Pond Project Part Deux

Have been continuing with the pond project for several days, here and there, between the rain and weekends. Sadly, though, I haven't had the chance to get many pictures. Will strive to do that tomorrow and post those that I have taken.

Since the last post, I dug a shallow trench down the middle of the bed, and put in some perforated pipe, covered with some 3/4" crushed gravel and all enclosed in landscape fabric to keep it from clogging with soil and organic debris. Then shoveled in a layer of sand on the bottom, up the sides and on the shelves to give a smooth surface for the pond liner to prevent punctures. Also moved some of the large boulders to the side, as putting them over the liner had me worried about puncturing; I used some old towels to create a soft surface on some harder edges and along the round-edged stone. Then, installed the liner and started to stack stone on the shelves I created. The liner filled with water almost to the top in two rain storms we've had since. Indeed, the pond is now doing the trickle overflow as planned with the open system --- as water is flowing in from the stream, an equal amount is flowing out of the pond. So far, I have nearly finished both sides of the shelves and it is shaping up nicely. Decided early on not to stack very formally, with no shaping of the stone, as the intent is to make this look "natural" to whatever extent that can be accomplished, and to blend in with the other existing non-liner pond. Then again, I've had good fit with the stone selection that's available in a lower section of the property. I make my pickings and load them in the homeowner's lawn tractor and Wheel Horse yard trailer (hallelujah! that has saved a lot of back and forth) or on my hand truck for bigger stones.

They're already impressed with how much the yard has dried out where it was a soupy mess before. I'm also appreciating that I have free reign on this project --- they're taking a hands-off approach and letting me determine the shape of the pond and stone choice. Some people on projects like this can tend to micromanage, ask a thousand questions and be dead-set on doing some things that aren't advisable from a functional standpoint. Even so, I fully understand why people do that and certainly work with them on --- it is, after all, their project. But it is nice to have artistic freedom.