The new pond was excavated to get soil to fill in behind the new dry laid stone wall. It's actually more a canal than a pond, about 40 feet long and 8 to 10 feet wide, with a slight S-shaped curve.
I thought this would be a sustainable gardening approach since I got a new, dryer planting area at the top of the wall, and a new pond to collect some of the water that flows around the southwest end of the house. The pond is still holding water after two weeks, with virtually no rain to refill it. I didn't use a liner, thinking my super clay would do the job. (There is an old pond a couple of hundred feet out in the woods that holds water perpetually, so I assumed this "natural liner" approach would work for me too.)
This certainly looks like a mess, but I'll be planting all around the pond in the coming months. We'll see how it looks later in the season.
I have big leaved plants like Petasites japonicus, various water-loving irises, and assorted other plants on order, though I want to keep the planting fairly simple. We have lots of frogs and, I'm told newts, so I'll not have fish, which would eat the frog eggs. The frogs were there first!
ReplyDeleteHave enjoyed visiting your NJ garden. It will be great fun to follow your progress. I found you via Blotanical. --Curmudgeon
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear from you. I just joined Blotanical but haven't had a chance to explore yet. Some of my friends call me Curmudgeon. Is this quality typical of a certain type of gardner?
ReplyDeleteHooray.
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http://forknmonkey.blogspot.com/2008/04/green-fingers-inky-fingers.html
Loving this.
ReplyDeleteWe passed some wetlands near our lakehouse last week. The Peepers were making such a racket. Wonderful. And you are quite right - fish would not be welcome.
Waffle
I'm still waiting for the peepers. Haven't heard them yet.
ReplyDelete