How to build a small pond in the garden
6 June 2019 12:12
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How to quickly build a small pond. What's good to know.
Do you have a Vodyanoy living in your house?
How to build a small pond in the garden quickly.
Published in "Flora-Price" magazine, July 2005, Saint Petersburg
I walk between the seedbeds, enjoying - finally the greenery, finally the warmth. Everything is sown and planted, fertilized, and my soul is at peace. My son approaches me: "Mom, are there fairies, mermaids, and vodyanoy? He asks, hoping for an affirmative answer because you want to believe in miracles when you are four years old.
I look around and realize that in our gardening, as in many others, there is nothing mysterious - just houses and beds. Where are the mysterious heroes of children's fantasies to live? And you do not want to disappoint a child ... While I'm thinking about what to say, Danya has already found a way out himself: "Let's plant a forest here, and then we'll have a laird to live with. Forest - is, of course, good, but when every spring the question arises where else to squeeze in a few beets and a few peas, the idea of a forest on the site sounds even more fantastic than the very existence of the forest. After a joint discussion, we decided that the mermaids and water spirits are more compact creatures, and we will put them on our property: after all, a small pond will take up less space than the smallest forest.
We chose a shady spot between the apple and cherry trees - the most mysterious in the garden - and set to work. It is not recommended to place the pond under the trees because leaves and flower blossoms will fall into the water, littering it. Well, we will have to pick up litter from the water surface more often. But our future pond will not overheat on a hot summer afternoon, and the fish (we need subjects to our underwater king!) will feel comfortable.
Everything was clear with the size of the reservoir, the free plot of land determined it, the shape was decided to make the simplest - rounded, slightly elongated. We marked the contour on the ground and dug a hole. One bank was made lower so that in spring or during the long rains, extra water would pour out of the reservoir, and it would not turn into a swamp.
It is difficult to say who helped who - my son did his best, he chose the biggest shovel in the barn because he was implementing his idea. In-depth, the reservoir turned out about 70 cm. "There are such small watermen," said Danya, "one just like it here. And the fish would be fine with a pond this deep.
After the pit for the future reservoir is dug, it is necessary to tamp the pond's bottom. This process caused many positive emotions in Dani - we had to stomp our feet as hard as possible. We then poured a thin layer of sand on the bottom (you can use peat instead of sand), about 5 cm, so that the film, which we will put in the pond, less deformed by the roots of trees and small stones. We lightly moistened the sand and tamped it again. When we couldn't stomp any more, we started laying the film on the bottom.
We took a special film for water ponds, it is not afraid to leave it for the winter - the frost will not crack, and it will last a long time because it would be a pity if all our beauty will please us only one or two seasons. To prevent the film from being damaged by the pressure of the ice in winter, we usually throw wooden sticks or empty plastic bottles into the pond, which take the pressure off the banks, protecting the film.
By spreading the film folds from the center to the banks, Danya had a good time crawling and crawling in the hole. The edges of the film had to be cut after the pond was filled with water. So we took a hose, filled the pit - first by 1/3 and after two hours - to the edges. This is done so that the air from under the film could escape during those two hours, and the soil settled under the weight of the water. After that, Danya cut off the excess foil with scissors, leaving 30 cm to disguise the edges.
How to build a small pond in the garden quickly.
Published in "Flora-Price" magazine, July 2005, Saint Petersburg
I walk between the seedbeds, enjoying - finally the greenery, finally the warmth. Everything is sown and planted, fertilized, and my soul is at peace. My son approaches me: "Mom, are there fairies, mermaids, and vodyanoy? He asks, hoping for an affirmative answer because you want to believe in miracles when you are four years old.
I look around and realize that in our gardening, as in many others, there is nothing mysterious - just houses and beds. Where are the mysterious heroes of children's fantasies to live? And you do not want to disappoint a child ... While I'm thinking about what to say, Danya has already found a way out himself: "Let's plant a forest here, and then we'll have a laird to live with. Forest - is, of course, good, but when every spring the question arises where else to squeeze in a few beets and a few peas, the idea of a forest on the site sounds even more fantastic than the very existence of the forest. After a joint discussion, we decided that the mermaids and water spirits are more compact creatures, and we will put them on our property: after all, a small pond will take up less space than the smallest forest.
We chose a shady spot between the apple and cherry trees - the most mysterious in the garden - and set to work. It is not recommended to place the pond under the trees because leaves and flower blossoms will fall into the water, littering it. Well, we will have to pick up litter from the water surface more often. But our future pond will not overheat on a hot summer afternoon, and the fish (we need subjects to our underwater king!) will feel comfortable.
Everything was clear with the size of the reservoir, the free plot of land determined it, the shape was decided to make the simplest - rounded, slightly elongated. We marked the contour on the ground and dug a hole. One bank was made lower so that in spring or during the long rains, extra water would pour out of the reservoir, and it would not turn into a swamp.
It is difficult to say who helped who - my son did his best, he chose the biggest shovel in the barn because he was implementing his idea. In-depth, the reservoir turned out about 70 cm. "There are such small watermen," said Danya, "one just like it here. And the fish would be fine with a pond this deep.
After the pit for the future reservoir is dug, it is necessary to tamp the pond's bottom. This process caused many positive emotions in Dani - we had to stomp our feet as hard as possible. We then poured a thin layer of sand on the bottom (you can use peat instead of sand), about 5 cm, so that the film, which we will put in the pond, less deformed by the roots of trees and small stones. We lightly moistened the sand and tamped it again. When we couldn't stomp any more, we started laying the film on the bottom.
We took a special film for water ponds, it is not afraid to leave it for the winter - the frost will not crack, and it will last a long time because it would be a pity if all our beauty will please us only one or two seasons. To prevent the film from being damaged by the pressure of the ice in winter, we usually throw wooden sticks or empty plastic bottles into the pond, which take the pressure off the banks, protecting the film.
By spreading the film folds from the center to the banks, Danya had a good time crawling and crawling in the hole. The edges of the film had to be cut after the pond was filled with water. So we took a hose, filled the pit - first by 1/3 and after two hours - to the edges. This is done so that the air from under the film could escape during those two hours, and the soil settled under the weight of the water. After that, Danya cut off the excess foil with scissors, leaving 30 cm to disguise the edges.
We decided to cover the film with stones around the pond's perimeter and plant moisture-loving plants behind the rocks. We chose a water lily from what was growing on the plot, a lily of the valley, a hosta, and an astilbe. Then we walked around the neighborhood, dug a yellow marsh iris in a nearby ditch, and brought a fern from the forest. According to the rules, it takes 1-2 days to decorate the shores of a newly made pond, but we had to hurry - before the excitement wore off, and I want to say that nothing bad happened because the plants were planted immediately, but, on the contrary, with a sense of accomplishment before all the vodyanoy in the world, Dan and I went to bed.
Tomorrow we have a lot of things planned: we need to plant reeds, water lilies, and butterwort in our pond, invite frogs and dragonflies for a housewarming party, and most importantly, learn what little vodyanoys like most of all, how to make friends with them, and what to treat them with.
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