3 tons of rocks and gravel waiting in the driveway

We dug the hole for the skimmer

But we weren’t done digging just yet. The skimmer still needed an overflow trench (not quite finished here and later filled with gravel – Remember to guide the overflow AWAY! from your foundations) and the feeder hose for the filter from which the waterfall would start (the thin line running between the pond edge and the tomato plants behind it):

It rained during the night

As you can see, the clay is quite watertight. So now, we have to drain out the water to continue building the pond. Oh, the irony…

Trying to keep a natural look and different heights for plants

The third shelf and the skimmer hole are almost done. The pond depth is now at its final 2 feet. Which mean that the digging is almost at an end. Woohoo!

Actually we dug the deepest part down to a little over two feet, since it would be partly filled back up with gravel, and two feet is the sweet spot between giving your fish a survival chance and needing a pool permit from the city.

It begins

The lilies have been temporary relocated underneath the lilac. The pond is now roughly 5 feet by 8 feet, and the first shelf (8″ deep) has been excavated. Also, the honeymoon’s over: after an easy digging in soil and sand, we hit clay. Hard, compact, stone-encrusted clay.

At the end of the day the second shelf (roughly 16 inches deep) was also done. At the back, we hit a pocket of clay with small mussel-like shells. Could be old denizens of the Stony Swamp, or perhaps fossils of the St-Lawrence sea. Either way, it brings an aura of archaeological mystery to the digging. A clammy aura, maybe, but an aura still.

Marking the territory

We knew we wanted flowing water and a pond deep enough to overwinter fish, but didn’t have the space for a riverbed, so a tiered pond with a small waterfall was our choice. Since our backyard is completely flat, we had to create a berm the waterfall could ‘spring’ from. This was also the easiest solution to get rid of the soil we dug out.

As for position, we wanted part shade, part sun. A compromise between having flowering plants and keeping algae in check. We also didn’t want to have to fish out too many leaves in the fall, so opted for a position at the edge of an overhanging lilac bush, took out the day-glo spray can and marked our territory:

In the end, we decided to go a little bigger than originally planned, but not too much.

We’re going to build a pond

The tiger had been making noises about a pond in the backyard for some time, so I gave him a kit for his birthday a couple of months ago.

The had already decided about size, style and place. What would still ‘look right’ and in scale? How much maintenance could we/did we want to put up with?

We have a stamp size backyard, part of which is taken up by our deck, so it was pretty clear from the beginning that it would be a small pond, roughly the size of a large bath tub.

Nestled in the lily arch is where it’ll be: