Chapter 8. Planning the Pond

OK, the pond is the way to go.

So naturally, I'm worrying about what the thing will LOOK like. That's kind of daffy, considering that right now there's just a disgusting black swamp, which I have now come to call LaMarshall Tar Pits,

<---(insert German shepherds here)



but hey, I'm not going thru all this just so the yard will still look ugly. Form Follows Function, that's MY motto--as opposed to Form Doesn't Matter If There's Function.

My idea is to dig the hole a little deeper than one would ordinarily do for a molded pond project. I'm hoping that this will allow two things: 1)any future standing water can actually dribble over the top edge into the pond, hopefully via the cement rim of the retaining wall just behind it; and 2)I can drill a few holes around the top area so that water can slowly drain from the muck into the pond through the filtration devices.

The retaining wall behind the impending pond has often been a problem here. The Asshat has in the past actually had so much water running back there that I've had cute little waterfalls pouring out small holes in the mortar. (But did it cross my mind to make lemonade? Nooooo. I just had a fit instead of letting The Asshat pay for my water. It's true, though, that in fact I was more worried about how much water he was wasting.) In future, these little waterfalls will contribute more to the pond than to the muck.





But what if the pond overflows, as it would have in the past? I guess I will dig a scenic little creek when that day occurs. Check out this cool stuff, Rock on a Roll!

Of course, my creek will just be nearly flat, for runoff, and will be mostly rock with a small trickle of water, but so what? That's how most California creeks are anyhow, rocky and seasonal (idea and photo from here).

In the meantime I have to make the pond itself look nice. I have boatloads of broken brick that someone gave me years ago. I can make it sort of like this (see blog here), but brickier:

.....and with cattails in it for the murkiness. And a few rocks and some mosquito fish to hide under them. And I think I would put the flatter side to the back. But I totally love the idea of the pine straw.

So the next step is to dig more. Wow, really?

Bright Lights chard seeds are up! This is extra cool because you can't buy this stuff in stores! And the seeds are ten years old.