Our Pond Maureen and I took on a pond project back in 1998 that kinda grew as we built it. ( We live in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, Zone 9 )

We planned to have the one pool near the patio falling into a pond below in the garden. Due to the bedrock being so near we kept digging towards the lawn. We soon realized that our little retaining wall would have to be larger. We elected to use some of the left over boulders from our blasted excavation we kept for landscaping. Equipment could not be brought into our backyard so all work was by manual labour -- Ours.
pond under const.

My method was to dry stack the rocks and then infill the gaps with mortar on the inside only. To smooth out for the liner and add a little support. Moving the bigger rocks was no easy task. They had to be transported up the driveway and up behind the house on a moving dollie. Pryed onto and off of dollie into place. Two people could not lift most of them.

As we worked, Maureen puzzled over the fact that the waterfall would be facing away from our Kitchen windows, then she hit me with the idea of building another pond and falls off our property onto a vacant "common" lot! More work ! I needed to maintain a "ramp" for wheelbarrowing, etc., so crossing the resulting stream would have to be worked out. In trenching for the stream we hit ROCK! In the end we had to dig up the turf and build up the path 6".

To level the top out I built a mortar rim around each pond ensuring it was level throughout. The mortaring took over a week of evenings and a whole weekend. Before that a few weeks of moving boulders, and a couple of weeks of hand digging before that. We started in late June, and were putting water in at the end of August.

full liner

Some Pond stats before we continue:

Main Pond: 1100 Imp Gal, 3ft deep,

650 gph pump submerged. 22 Goldfish.
Large Lily, Floating Hearts,
oxygenators, lettuce, etc.
Patio Pond: 60 Imp Gal, one pump outlet,
13"wide waterfall over slate tile.
Small lily, and
verigated grass, more planting in spring.
Upper Pond 120 Imp Gal, one pump outlet,
waterfall through drill hole in rock.
No Goldfish presently.
Splash Pond 30 ImpGal,
Stream is pea-gravel river bed.
Plantings have not varied to much to original above.

We bought the EPDM through a roof contractor. Some plants from a local nursery, Cannor, and later and subsequent seasons, plants and the fish from a hidden treasure in our area, The Water Spout, in Metchosin.

After we had the liner full (ALL the garden hoses going for an evening) and the little ponds the next evening in just an hour or so. Once full we walked to a natural nearby pond and brought back a couple buckets of water to inoculate the pond. We quickly plumbed the pump and let it run for a few days. After almost 4 days we put in some plants and the rest of the plants and 8 fish the day after that. After all seemed well we added 6 more fish two weeks later. We have no interest in high maintenance Koi so there are no elaborate filters. We are still waiting for an algae bloom but may have avoided it this year by putting in plants that haven't been recently fertilized, and having them in for a while before fish added, also how much poop can goldfish produce : ). We never in the four years now have had an algae bloom, but alas also not enough sun to get the lilies blooming before late August.

After a couple more weeks we can report an increase in dragon fly, grey squirrel, and bird visits. No predators of fish so far. Beginning to flush out some perimeter plantings. Most of which will be transplanted natives from around the yard. Maureen has already been "caulking" the stones with ferns and moss. We are putting in local iris's and kinnikinnik, currants, oregon grape, etc. A few non natives have been sprinkled in for other colour. Then we'll let the deer choose what stays !

Some "finished" photos: We will trim the EPDM as we find time to finish the perimeter rocks and plantings. By next year the plantings will be more established, hiding the height of the rock walls eventually. Well taking plantings abit longer to cover stone, but the ferns and moss that Maureen has stuck in are certainly established.

Patio PondOverview

This Site DZYNed by Ron McNeil - Last Updated January 19, 2002