The Garden Pond

We had always wanted a pond; my dad had one and every time we visited part of our time was spent sitting next to it and feeding the fish. Once we moved, Simon in particular was ready! Unfortunately, we moved in May which quickly became HOT. By July, we had picked our site, but what fool would start digging a pond then? A determined fourteen year old one.

Ground was broken July 3rd. Simon would dig a little, get the hose, hose himself and the hole , then dig some more. It was actually quite an effective way of doing it. Digging continued over the months and everyone helped out, even our dog Archie. By the Fall, our hole was ready and with my parents help we installed the liner, built the waterfall and lay the flagstone. This spring planting began and on May 23rd hundreds of tadpoles could be seen! Of course, many also disappeared, but over the past couple of weeks several batches of frogs and toads have magically appeared! We have to tiptoe around the pond because there are tiny createures everywhere!

We have also added some fish, the first two I have dubbed Mr. Dickinson and Judge Wilson much to Simon's dismay. Both were representatives from Pennsylvania on the Continental Congress. In the musical 1776, Judge Wilson, desperate to go unnoticed, always followed Mr. Dickinson around and did what he did. These two fish behave much in the same way; I think you can now see why Simon is dismayed! We have worked very hard to get the fish used to us and we had finally succeeded in getting them not to disappear every time we walked up. Then one day last week, they were gone, no sign of them anywhere! By Sunday we had finally seen three of them and it became obvious that one had been permanently removed. No wonder they were hiding!

When we planted the Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum dissectum "Green Hornet") we needed something to help shore up the ground. Looking around for something, I spotted an old cedar log in the woods. Simon and I took turns digging it out then moved it in place. Simon added some lichen which seems to be happy! The only problem is the maple is a little too threadleaf so the leaves don't show up well. Any ideas?

Future thoughts: Keep filling in plants, add more koi and, oh yeah, there's the "expansion project." We have some leftover liner and well, what else would one do with it, but build another pond a little further up the slope with a stream connecting the two...Little and Lewis warn that water gardens can be addicting...