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| Spring Pond Changes | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 11 2012, 12:10 AM (173 Views) | |
| Its Just Don | May 11 2012, 12:10 AM Post #1 |
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Bluegill
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Here are some photos taken from my upstairs window on March 7, March 21, April 3 and May 10. Interesting to see the dramatic differences in a time of just 2 months. March 7 Posted Image March 21 Posted Image April 3 Posted Image May 10 Posted Image And, as a bonus spring shot, this one is of the toad tadpoles that hatched today, just five days after their parents were screaming and laying eggs. There are tens of thousands in the lily pool, clinging to the sides and all the vegetation. These are on my finger to show their size. Posted Image |
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| 43freckleface | May 11 2012, 02:28 AM Post #2 |
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Bluegill
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The pictures are wonderful Don and your pond looks great. Do you always empty your lily pool in the fall? It looks like you have loads of pads already. Won't be long before you have blooms. I was comparing pictures of my pond last fall to this spring. Most of the plants I put around my pond late last year were marked down at Lowes. They looked pretty bad. At 50 cents a pot I wasn't really worried if they came back. I was really surprised that every single one survived the winter. The sedum you suggested is just beautiful and filling in nicely. Did you use the extra coating you used on Denny's pond on the veggie pond/filter? You had talked about doing that. |
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| Its Just Don | May 11 2012, 07:54 AM Post #3 |
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Bluegill
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Yes. The lily pool is entirely above ground. In the past, we've had temperatures as low as 25 below zero. I wouldn't like to watch the walls of the pool destroyed by expanding ice. Since I also have to move the water lilies back to the main pond for the winter, it makes no sense to keep it full. Also, the lily pool serves as a settling tank for material from the bottom of the pond and when I drain it, I remove all the detritus that has collected throughout the year.
Not yet. The veggie filter is that smaller area to the left of the pond that has the concrete tree stump in it and is one of the original experiments that didn't work out as intended. When I originally conceived it, it was going to be a percolating "bog" filter and had a 3inch perforated pipe installed in the concrete in the bottom that was to collect detritus. It was under a layer of rock that had smaller perforated pipe that acted as a dispersion field for water from the bottom of the pond and that was covered with 3 layers of increasingly smaller gravel. The idea was for the water to move upward through the gravel layers, which would be planted with bog plants. The gravel could then be backwashed into the larger pipe to remove accumulated debris. I had it all assembled and found that it leaked! I abandoned it for over a year, rethought the whole thing and then dismantled it. The larger pipe was embedded in the concrete, so I just covered it with more concrete and set the thing up as it is used today. There are still minor leaks in that area and I want to permanently seal and repair them with the rubber paint, which I hope to do sometime this summer. My pond is a whole set of experiments and if I had the opportunity to go back with the knowledge I now have, the lily pool and veggie area would be mostly below ground level and all one large area with varying depths for various plants. Then, the design would be much as we designed Denny's pond in Tennessee, which has an area for water lilies and an shallower area for emergent plants. What you see in the pictures of my pond are years of experiment and learning. |
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| whisper | May 11 2012, 08:10 AM Post #4 |
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Bluegill
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Don. What is the body of water between the pond and the lily pond? Is it a run off from the pond to the lily pond? Great pics. Love the little tadpoles. |
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| tlc | May 11 2012, 08:33 AM Post #5 |
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Big Fish Moderator
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I've always wanted to take pictures like that DP but just too darn lazy I guess. Love them. Your pond is looking super. I love tadpoles. They bring back fond memories of splashing around in the creek behind our house as a kid. Ahh, the memories. On a side note, last weekend I was planting some flowers and I thought I heard a frog. :huh: Only one croak and no more but each time I'm out there I listen for one. |
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| 43freckleface | May 11 2012, 11:56 AM Post #6 |
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Bluegill
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Sounds like a wonderful idea Don. A lot easier cleanup at the end of the season and I am sure a lot better for the pond throughout the year.
Thank you for sharing your ideas with everyone through your video's. Good thing we have those so we can see what has worked for you. Saves a lot of steps that could otherwise be possible mistakes..... Some day if I ever plan a bigger pond I can going concrete :thumbup: no more liner pond. Never hurts to dream. Your work is truly amazing! :goodone: |
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| Its Just Don | May 11 2012, 07:01 PM Post #7 |
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Bluegill
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If you mean the one with the concrete stump in the middle of it, that's the veggie area that the lily pool empties into. There is a pair of drains that sits on the surface of the bottom of the pond that is connected to a flexible pipe that goes to the wall of the pond, through the wall and into that concrete stump. Since the pipe entry into the concrete stump is below the level of the pond water, water from the bottom of the pond siphons into the stump. In the stump, there is a small (540 gph) pump that pushes water through another pipe into the far end of the lily pool. The water flows through the lily pool and a set of three filters and out into the veggie area that surrounds the concrete stump. That area is a second settling area and planting area. From that veggie area, the water goes back into the pond. That whole system moves water from the bottom of the pond through settling and filtering areas and back to the top of the pond, making for vertical circulation. Here is a video that explains my filtering systems. http://youtu.be/PVVuTqxnD9A |
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