LL's Gardening Diary

Members adventures in the Vegetable Patch all year round
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wildlifemad
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by wildlifemad »

Ouch!!!! My fingers are twitching just thinking about your poor finger!! Hope it is healing. Keep going on the pond, at least you can take a rest & get a cup of tea when you want to now.
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lancashire lass
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Sunday 30th July 2017

Post by lancashire lass »

The pond build continues ...

On Sunday I decided to get on with the raised sides of the pond - a number of uprights were cut to size as were the planks that were to be screwed on. Despite a lot of wood brought back from the allotment when I was clearing the shed, I was in fact a bit short. There were 6 full length planks of about 6 feet long but they were just a little short when measured up against the edge of the pond.

Try as I might, the sums were not adding up so I decided to make the pond a little smaller by replacing a row of paving stones: so the pond will now measure 5 paving stones (2 metre) x 4 paving stones (1.6 metre) As I stood in the middle of the ever deepening bottom of the pond site (still digging out the ballast), it felt and looked like a decent sized pond - I was trying to imagine the fish tank that the goldfish are in and I'd easily get about 10-12 of them in the pond space - so I'm happy.

I managed to erect 3 sides of the pond but then it started to rain. I wish it had kept off for just an hour longer and I think I might have been at the stage of finishing all the woodwork and be ready for the next stage of lining the pond. Perhaps as well I had to stop as my poor sawing arm aches as does the muscles in my bottom and back of legs from bending down with digging out the ballast. I would like to try and dig out a little more ballast to make the pond deeper, and the pause will also give me time to make sure the structure is solid before filling with water - it will be difficult to try and fix it once it is full of water.

I am cross with the weather at the moment as I'm sure everyone else is - during the working week it is more or less dry, then come the weekend it rains }hairout{ with deluges! At least I didn't have far to dash for cover when the heavens opened yesterday.

I've opened an account with imgbox so here's my first photo - ignore the date on the piccie as I can't seem to switch it off on the camera and it resets itself when new batteries are put in. And mind the mess on the patio ... :oops: The pond build so far:

Image
wildlifemad
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by wildlifemad »

Thats looking good LL!!! Well done. I totally agree with you about the weather, our forecast for today said dry, so 1 lot of washing went on the line at 6am the next lot at 8.30am, all back in by 11am cos it was raining!!! Keep up the good work & pace yourself!
Cheshire Chick
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by Cheshire Chick »

It is looking very good indeed. Are you making the pond all on your own? If so, you are doing so well and making such a good job of it. Looking forward to seeing more photo's and of course the finished result. )like(
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lancashire lass
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Project Pond

Post by lancashire lass »

I've just realised that with the photobucket problems I hadn't posted any "before" piccies of the patio so here are some photos of the progress, BEFORE (I'd only just lifted up the paving and you can see the significant subsidence of some of the paving stones and brick step to the garden - please ignore any rubbish you might be wondering about):

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DURING (work stopped to get on with clearing off the allotment):

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AFTER:

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So that takes us to the raised pond photo in the earlier post .....

Cheshire Chick wrote: Are you making the pond all on your own? If so, you are doing so well and making such a good job of it.


)t' yes I am doing it myself, and thank you Cheshire Chick. I might not be good at laying paving, but I can be handy with a variable speed cordless drill (best invention - I was always weak trying to screw in screws (often the big ones never completely in) until I bought one of these)
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Mo
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by Mo »

Well done.
I can see why you wanted to do something with the patio.
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sandy
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by sandy »

The allotment stories may be over but really enjoying your new adventure LL, as always so well written, like a good book )like( )t' )like(
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lancashire lass
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Water in the pond!

Post by lancashire lass »

I've finally lined the pond and partially filled with water .... but the building work is still not finished. I was too knackered after yesterdays efforts to look for my camera afterwards so no photo update at the moment I'm afraid.

Yesterday I was a little slow to get going after staying up late watching tv (why are the best films always on late at night?) but by 10.30 am I was ready to finish off the pond. My goal was to get the liner down no matter what. I only had 2 patio paving stones left to lay which didn't take very long as the ground was already prepared, then it was down to erecting the last side of the raised pond. Problem - I didn't have enough wood, certainly not suitable lengths to use. Then I spied a pallet - not a conventional one, this one was small made up of 2 solid pieces and 3 very sturdy planks butted up together to form a very solid piece of wood. Alas, only about 2 feet in length, it was however just the right height so I screwed one end to a corner. I had 3 uprights left over and after puzzling what to do, decided to make a similar construction using 2 identical uprights and 3 wooden shelves and pinned that to the other corner. That left a 12 inch wide gap in the middle to fill .... then I remembered I had a piece of plywood that was about 24 inch wide which was perfect. The last remaining upright used to be a piece of joist so was nice and broad so I decided to use it to support the middle of one of the raised wall lengths (I'm expecting a "bowing" effect on the walls when the pond is filled with water and the pressure pushes the sides out)

