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: