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I created this web site as an ongoing project that follows the day to day progress of building our pond. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to let me know. 

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We've been planning on building a pond, with waterfall (and fish!), for a couple years now. So today was the day I actually got started. Over the past year I have been looking at other peoples ponds, talking to various landscaping companies ( I got several quotes ranging anywhere from $2500 to $6000) and looking up pond resources on the web. I also started collecting stones for the pond. A couple weeks ago I called the gas company, hydro, etc to make sure there were no underground lines in the way...all clear! This will be a good learning experience and I hope to have some fun along the way too, and the greatest accomplishment will be the satisfaction of knowing that I built this pond with my very own hands. I suspect that the hardest thing will be making the waterfall.

My goal is to have this pond completely finished by my son's 5th birthday, which is August 11 (less than 3 months away), so I don't think that will be a problem. Another goal I initially had was to make the pond myself for under $1000, but I am not too concerned about going over.


Day 1 - Wednesday, May 22, 2002

Here is where the pond will go. There wasn't too many choices left of where to build the pond.
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We used an extension cord to make a rough outline of the shape of the pond and then started to dig out the grass.
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This is going to take forever with a little shovel, better use this big one.  Have to move this lilac bush too.
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Hey look, a worm!
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I plan on using the dirt from the hole to make a hill for the waterfall.  Somehow I have a feeling that there will be lots of dirt left over.
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That's a good start, but still lots of work left to do. The ground is really hard so it will take a long time to dig the hole.  I will probably buy a pick axe to help loosen up the dirt. I plan on digging it 3 feet deep in the middle and a ledge about 1 foot deep along most of the edges.


Day 2 - Thursday, May 23, 2002

Went to a Sid's Ponds and Gardenscapes today. The staff there was very helpful and knowledgeable. The lady I talked to gave me lots of information and brochures. They really know their ponds! They had some really nice ponds on display too.

Found out that The Building Box has a pond seminar on Sunday, so I might go there.


Day 3 - Friday, May 24, 2002

Went to Canadian Tire and bought a pick axe today. It really came in handy for digging the hole, as the ground was really hard with lots of clay.  A lot easier than using a spade to loosen the dirt.
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Look at the big hole I dug. Probably still have to make it wider and about a foot deeper.
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This is how far I got after digging for 3 hours. Its getting a little cold, so thats enough for today.
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Worshipping the pond God.
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I figure I am about half way done with digging. I won't be working on it this weekend. That will give me a few days to rest my sore muscles.

I just had a new idea for my pond, make a second much smaller pond up on the hill (not the pile of dirt), as the backyard does go up on an incline towards the back fence, and then have part of the waterfall go into the small pond and then trickle down to the big pond. Also the other part of the waterfall will go directly into the big pond. Does this sound feasible? Pretty soon there won't be much grass left to cut in the backyard.


Day 4 - Monday, May 27, 2002

Climbing out of the hole.
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Measuring to make sure it's level. Looks like we are finally done digging the hole. Just need to smooth some of the ground out and remove any loose stones. Any suggestions on how to turn the big pile of dirt into a waterfall?
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There's the deepest part of the hole, just over 3 feet deep.
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Day 5 - Tuesday, May 28, 2002

Today I went to buy the liner and underlay. The pond is about 12' long by 8.5' wide by 3' deep. The liner was 20' x 16.5' and I also bought a smaller 10' x 5' liner to place on the front of the pile of dirt, where I will be putting the waterfall. I first went to a couple of other places that dealt with pond supplies, but I wasn't too impressed with their knowledge and service, so I went back to Sid's Ponds and Gardenscapes (which I was at last week too), and bought the stuff there. Once again, the lady there was a great help and gave me some excellent suggestions for the waterfall and answered all my questions. She even gave my son a little stone frog to put in the pond area. He was very excited. The next thing that I probably need to buy will be rocks.


