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| Our nursery is now permanently closed ... our gardens are now 'private gardens' and appointments are required to visit them. |
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Reilly's Country Gardens
Pond Building Digest
December, 2009
'Phil's Phollies', the name family members have ascribed to our pond, was built in mid-November of 2004. By early December 2004 we had water flowing over the waterfall, down the short stream course and into our 16' x 16' lower pond. A patio stone platform overhangs the pond to provide sanctuary to resident gold fish from maurauding racoons or herons should they find our watery haven (we've not had any in five years of operation) and provides a base for pond-themed statuary.
About the Pond.
Since our property is flat, we needed to build our waterfall area up from ground level. Municipal regulations dictate that water can not be more than 2 feet deep without being enclosed by fencing - no fences wanted here. The raised waterfall area has a dry-laid Wiarton ledge-rock retaining wall around it to confine the mound created from the soil excavated for the pond.
The project uses Aquascape components and ecological operation/building techniques - i.e. a pond liner whose surfaces are completely covered by granite stones of varying sizes. There is a Biofall (a black box containing various filters and outlet lip creating a waterfall platform) at the upper end of the system, connected at the opposite end of the system to a recesessed skimmer box (same concept as for swimming pools). The skimmer doubles as a housing for the 3000 gallon per hour recirculating pump which powers the waterfall. The ecological design need is two-fold:
a) to provide bacteria with lots of growing surfaces (the rock) to have abundant bacteria to consume the surplus nutrients (fish poo!) introduced into the water and,
b) to provide lots of oxygen to the water (through the waterfalls and agitation in the Biofall unit) to maintain a healthy and thriving bacterial community that consumes surplus nutrients.
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The following are photos of the building phase of the project.
The initial construction took about 10 working days (about 100 hours of labour).
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The location and initial pond outline is seen here. Richard Inchley, our pond builder, is in the early stages of constructing a stable cement block home for the small upper pond which receives the water exiting the biofalls. Our base soil is clay and liable to movement when it becomes water-saturated - something that happens each spring. Richard has created an 8 inch granular stone base on the clay and successive layers of building blocks are glued together using construction cement. The voids of the blocks are filled with gravel to help stabilize the blockwork.
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From background to foreground the following is visible:
- the dry-laid stone retaining wall for the elevated waterfall area is completed,
- the black Biofall box is situated between the retaining wall and the upper pond block structure such that the water from the Biofall will cascade into the upper pond,
- Richard is outlining the lower pond areas to be dug, and
- the water skimmer unit (to be dug into the soil) is positioned but not yet sunken in the ground.
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The excavation is well in hand. Excavated soil has been placed in the area around the upper pond and Biofall unit. Landscape cloth was positioned against the dry-laid rock wall to prevent soil from eroding out between the rocks.
Also visible is a single course of cement block that forms a stabilzed area for one of the stream course waterfalls.
Richard has created in the soil a series of internal ledges that will provide bases for large boulders to gradually incline upperwards to the pond margins and for marginal plants to be placed, in pots, in the pond.
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The one-piece butyl rubber pond liner has been placed (over a layer of felt underlay cloth) in the pond and up over the entire upper pond/waterfall/stream course.
One end of the pond and under the stream entrance to the pond has a vertical stone wall while the balance of the pond will have round rock margins. Note the extra felt underlay (the black cloth) placed on the pond liner to give extra protection to the liner from sharp edges of the vertical stacked wall stones
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| The water skimmer end of the pond shows the butyl liner about to be fastened and secured with silicone sealant to the skimmer. The skimmer has been sunk into the ground such that the pond's water level will be about 3 inches below surrounding lawns and gardens. |
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The pond is filled, no leaks detected and water is flowing down the stream course.
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| Mid-July 2005
The aquatic plants have been installed for about a month - the perennials and flowering shrubs on the sloped banks about two months. Exept for a couple of plants, the aquatic plants are installed in the pond in their original containers.
The flag stone path in foreground gives tht 'finished' look. We are very pleased with the outcome!.
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| Mid-August 2005
I have been 'tweeking', for esthetic reasons, the location of containerized pond plants. The high density of aquatic plants (just like they are supposed to) have minimized algal blooms in the pond water. We sit by the pond frequently viewing the increasing populations of frogs, goldfish and aquatic insects that are attracted to the watery environment. We are very pleased with the outcome!.
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