The uprights on the pallet were a little wider than the others so I ended up with no supporting gravel underneath. That meant doing more digging of the patio and trying to rake the chippings up to the new wall. I was starting to struggle ... and worse, once I'd erected the last wall and screwed it together, I was standing in a fairly deep hole in the middle of my patio (I'm not nimble enough to climb out like I would have done in my youth LOL) Luckily part of the pond design was a shelf where I can put potted pond plants so I was able to reach at least patio level and then swing my leg over the raised bit. I wasn't too keen to go back into the hole after that.

I had some long lengths of 2" x 2" left over from the chicken run construction so after laying one across the top of the raised pond, I was able to use a measuring tape and the depth was just over 3 1/4 feet! Of course, the water won't be right up to the top but it does mean that I had not only reached the minimum 2 1/2 feet depth that I was aiming for but gone just a little deeper.

It was getting late in the afternoon and I so wanted to get the liner down but there was a problem. I did not have any long screws needed to screw the long lengths of 2 x 2 wood which will be used to brace the top of the raised pond. I really wanted to get the liner down so I could get the water in the pond sooner rather than later - it will take at least 3-4 weeks for the water to cycle and be safe for the fish, and that would take it into September ... not leaving much time before autumn arrives. I decided to make a compromise - a partial fill would get the ball rolling.

The bottom of the hole was covered in chippings some of which were quite sharp so I needed to put protective layers down. First, a blue tarpaulin I had used to protect part of the patio and store the initial sand and chippings I had dug out at the beginning of the project, then I sacrificed a piece of carpet off-cut. I was given the off-cut from a friend so I could use it in the bathroom (the floor is cold in winter) but I never got round to it. It covered a lot of the bottom where the weight of the water would be highest but there was still the slopes up to the patio level which could still be an issue. I found the cloth weed suppressant which I had acquired during my allotment shed clearance which did the trick - stapled to the wood sides of the raised pond and pinned down by the carpet at the bottom. Finally a 3m x 4m thick polythene sheet was laid down over the entire pond area and sides before I put the 5m x 5m pond liner down (bear in mind my pond had shrunk due to wood shortage so was probably a bit excessive now)

The pond liner was heavy and unyielding (and I was flagging!) - I was also trying to be uber careful not to damage it in any way which made the liner seem even heavier where it had been folded several times to fit the parcel bag. After spreading it out and over the sides, I temporarily pinned the edge with paving stones. Next - how to fill the pond when you don't have a tap for the hose pipe fittings .... the only option is a siphon. After racking my brain, I came up with using a plastic watering can and running the tap water into it, then with one end of a hosepipe (another acquisition from the allotment) into the pond, I first held the other end under the running tap then let the weight of the water in the hose act like suction as it emptied into the pond before I plunged it into the watering can with the tap running to keep it topped up. It worked surprisingly well. Using one of my wood- working spring clamps, I pegged the hose in the can to stop it falling out. Thereafter I just had to keep monitoring the flow of water (no matter how hard I tried to fine tweak the tap, it was either just a little too much or not enough water) I reckon it emptied about 3-4 litres per minute into the pond and was working very well. After about an hour and half, I had probably got the pond about a third filled.

Finally, some debris/scaffold netting over the top to keep leaves from falling in (it was very windy yesterday) This morning I had a peek at the water level and it looks about the same so a good sign there are no leaks! Aside from getting some more building materials to finish the raised sides, I will start putting some pond plants in and cycling the water. I'm on my 3 week annual leave in a fortnight's time so I'm hoping I'll be able to move the fish into the new home some time then, all being well.

On a different note, I had some visitors on the patio - a pair of goldfinches. Such pretty little birds with a lovely bird song, they certainly cheered me up (wish I'd got a camera with me at the time!)
Cheshire Chick
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by Cheshire Chick »

Sounds like you are making excellent progress with your pond project. Can't wait to see the finished result - keep the photo's coming please.
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lancashire lass
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Pond and Polytunnel

Post by lancashire lass »

We had some significant rain this past week with quite a few deluges, enough to top the pond up another couple of inches or more! I'm so glad I had put the liner down - aside from collecting rain water, the wood used in the construction will be dry under the liner (would be silly covering the wood while it was still damp and let rot set in!)