Day 6 - Wednesday, May 29, 2002

I bought 300 lbs of gray 1" flagstone today from a place called Harwoods. Of all the places I went to, they definitely had the best prices for stones and had a very good selection too. I would have liked to do some more work on the pond today, but instead I volunteered to go to an old man's house in town and install floor tiles for him in his hall. Tomorrow I plan on going back to Harwoods if I have the time and getting some more stones, and also do some more work on the pond.

A strange observation I have made over the last view days is that when I look into the deepest part of the hole, there are hundreds of worms and worm like things wriggling around in there. As soon as I saw them it immediately reminded me of Fear Factor. Also, every day there are more and more of those worms.


Day 7 - Thursday, May 30, 2002

I bought another 300 lbs of gray 1" flagstone today.

Since the pile of dirt is close to the fence, I nailed a few fence boards horizontally along the back of the fence (2 boards highs), but I need to buy some more boards to put along the side and maybe got one board higher along the back. I figure this will make a good retaining wall and stop the dirt from flowing through the fence into the neighbours' backyards when it rains. My neighbour was offered to loan me his jack hammer, which was very nice of him, so I used it to smooth out the ledges and help dig out some other parts of the hole. The jack hammer makes it so much easier with the hard clay dirt. Too bad it started to rain, so I really didn't get too much done, so I went back to the old man's house that I went to yesterday and finished laying the tiles in his hall.

My son and I were standing on the pile of dirt, talking to my backyard neighbour and then my son slips and slides down the pile of dirt and just stops before falling into the hole. I thought for sure that he would fall all the way down. He was ok.


Day 8 - Friday, May 31, 2002

I did a lot of work on the pond today. More today than any other day. I finished the hole today, including making shelves and smoothing out the ground. The jack hammer sure came in handy. I bought some more fence boards and nailed them horizontally, 3 boards high along the back fence and side fence. I then pushed the dirt up against the boards and shoveled a lot of the dirt from the front of the hill, towards the back as I think my hill was too steep and too close to the hole.
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My right knee has been hurting me all day, either from all the digging or because I hit my knee with the handle of the pick axe earlier this week. My body aches and I feel tired, and I even got a sun burn on my arms and back of my neck today. I don't plan on doing any work on the pond this weekend. I've decided to take my son to a parade tomorrow morning and then go to my mom's house for the weekend and pick of my car from there. My next step will be to shape the hill, in order to make a nice waterfall. I think I will make two waterfalls, one down the front, and then one gently sloping down the left side and then turning into the pond. I don't think I will make the second pond beside the hill as I thought I might do. I guess I could always do that in the future, if I really wanted it. On the top of the hill I will make a small pool of water and from there it will flow out to form my waterfalls.

One thing that I am beginning to become concerned about is what do I do about the water runoff from the pile of dirt when it rains? I certainly don't want to get any dirt in the pond. I wonder if I need to put a liner over the entire front and maybe the sides of the hill? I am sure I made some mistakes in building my pond and will probably make some more, but it is certainly a fun learning experience. Suggestions are always welcome and appreciated.


Day 9 - Sunday, June 2, 2002

I started to shape the hill of dirt for where I want the water to flow down. A wide waterfall down the front and a narrow one down the side. I also tried out the liner to make sure it was big enough for the hole, and it is! This in my opinion will be the hard part, to figure out how to make the waterfall. Here is a view from my computer room window on the 2nd floor.
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Day 10 - Tuesday, June 4, 2002

I didn't do any work on the pond today, since it rained all day. However I did decide to go back to Sid's Ponds and get some advice about the waterfall, as I still had some concerns on what to do with it. Once again I got some great advice and now I have a good idea of what I plan on doing with the hill of dirt and how to shape the waterfall. I also asked the lady there about what kind/size of pump and filter I needed. The lady at Sid's Ponds also loaned me a very good book called, "How to Build Ponds and Waterfalls". They also just happened to be building another pond to add to their collection while we were there. I was going to buy some more rocks, but it was getting late, so I'll do that later this week. Tomorrow I need to spray the lawn again since there seems to be a lot of short worm like creatures called leatherjackets in the ground. I need to spray them before I do any further work on the pond since the chemicals can be deadly to the pond. So hopefully towards the end of the week or by the weekend if I stay home, I will put the liner in and finish a good part of the pond and waterfall.


