Backyard corner heaven

Pam Russell

Member
Messages
53
Location
Holland
I hope this is the right place. When we first bought the house the yard was disgusting, they had used one back corner to dump garbage and broken glass. It took one whole summer to get rid of 98% of it, we still find some has risen to the surface after a rain or after winter is over. It started out I wanted a fish pond, got a decent one off of Craig's list and we put it in. Found an old hand pump at the flea market and used that for the water entering the pond. The next summer we decided on a small deck beside the pond.
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The next summer we wanted a pergola on the deck and a little fence to keep the dogs out of the garden. This summer I wanted a larger pond, at least the lowest part enlarged. We couldn't spend $300 on a pond liner right now so I found a swimming pool liner for $20 bucks and hit the local farmers for rocks. Just finished the pond today. While Bill was placing rocks where he wanted them I built a couple of trellis for the cucumbers in the garden.
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The little fence around the garden, the trellis, the privacy fence behind the pond, and the little raised bed in front of the pond were all built using pallet lumber.
So....that's what I've been doing with my summer vacation....so far. I've added a before shot of the backyard. This is after we cleaned it up, but before we had built anything.
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I bring the fish inside during the winter. I have a couple of tanks set up in the basement for them. I'm looking into building a inside holding pool down there if I can find a safe way to do it. Has anyone here ever built one or knows of someone that did? It would have to support the weight of a lot of water.
 
Thanks Vaughn, we've been busy trying to get all the inspections finished up on the house. We passed everything! Of course we had to completely rewire the whole house and add in a lot of outlets, lights and light switches. The house was built in 1897 and they never put in ceiling lights. That means switches for the lights where there has never been switches. It's been fun. Had to put a floor in the attic just so we could safely get to all that peg and tube wiring.

Very nice work. Pam. :clap: Glad to see you drop by, too. :thumb:
 
I love it Paul, there is something about the sound of running water and I love watching the fish. I have 2 small koi, 1 shubunkin, and a bunch of goldfish. I want more koi eventually. It's all very relaxing. I can't wait to see cucumber vines climbing all over the trellis. I love to grow things, I've braided rose of Sharon behind the pond and I have a braided white wisteria that I'm just waiting until it's tall enough to plant. I miss crepe myrtle being from the south, so I have a potted one that I take in during the winter. I'm hoping that if I can get it up large enough it might make it through the winters up here. I grow hosta from seed just to see what I get, most of the hostas around the pond are my babies. It takes years but I'm happy with them.
 
I bring the fish inside during the winter. I have a couple of tanks set up in the basement for them. I'm looking into building a inside holding pool down there if I can find a safe way to do it. Has anyone here ever built one or knows of someone that did? It would have to support the weight of a lot of water.

My small pond is about 25" deep at its deepest part. I leave the fish (koi, shebunkins, and comets) in it all year round. The pond freezes over - sometimes 5~6" thick most winters, and I've never lost a fish.

I keep an air bubbler going all winter, and that keeps a hole open in the ice, allowing gases to escape, and also oxygenating the water a bit.

I quit feeding the fish when the water temp goes below 50°, and they go nearly dormant as the water temp drops to near freezing. The pond volume is about 2500 gallons, btw.

My biggest problem with fish loss is the occasional blue heron stopping by for a snack.
 
Great looking escape you have there Pam. I bring my fish in for the winter too, but usually just keep them in a rubbermaid tub with a plant and a fountain pump, though next year I may need a larger tub or have to split them up as they are getting too big for the one they are in. We kept them in the sun room this past winter, so they got lots of light and was nice listening to the trickle of the water when the TV was off.
 
Our pond is about 600 I think, if we figured right. The deepest part is 38 inches with different depths intended to work with different plants, the shallow end is only 8 inches deep. I'm not counting the 2 upper ponds because the fish can't use them. The old pond was only 18 inches deep and we didn't dare leave them out. That's why I want to build a holding pond in the basement. I don't want to risk them the first year when we don't know if we can keep a hole open in the ice. We'll work with a bubbler this winter and if we can then next year we will try with just the gold fish. We took part of the deck and dug all the way to the back fence and over to the shed. We couldn't get it any larger without taking out the apple tree. The land here is about half sand, probably because we are 5 minutes to the river and 10 to Lake Michigan. We didn't dare go much deeper. If we wanted to go larger yet we would have to move the shed.
 
What a great transformation! How digusting can the previous owners be? To waste an abundance of space just for garbage and dangerous glass fragments. I hope you did not sustain any injuries while you were clearing them all out. It is such a pleasant and pleasing sight to watch, especially after a hard day's work, and calm down your nerves at the corner heaven. It is quite rare to find such projects initiated by men as most of my male friends would simply do up a storage shed on top of that space. Well, to each its own. Good job!
 
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