So far, looking good. I'm hoping to finish it off this weekend. I'll have to buy some wood and also get some pea gravel and pebbles to put on the pond shelf and in the bottom of the pond - it will add an underwater feature and be less boring to look at, as well as provide something interesting for the fish to investigate and feed off. I noticed the goldfish in the tank often go down to the bottom and disturb the gravel to feed so seems like natural behaviour. They certainly look content and happy - I think I'll miss their (indoor) company when they are finally moved to the pond. The plan is that as they are moved into the pond, I will probably get some more and use the tank as quarantine before they are moved to the pond.

Meantime .... this morning as I went down to feed the chickens and sort them out, I looked down the garden to find the cover on one of the polytunnels was missing :? As I'm not growing anything in the greenhouses or polytunnels, I haven't been checking them. Mystified, I went to investigate. It was obvious what had happened when I got into the garden. When I purchased the second polytunnel, we had had a tremendous amount of rain soon after it was erected and the ceiling on one part had sagged and filled up with rain water to form a duck pond. This morning there was some water in the same place which I was able to push off the cover from inside and replaced the 2 bamboo canes slotted between the hoops to stop it happening again. The old cover on the first polytunnel was a little more dramatic. Water had obviously filled a sag in the cover on top but I think the velcro straps that hold the cover to the frame had worked loose and the sag had just continued to get bigger and more water collected. At some point yesterday, the other straps must have given way and dragged half the cover of the frame .... the sag was now a huge tear drop shape and the weight of the water inside made it impossible to lift up and over the frame to empty. I am going to have to syphon some of it out (I'll try to adapt a small pump syphon as I don't fancy sucking the water up the pipe with my mouth )loo( )

I will try to take some photos this weekend - would be great if I can get the pond completely finished so fingers crossed.
Cheshire Chick
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by Cheshire Chick »

Looking forward to seeing how you are doing with the pond. It's looking really good so far.
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lancashire lass
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Project Pond update

Post by lancashire lass »

A photo of the pond after I'd partially finished and initially filled it last week (with a good couple inches of rain water afterwards)

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But with the clock ticking, I just had to finish it this weekend. I bought some wood and longer length screws so that I could strengthen the sides and corners, ending up with a sort of double wall. While I worked on the raised frame, I started the water syphon so that the pond could be filling at the same time.

Inside the wall frame I put some of the paving stones and braced them against the wooden walls with wood screwed into the posts - they should prevent any bowing effect of the wood and walls when water pressure pushes against the sides. Then I cut and screwed in lengths of wood top and bottom to also strengthen the corners - when I get the feather board fencing, I will be able to screw it to the top and bottom pieces. Finally, some wood on the top of the walls so that they would support the pond liner as it was pulled over and stapled to the outer wall when the pond was nearly filled. I trimmed the excess liner which should prevent rain water from getting to the wood frame and causing rot but I was just a bit short on the side facing the camera. Before I put the feather board on, I'll use some of the trimmed pieces and staple it like a skirt to the bottom length.

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I also bought a bag 20 mm gravel which I washed (as in rinsed in water) which I put into the pond. It didn't cover half as much as I thought as you can see in the photo above, so I might have to get another bag. I did buy a bag of 10 mm gravel as well but have yet to finish washing. Finally, the pond plants (a water lily, water hawthorn, elodea and duckweed that I had rescued from the allotment and had been sitting in flexi buckets on the patio - as my goldfish seem to have taken to eating the plants in the tank, I don't think I need to worry about the elodea and duckweed becoming a nuisance in the pond!) Note the level of the water is about 6-7 inches from the top but the reflection of the raised wall suggests it is much lower. I should add that I'm feeling pretty chuffed with myself for getting the raised walls more or less level so the water inside looks the same depth all round.

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I'm feeling really pleased with the progress - my poor back and joints are suffering today but well worth that extra effort. I had started at 7.00 am and didn't finish until 8.00 pm last night

EDIT: a reminder to ignore the date stamp on the photos - if you don't know already, I'm not quite sure how to cancel it on the cheap camera (didn't come with instructions)
Cheshire Chick
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by Cheshire Chick »

It's looking really good LL. You have worked very hard and it has really taken shape now. )like(
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lancashire lass
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Stocking levels, Koi, Fish Poo and Purchases

Post by lancashire lass »

aw, thanks for the lovely comments everyone {hug}

We had rain this morning and just like the allotment pond, I stood for a moment just looking at it and was fascinated by the water landing on the still surface. The chickens however, were a little annoyed by the delay of their breakfast so I had to go and sort them out LOL