Day 11 - Wednesday, June 5, 2002

It rained again today and that made the hill of dirt really wet, but that was a good thing, as I was able to shape how I want the two waterfalls. I also dug a small pool at the top of the hill. From this small pool, the water will flow down the two waterfalls. I had previously bought a pre-cut 10'x5' liner for the larger waterfall and I laid it down over top of it, but it was about 2 feet too short, but I figure I can probably use it for the other waterfall. So I went back to Sid's Ponds and bought another liner 15'x8', which is more than big enough for the larger waterfall, but I wanted to make sure that it was big, just in case. From the last 2 days of rain, there is about a 1' deep puddle in the middle of the pond. I think I have made excellent progress now and the next step will be to lay down the liner and rocks for the waterfall.


Day 12 - Thursday, June 6, 2002

I only went to buy some more rock today from Harwood. I bought 3 different kinds, which were some more flagstone, 5 Armour rocks (nice black\dark grey look), which I want to use to put in between the hill and pond, which should stop any dirt from flowing into the pond and another type which was long and square, which would be good to lay around the edge of the fence or to make a boarder for something.


Day 13 - Friday, June 7, 2002

I put down the underlay and liner on the pond and large waterfall. I also positioned the first flagstone in place on the waterfall. My clothes got really dirty from the mud.


Day 14 - Monday, June 10, 2002

We began putting rocks on the waterfall today and also built up the edges of the waterfall, so that the water doesn't spill out. I think we made some excellent progress today and my mother was a great help. There's a big heavy rock on the bottom step of the waterfall, which was a real pain to move over there. We had to keep flipping it to get it close, as it was just too heavy for the two of us to carry, but it looks nice in there. There's also a lot of mud on the liner now.
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Here's another view. There is a small pool at the top of the hill. I ran the hose up there and filled it with water to see how the water would flow down the waterfall. Unfortunately most of it flows under the rocks, so it looks like I will need to position them better and angle them properly.
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I'm really enjoying building this pond and waterfall, and am taking my time doing it. I'll probably be buying the pump and filter tomorrow, and hopefully filling it with water sometime this week.


Day 15 - Thursday, June 13, 2002

I bought a pump, filter, fountain, etc. from Sid's Ponds today. Hopefully the weather will be nice so I can work on the pond more tomorrow and on the weekend, but it's supposed to rain the next 3 days.


Day 16 - Saturday, June 15, 2002

It's been raining a lot the last couple days, including today and there's still lots of rain and thunderstorms in the forecast for the next few days. However, I got lucky today as there was several hours with no rain. I started by cleaning all of the mud off of the liner, which was quite a task. I basically had to rub the mud off with a cloth and also had to bail out the water from the lower portion of the pond several times, as it was all brown from the mud.

Inspecting the top of the waterfall and small pool area.
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Cleaning the rocks for daddy.
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The last piece of liner is now in place over the narrow waterfall and we begin to fill the pond with water. What good timing as it is also starting to rain now. We stood in the rain (with umbrellas of course) watching the water fill the pond. What an exciting and satisfying moment!
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The pond is now full. We put the pump and fountain in and tested the waterfalls.
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We worked on the pond for about 7 hours non stop today and we got pretty wet and dirty, but it was fun and we made excellent progress. I like the way the water flows down the small waterfall, but I am still not happy with the way the water flows down the big waterfall...too much of it is still going under the rocks. The fountain is also taking away pressure from the waterfall, but I have a valve on it so I can adjust it.

The next thing to do would be to hook up the electrical, attach the filter, get some pond plants, get some fish in a few days and lay down the rocks, and lots more. I will still have to gather and buy more rocks too. Since the pond is on a slight slope, I think I will build up the lower area maybe six more inches so that the pond can hold more water. So there is still quite a bit to do before it is finished.


