A New Garden Pond in the Pocono Mountains

[MoonShadows]

We recently came into a modest sum of money of which we used mostly to pay down loans (who doesn't?), but we decided to take a chunk of it and treat ourselves to something we have wanted for a long time.

After the desire to have a garden pond for many years and talking about it for so long, we sat down last night and finally decided to purchase an above ground pond kit, one of which we have been looking at for some time. Just a few minutes ago, we made the purchase of a 425 gallon above ground redwood pond kit from Coastal Pond Solutions in British Columbia. (http://coastalpondsolutions.com) a.k.a. Kim's Ponds. Cost: $1675 including shipping, taxes, brokerage and duties.

The pond kit assembled is 82" x 72" x 30" and consists of:
Interlocking Western Red Cedar Frame and 3 benches
Preformed Firestone EPDM Pondgard Liner with ground pad
Quiet One Model 4000 pump with mechanical & biological filtration and ultraviolet sterilization (991 gph)

It won't arrive for 3-4 weeks, but it will still be here in plenty of time for a Spring set up.

 

[MoonShadows]

Some more progress yesterday and today.....

When we started removing the dirt, we found an old clay drainage pipe.

The drainage pipe may have been there for decades. It was filled with dirt.

Next, we filled and tamped with a few inches of screenings (stone dust).

Then, we put down the lower sides of the pond and fitted the stone border. We will have to level the stone border, remove the pond frame, and add more screenings to bring the pond up to ground level. The area between the pond frame and the stone border will be filled with river rock. Soil will be replaced between the stone border and existing soil.

 

[MoonShadows]

We got more done then I expected the past couple of days....

We leveled the stone border

Filled the stone border, leveled it and assembled the frame

Put the pad down for the liner

Put in the liner and filled the pond

 

[MoonShadows]

Today, I added a bit more top soil around the stone border and re-planted grass seed. The water temperature has already reached 65 degrees. Tomorrow, I am going to PetSmart and get a couple of cheap Goldfish. If they stay stable, I'll add my others from my indoor aquarium in a few days. I also bought a small water hyacinth and a miniature cattail plant today at a local nursery that has pond plants. You can see the tiny water hyacinth in the upper left of the pond in this pic. It will grow rapidly once the warm weather hits. You can also see the underwater Anacharis plant between the center spray and the water hyacinth. That should also grow rapidly once I have the fish in there since the plant thrives on the dissolved fish waste. The cattail I have in a bucket of water for now.

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[MoonShadows]

Thanks, all!

Added the dwarf cattail, two sarassa comets and a pond statue today...the two comets are hiding.

And, more progress on the garden path....

And the area behind the pond...

 

[MoonShadows]

The grass is coming in nicely around the pond, and the cattails are growing every day. Even the 6 little sarassa comet goldfish are growing...

 

[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.

 

[sumi]

 

[MoonShadows]

Thanks all. It went up so much faster than I anticipated. The hardest part was the ground preparation, and despite taking great pains to get it as level as possible, it is about 1" off...not that you notice unless you get right up close and start comparing the different sides. We hand tamped with one of those 10" square hand tampers and sprayed with water to settle the rock dust, but it's hard to get it perfect. The level said it was right on, but 3500lbs of water exerts a lot of pressure.

We sat on our deck overlooking the pond last night, and the sound of fountain and the water was so relaxing.

The next thing to do is to remove the screenings between the frame and the border and replace with river rock. It will take some time for the pond to "cycle" to where we can safely start adding fish. I have 4 sarassa comet goldfish in our indoor aquarium which we will introduce to the pond. While they range from about 2.5 inches to 3.5 inches, but they can grow up to 10-12 inches in this larger pond. Plants can go in earlier. I have been growing Anacharis which is a good oxygenating plant, and I want to buy a dwarf water lily as well, but I am going to wait on that for now.

 

[sumi]

That's a really pic of the set-up. It looks great! I can't wait to see it with the fish and all the trimmings added