I'm still doing lots of research into ponds, filters and fish stock levels so that I am a lot more familiar with what to expect. The goldfish in the tank are definitely growing!!! Mind, I keep feeding them as they have taken a liking to the floating plants which are disappearing fast but I also want them to get to a decent size before they move into the pond (it won't be long before winter is round the corner) Seems that goldfish don't have a "stomach" and are all day grazers - so when feeding them flakes, they should only have a little at a time and as many as 3-4 small feeds a day otherwise it causes problems. I've kept tropical fish before so am aware about not overfeeding - food not eaten can affect water quality.

Stocking levels has been one of my concerns - obviously too many can be bad as they create more waste. When I spoke to someone at the garden centre where I bought the goldfish, he implied that I could have as many as 30 goldfish and at least 2-4 koi carp for the size pond. From what I'd read up, I had dismissed koi carp as they need lots of space with many sites implying 1000s gallons whereas my pond will be about 2500 - 3000 litres. But I have since come across other sites that more or less agree with the person I spoke to ... so now I'm not too sure. The key does seem to be an efficient pump and filter system - I'm confident that when I set up the gravel beds with the marginal pond plants (next on my job list after I've put the feather board fencing up) and link it to the big biofilter drum that this will keep the water clean. Of course, I'll not know for sure until it has been set up and running for a while.

Talking of waste and water clarity, the water in the tank is still good. Of course I do a small weekly water change and it has a submerged aquarium filter pump which I was worried was not big enough after reading up about how much waste goldfish produce. As the tank was only meant to be a temporary home / quarantine, it seems to be working out better than expected. Perhaps like when I was getting the chickens, the horror stories are for those people who have never had animals and to let them know that they poop and make a mess, but with experience you take it into your stride and have systems in place.

Meanwhile, just out of curiosity of course (!), I searched for koi suppliers round Nottinghamshire and blow me, there are 2 within a couple of miles of where I live (plus the 2 garden centres I have already visited) I should have known about one of them called the Japanese Water Gardens which is quite a big site. I feel quite silly to have forgotten about it. I thought I'd go pay a visit to see what they have to say. I had a look at some of the koi for sale online - most are in the £50+ range, many at £300-£500 and a few at over a £1200 yike* Just imagine if you had bought one of those and it died. They do stock 2-3" for £7 each - these are smaller than my goldfish at the moment. From what I understand, the colours of young koi are brownish and only as they mature do they come out so you could end up with anything (even remain brown) - it seems when breeding koi, the fish have 1000s of eggs but many of the young fish that don't develop colours or look right are culled so that only a few make it to sale.

In anticipation of the fish moving into the pond at some point, I have also been looking out for things. Yesterday I went online and found myself buying a net set (a blanket weed brush with long handle which can be used for other heads so got an algae skimmer and a fish net) as well as a blanket weed treatment (BOGOF) from an online supplier called Pondkeeper. For some reason, I seem to have got most of my purchases from this company (my first pond liner for the allotment, pond liner for home and a pump) either direct or via ebay - as I normally shop around for price and review, it seems odd to find myself keep going there. Don't mean to advertise, but so far I've been happy with the products and delivery is next day if anyone is interested - currently they are having a sale and free delivery which is normally about £5 depending on the item size.

Blanket weed - it would seem the pond plants that I had retrieved from the allotment pond are infested with blanket weed. Not in great amounts but still annoying. Blanket weed is a tough stringy algae that forms a matt and had covered the pots and leaves of the water lily and water hawthorn. I thought I'd cleared it all off when I brought the plants home and put them into the big tubs of water but it was back again. The product I've bought is not a chemical but contains minerals and bacteria which weaken it. While the pond is "new", it makes sense to tackle the problem now rather than later )t'
Cheshire Chick
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by Cheshire Chick »

Enjoying reading your progress LL. You certainly have done a great deal of research and are giving this project 100%. I agree with you about having a good filter system and pump, it makes all the difference keeping the water clear and flowing. We have Koi Carp in our pond and my husband is always cleaning the filters out and checking the pump. They were fairly small when we got them (about 10 years ago now) but have grown into quite large fish. Apparently they will only grow to the size of the pond. We had a couple of Golden Orfs as well and they grew into really big fish. We have goldfish in the pond as well as the Koi and they seem to be doing really well. I don't know that much about the fish as that is my husbands department, but I do enjoy sitting next to the pond, listening to the water and watching them with a nice glass of white wine in hand.
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