Day 17 - Sunday, June 16, 2002

I didn't do much with the pond today other than look at it. I placed some of the flagstone around the edge of the pond just to see what it would look like and played around with the water flow, but that is about it.


Day 18 - Tuesday, June 18, 2002

Another exciting day today. We went to Sid's Ponds today and bought a number of plants, a bag of small rocks and they also gave us our first 3 goldfish and some fish food. Here we are releasing them into their new home. Also bought a bag of lava rocks from Harwood to put around the filter in the basket.
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Here you can see 2 of them happily swimming. They seem to like their new home. However, whenever I turned the pump off, they seemed to disappear.
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I buried the filter part way into the ground in the back corner by the fence, but I haven't hooked it up yet, as I need to get two clamps to attach the hoses. I didn't want to take the chance of the hoses coming off.
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Also this evening we went to a friend's place in town who also has a pond filled with goldfish (they had babies earlier this year). He was going to give us some, but they were hard to catch as they were all hiding, but we did manage to get one of them, a nice silver coloured goldfish. It was still a baby so it hadn't turned orange yet. He said he would catch us some tomorrow morning. My son was very excited. So we have 4 fish in total now.


Day 19 - Wednesday, June 19, 2002

Our friend in town showed up this morning at our house with another 4 goldfish, 2 of which were black and 2 orange. So we now have 8 fish in total. They all seem very happy swimming in their new home. They seem to stick together like a school of fish. We fed them this morning, but they didn't seem too interested in the food, but I did see them nibbling on the plants later in the day.

I also hooked up the filter today. I have a hose going from the pump to a T and then from the T, one hose goes into the filter and then out of the filter into the small pool on top of the hill, while the other hose from the T goes directly into the same small pool...this hose I plan on putting at the top of the waterfall so that it gets a good flow down the big waterfall, and the other will sit in the small pool and feed both the big and small waterfall. When I first hooked it up I could not understand why no water was going through the filter. Then I changed the direction of the T, but still no water through the filter. Then I decided to stick my hand at the end of the hose that bypassed the filter, and the water did go through the filter then, which was probably not a good idea to send all the water through the filter at once, as it started making rumbling sounds, since the filter is only meant to handle 1000 gph and not the 1800 gph that the pump puts out, hence the need for the T. I noticed that the problem was that the hose going directly into the top pool was positioned lower than that going into the filter, and as we all know, water takes the path of least resistance. Well with that problem figured out, I positioned the hoses so that water flowed out of both hoses. I also noticed a slight leak in the intake of the filter, where the hose was attached, but after taking it apart a few times I figured out that the rubber O ring needed to go on the other side of the nozzle, so that was another problem solved, but I should check the outtake to make sure I have the O ring on the correct side.

The only other thing that we did was gather 2 trunk loads of rock from the side of the road of a new subdivision that was being built in town. I feel sorry for the people that will move there as the entire site is just covered with millions of rocks of all shapes and sizes. My son, Tylor, really had a lot of fun helping collect the rocks and then helping to carry them from the car into the backyard. I am sure he will have lots of fun cleaning the rocks too as they are covered in red dirt.


Day 20 - Thursday, June 20, 2002

Began positioning the rocks around the top pool and also smaller rocks between those and the fence at the top of the hill too. Also positioning smaller rocks and pea gravel on the highest level of the smaller waterfall.


Day 21 - Friday, June 21, 2002

I unscrewed the outtake cap from the filter and repositioned it in a different direction. Only worked on the pond for an hour, as I had to pick up my son from school and then it started to rain too. Tomorrow there is a street party, so I probably won't have a chance to do anything tomorrow either.


