring about 400 feet away through lead pipes and deposited in the cistern. The cistern had a brick wall through which the water was "filtered". From the cistern were pipes that led into the cellar of the house to a holding area. The water was pumped from this holding area to where it was needed in the house. I would have loved to place the pond right over the cistern, but was concerned about the cistern top being able to hold 3500+ LBS of water.

 

[waretrop]

How exciting.....

 

[MoonShadows]

I got about 1/3 of this area dug down to 6" on Wednesday, but after yesterday's rain, it is filled with water. Hopefully, it will all seep into the ground today. Starting Saturday, we are expecting a stretch of nice days, so my plan is to finish the digging and get the stone dust in and complete the base.