When your dreams are bigger than your budget, sometimes you must be willing to do the work yourself. I dreamt of a garden paradise dotted with ponds full of flora and fauna. That’s how we have found ourselves with the back-break task of installing ponds in our gardens. It’s a good thing I love to research, create plans, and boss people (my husband) around. My penchants have served me well in various garden projects like pond installation. I must warn that the hard labor and coordination of labor can take a toll on minds, bodies, and relationships. So, one must ask oneself if the end result is worth the collateral damage. Luckily, my priorities have always been in sharp focus. Plants first, humans toward the end of the list. The ponds were going to find a way to manifest themselves in our gardens whatever the cost.
Before I get to the nitty gritty of pond building, I wanted to share a cautionary note about wildlife. You may have heard that if you put a pond in your garden, it will attract bees, butterflies and birds. What you may not realize is you will be inviting hawks to swoop off with your precious koi, herons to stalk the frogs, and HUUUGE water snakes to help themselves to whatever. Gardening for wildlife means gardening for all wildlife. You don’t get to pick and choose who comes to the party. If there were a choice, I wouldn’t hesitate to uninvite the deer and the voles. The deer fence does a good job of deterring the deer, but I haven’t figured out how to eliminate the voles. (Suggestions welcome as long as you don’t tell me I need more predators. I have more predators than you know.) Here are some of the pond denizens and visitors.
I get so easily sidetracked by the pond inhabitants! Back to the story of the pond. I needed ponds to grow more plants. It was carnivorous plants that sent me headlong down the rabbit hole of moisture loving and aquatic plants. I like to use pond planters and pond margins to grow carnivorous plants because it means I never have to water them. The pond does it for me. I don’t use special water. Just regular well water to top off the pond as needed which is not that often. The carnivorous plants got me into the water lilies and lotuses. I recently started growing miniature waterlilies and micro lotuses in small pots which makes it easy to put them anywhere I like.
Wait, there’s just one other thing I wanted to mention before I show you how we installed one of our ponds! A funny thing I noticed about the ponds is that almost every human visitor to Warden’s Woods feels compelled to count all the frogs they see. Two or more visitors end up comparing counts to see who had the highest. For such unconventionally beautiful creatures, they really attract everyone’s admiration. I am not sure I understand the attraction of the frogs, but I certainly have succumbed to their spell just the same. Maybe it’s the way they lazily float in the cool water on hot days, four limbs carelessly sprawled out in all directions, without an ounce of muscle tension that makes us envious. Maybe it’s the serenity they emanate sitting still for hours as we fret and scurry about. They seem to enjoy every moment of life with not a care in the world. Have you ever seen a frog cower, flinch or scream? They take it all in stride or rather, in their stillness. The draw of the pond is like a magnet. Young, old, family, friends, dogs, racoons, even anyone coming for just a moment to deliver a package, all heed the silent command to peer into the pond. I often catch delivery drivers on their way to the door, glance inside the pond. Their legs carry them forward, but their gaze remains fixed on the pond until their necks can rotate no more and they break their stares. I’m not positive what they are staring at, but as I see them smile, I imagine it must be the sight of a frog enjoying life in ways we cannot. Biophilia inhabits us all. Here are some of those charming frogs doing their thing in the pond:
Sorry! That was my last detour from the serious work of pond installation. I got distracted again. I promised myself I would share some practical information about how we constructed our ponds. So here we go. Here’s the riveting, never-before-heard information you’ve been waiting for. You see, what we do is dig a hole, line the hole, and fill with water. Mind-blowing, right? If I’m feeling fancy (and there’s electricity available), I like to have a waterfall, not only to help water quality but also for the sound of running water. When we had koi, having a pressurized water filtration system kept the water crystal clear. We no longer need that without the koi so now the water is often full of life (aka scummy), but it doesn’t bother me too much if I focus on what I have instead of what I don’t. I have frogs, dragonflies and newts. So, it’s worth the tradeoff. Without the koi the plants don’t get eaten either. (Wait, am I talking about pond critters again instead of how we made the ponds?)
This time I’m going to really focus on the mechanics of pond installation! Here’s some before shots of one of the pond sites.
And now come the “after” shots!
Ok so maybe pond installation isn’t all that fascinating a topic for me to discuss. It was hard work, and I’d rather forget that part. As you see, I’d much rather talk about all the life they bring and how they enrich a garden!