Day 22 - Sunday, June 23, 2002

It's a very hot and humid weekend. My son had a lot of fun at the street party yesterday and then we also went to a strawberry festival yesterday in Milton, however after awhile I started feeling sick so we went back home and I rested. I think maybe I was just out in the sun too much yesterday so it got to me. Today we went to a pond seminar at Sid's Ponds today. It was interesting, and I did learn some things that I might have done differently, but I am already pretty far in making my pond, so it's too late now to change things. We then went to Building Box and bought 2 Juniper bushes and also 2 bags of the white marble rocks. I want to put these all around the pond eventually, so I just bought 2 bags to see what it would look like for now.

I worked about 4 hours on the pond today. We cut some of the liner on the hill and planted one of the Juniper bushes and another spreading plant that I had in the garden. Also positioned more rocks. I also put tape under the liner of the small waterfall, so that water would not go back up under the liner.


Day 23 - Monday, June 24, 2002

Compared to the weekend it was rather cool today, but was great for working on the pond after the rain stopped. We pulled up some grass around the pond area and placed it upside down under the liner around the lower edges of the pond, so that we could raise the lower end as the pond is on a slight slope. This will let me put more water into the pond. I also placed flagstone around these edges that we built up and I plan on doing it in two layers so that it is more stable and so that they don't wobble when someone walks on them. We do need to buy quite a bit more of the flagstone. My mom was once again a great help today with the pond, as she usually is when she is over. We also put some landscaping fabric around the pond area, but I need to buy some more sometime this week. I plan on putting the shiny white marble stone chips around the pond area where I am putting the landscaping fabric.

The fish seem really happy and this makes me smile too. They are beginning to come to the surface to eat now in the morning when we feed them, especially the 2 little ones.


Day 24 - Thursday, June 27, 2002

Before we got started today.
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Bought more flagstone and armour rock today from Harwood. We continued to lay the flagstone around the edge of the pond, 2 stones thick so that they don't wobble as much, but I still have to buy a few as I didn't have enough. Also, one of the flagstones we bought today was rather large and I got a great idea to make a small bridge over the 1 foot gap between the bottom step of the deck and the rim of the pond. The stone fit perfectly. We also put a bag of the 1 1/4" marble beside the bridge, so that all looks good. However, I have to find a good inexpensive place to buy more of the 1 1/4" marble, as I would need too many bags to buy it all by the bag. Harwood also had some very long pieces of flagstone, which would make another excellent bridge. Maybe I will have one coming from each end of the deck steps. We also planted another Juniper bush below the edge of the hill where the small waterfall is.


Day 25 - Friday, June 28, 2002

Bought a water lily from Sid's Ponds...thanks for the plant for Tylor and the plant food. Also went back to Harwood to buy about 252 pounds of flagstone, which should be enough now. Bought a big piece to make another bridge from the bottom step of the deck. Also bought a package of landscaping fabric from Canadian Tire.


Day 26 - Saturday, June 29, 2002

Enjoying watching the fish from the bridge.
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The fish were really hungry this morning.

I laid down the rest of the flagstone and made the other bridge today. Tylor took the hose and filled up the pond about 4 or 5 inches. He had fun doing that and the fish seemed to like it too.


Day 27 - Tuesday, July 2, 2002

Yesterday was Canada Day. Canada's 135th birthday. We went to a strawberry festival in Brampton, and we had lots of fun. Was it ever hot yesterday, and just as hot today. We also sat outside and enjoyed our pond. Today I called around to see who sold the white marble stones. Everywhere seemed pretty expensive, but I did find one place called Nature's Grove in Brampton that sold it for $100 a cubic yard plus delivery. So after I got a new battery for my car, I decided to drive there to make sure that is what I wanted. I bought 2 cubic yards of 3/4 inch white marble stones, which would be more than enough. When I got home I just finished putting my new battery in my car, when the truck pulled up with the stones. Now that was quick service. So later in the evening we started laying down more landscaping fabric and shoveling the stones into the wheelbarrow. First it didn't look like much stones, but there is a lot! Tylor had lots of fun helping move the stones to the back, but eventually it got too dark so we will have to do the rest tomorrow.

