Saturday, September 11, 2010

A Small Backyard Pond


I have covered our friends Susie and Ray's
 Albuquerque urban garden in previous posts:
Rain Water Harvesting on June10th
A Cold Frame on April 17th
Worm Composting on April 2nd
The Urban Food Producing Winter Garden on March 7th.

Now I want to show you their very nice and very small backyard pond.
Above is a water lily with koi swimming below.




It sure is nice sitting out on a warm summer evening
with the soft sound of water to break the urban noise,
and cool the air.
This pond has a small foot print but is 3' deep to give the fish
 deep enough water to get through the winter.


Around the edge in the upper right is water celery with the white flowers,
and at the bottom ( out of the water ) is ice plant.
Also in the water in pots is mint and hawthorne.
The pond is dug out and a rubberized pond liner is laid in.
The rocks around the top cover the edge of the liner
and hang over the water slightly.


The striking red canna lily and what looks like papyrus,
peeking out behind it, grow out of two connected plastic tubs
 that act as a water filter to keep the water clean.
Water is pumped through the boxes and back into the pond.
The hardest part of ponds is keeping the the water clean and clear.
The muck needs to be cleaned out once a year.
The pump has a valve to direct water to the fountain and the filter box.