Look at all these white stones and I brought them all here in my little turtle wheelbarrow.
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My mommy would be really proud of all the hard work I do.
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Oh and Sunday was exciting too. My water lily bloomed for the first time, and today there was another bud coming out of the water so I expect the 2nd bud to bloom tomorrow and I see a smaller 3rd one still under water.


Day 28 - Wednesday, July 3, 2002

Just put more of the white marble stones on the other side of the pond today, and moved around some of the big rocks.


Day 29 - Sunday, July 7, 2002

I moved the rest of the white marble stones to the backyard today. I also cleaned the filter for the first time. The water is starting to turn green now, but I am told that is normal after a few weeks and that in another few weeks it should be clear again.


Day 30 - Wednesday, July 17, 2002

Inspecting the grass plant in the top pool. The roots grew a lot since I put it up there. I need to replant it along with a couple of the other plants in the pond.
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Pond is coming along nicely now. Just need to find some creative ways of hiding the liner.
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I haven't done much with the pond over the past couple of weeks. I guess I have just had too much to occupy my time. I figured I might as well do something today and also I really wanted to get finished by my son's birthday. Since we are going to Arizona in 10 days and we get back the day before his birthday, I really don't have too much time left to finish it. Since it was 35ºC today, I waited until the evening, although it was still just as hot. So today I dug a small trench up the right side of the hill, for the hose and then I smoothed and covered the rest of the dirt on the right side with landscaping fabric and then put different rocks and the white marble stones down, but it got dark and I ran out of big rocks, so I have to go gather some more. I also put the one part of the hose in position under a big rock at the top of the hill which I will probably have feed only the big waterfall. There are also signs of algae growth beginning to show on the rocks.


Day 31 - Thursday, July 18, 2002

The pathway up to the filter is now done.
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Just as I finished the pathway pictured above and placing some other rocks, the thunderstorm started. It's been a few weeks now since we had any rain. I also bought 3 more plant baskets and replanted the grass in the top pool and the arrow plant...they should spread\grow very quickly. I also moved the big boulder (pictured above) onto the white marble stones, but not sure how I want to position it yet. I would say that the pond is very close to being done now. Just need to get some more rocks to cover the liner, and I was thinking of getting a large piece of flagstone to put on the top of the hill just to the left of the small stream, put the electrical in and redo the waterfall and seal the rocks of the waterfall into place so that the water flows over the rocks and not under.

The goldfish also seem very friendly. As I was rearranging some things in the water and putting in the plants, they were all swimming really close by and some even began nibbling on my hand. I could even pet them.


Day 32 - Tuesday, July 23, 2002

The pond is nearing completion (I did do more than what is pictured)
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I did quite a bit today. I planted some very small water lilies and also some arrow plants in a couple of pots, which I got while canoeing on Sunday with my son and a friend. My mom bought some long fake green vine like plants from the dollar store on the weekend and we placed those around the stones. At first I was against putting any fake plants by the pond, but these added some nice green colour and they looked awesome. It gave it a nice jungle look and it did a great job of hiding the liner. I plan on buying some more.

The small dwarf juniper near the top of the hill between the 2 waterfalls, some of the branches were turning brown, probably because the liner gets so hot from the sun, so I put while marble stones all around it, so that should help. I also placed more rocks and also 3 big rocks that I took from my gardens, in addition to more marble rock and the rest of the lava rock I had. I then ran out of rocks, so on the way home from my son's swimming lessons (he was able to swim all by himself for the first time today. I am so proud of him!), I gathered some more rocks, which was just enough to place on the liner to the left of the small waterfall. I also repositioned some rocks. It was certainly a lot of work today and I would say that it is now almost done. Ok, so I still want to redo both waterfalls and put sealant down on the rocks, but that will either wait until after my son's birthday or I might just leave it until next year.

The fish are all really friendly. When we stick out hands in the water, they come really close and they also like to be petted.


Spring 2003

All 7 fish survived their first winter. We went and bought some more fish...3 Shubunkins and 2 Koi. We bought them from a private dealer who breads them as a hobby. One of the Koi was missing a fin, so he gave it to Tylor for free.


Sunday, December 21, 2003

The surface of the pond has been frozen for a few weeks now, so yesterday we just happened to be passing by the pond store, and stopped in to buy a new heater for it, so that it keeps a small hole in the ice to let the gases escape. Today I stood in the middle of the pond on the ice which was a couple inches thick and started chipping away at the ice to make a hole for the heater, which floats on top of the water. I saw several of the fish swimming around in the water as I guess they were curious to see what was going on.


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Here is a list of what items I had to purchase in the making of my pond:
(Prices in Canadian $)

$    28.74    Pick axe
$    19.42    Staple gun
$      3.32    Staples
$  261.86    Liner 20' x 16.5'
$    75.90    Underlay
$    51.75    300 lbs of gray 1" flagstone
$    51.75    300 lbs of gray 1" flagstone
$    13.34    5 fence boards
$    95.22    Liner 15' x 8'
$    44.80    Flagstone, 5 armour rocks, and another type
$  350.49    Pump and fittings
$  328.09    Filter
$    47.40    Hose, 1 1/4", 25'
$    25.86    Fountain head (pkg of 3)
$    45.99    15 plants (7 different types)
$      6.31    Bag of small rocks
$    11.49    Bag of lava rocks
$      2.26    2 clamps
$      8.03    2 plant baskets
$      6.85    2 18kg bags of white marble chip stone, 1/2" and 1 1/4"
$    16.05    2 different Juniper bushes
$    61.64    324 lbs of gray 1" flagstone and 2 armour rocks
$    22.99    Water lily
$    43.47    252 lbs of gray 1" flagstone
$      9.19    Landscaping fabric
$  272.80    2 cubic yards of white marble 3/4" stones
$    10.66    3 plant baskets
$      6.90    6 green vine like fake plants
$      4.60    4 green vine like fake plants
$    33.95    Electrical
$    37.92    Stones, sealant, fish food
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$2033.54    Total cost of my pond (so far). Canadian $
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These are the tools I have used so far in the construction of my pond:
Extension cord (to lay out the shape of the pond)
Edging spade
Spade
Little shovel
Pick axe
Flat shovel
Level
Measuring tape
Piece of long wood
Jack hammer
Hammer
Circular saw
Rake
Line level
String
Sledge hammer\axe
Scissors
Large bucket
Kid's pail
Brush
Garden hose
Masking tape
Plastic bag
Pot of boiling water
Three rags
Broom
Small broom
Electric jigsaw
Utility knife
Kitchen knife
Plastic container
Screw driver
Wheelbarrow
Turtle wheelbarrow
Alligator shovel
Snow shovel
Staple gun


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Links to useful resources on the web:
Water Gardening Magazine Forums
PondClub.com
RnR Custom Creations Pond Chat
Daydreamer Aquatic Gardens
The Internet Pond Society
The Plant Place - Pond Construction 101
Burns Water gardens
Do you want to build a pond?
The Water Garden
The Real McKoi
Ponds Builtbyu
FindPonds.com
Building a backyard goldfish pond in a day
Pet Project: Installing a Koi Pond & Water Garden in Your Yard
Werner's Water Gardens
Build Your Own Cheap Garden Pond
New England Aquatics
Pondmaster's Plus

Have a look at the ponds others have built:
Coste Family Website
MisterPond.com
Our Pond
Our Water Garden Pond
Michael's Watergarden
Robyn's Pond Page
Pete's Pond Page
Karen's Frog Pond
CJ's Adventures In Ponding
Joe's Pond '98
Steve's Pond
Lucy's Pond Page
Jim's Pond & Garden
Sherrie's Fishpond & Watergarden
Our Back Garden Pond
Rose's Water Gardening
My Redneck Pond

PETsMART.com