Creating Your Own Little Pond

I wanted to share with my friends- how to make their own little pond. But take my advice- have at least three people there to help you. Make sure one of them have muscles. ( My husband said one that their joints won't pop).

One day I got a wild hair while I was sitting on my porch looking at my empty yard. I told my husband that I wanted to make a pond. Now my poor husband had already gutted our home, replaced a room, and plus put siding on our home. But I did the roofing. I will admit- I didn't help much on the other that he done, but roofing wasn't no candy store.

Now before you begin- you will want to consider where you will run an electrical cord or bury a cord in a pvc pipe.

Anyway, some people will want to set theirs up differently but here are items you may want to list:

1. A black tub - I got a 110 gal. you can find them at Orscheln Farm & Home store

2. Large Rocks - 7 - and about 20 medium, and 20 -30 hand sized rocks on any gravel road (make sure you try to find some - flat - rocks also). Its nice to go on a rock hunt during a pretty day, but be careful and watch for snakes. Wear some heavy duty gloves for your protection.

3. Slate rocks - 7-8 of them - lengths -> 15, 13 1/2 , 12 1/2, 9 1/2 - or close enough- you can get them from any plant nursery, or landscaping place, you may have to break some.

4. Dress rocks - 15 of them- from Wal-Mart

5. 8 inch Cinder Blocks - 2 - and 2 half pieces-- Packs, or Gamblins

6. Bags of concrete / mortar - 2 - Pack, or Gamblins

7. Dirt - about 2 wheel barrows, or more-

8. Mulch - 1 large bag ( largest you can find )

9. Water pump - 1 from Home Depo - It will tell how many gallons on the container

10. Rubber hose for the pump- 3 at about 6 ft sections- you can cut them (after) you have set your distance- from Oreillys Part Store

11. Hose Clamps - 4 any part store

12. Y connection - 1- any part store

13. Your solar lights if desired

14. Silicon seal- 1, or 2 and caulking gun

15. Shovel, a level, and a garden hoe

First : Drill the hole close to the top as possible on the tub at one end (note) the tube when purchased- you will see a gold drain on the side- leave that bugger alone.

Now I will warn you it will seem like your digging your way to china just to set that tub in the ground! Make sure you keep that dirt because that is going to make the mound behind your pond to where you can plant your flowers, cat- tails, and so forth. To me- digging out the shape of the tub was the worse part. You may need more dirt to add to that mound because we know when it rains it settles.

Second: After you have your hole dug- make sure it is level at the bottom. Oh, and you do NOT want to dig to deep- you need to keep about four dress rocks around the tube so that you can make sure the lip of the tub is setting on them when you set it in the ground.

Dress Stones

Now you can place all of your dress rocks around your pond under the lip.

Y Connection & Three Hoses

Now remove the tub and place your Y CONNECTION through the hole of the tub, use one of your clamps to connect the pump hose to that connection. Now use your two remaining hoses to connect to the Y on the outside of the hole and repeat same steps with clamps. Replace your tub back in the ground on the dress stones.

Making your dirt into a slide formation

Now go behind- where your planned- top of the pond is going to be- where you laid your hoses- place them hoses in the tub for now. What ever direction you had your hoses laying- you want to slant the ground down heel going toward the pond with some of that dirt you dug out of the hole. Like a slide. You want the slide look to be about- a foot and a half width and about 2 feet long. Because we want to angle your slate rock so that water will run down- not stand- some people may use concrete instead of dirt- but I used dirt.

2 Cinder blocks & 2 half cinder blocks

Now you should have 2 cinder blocks and 2 half pieces. Take your whole cinder blocks and place on the beginning of the top of the slide of that dirt-> length wise of the blocks (not side ways), then get your half pieces and place at the end of the long ones. The cinder blocks should be about 3 inches apart width wise from each other. Place your hoses in the middle now on the ground.

Slate Rocks - making your steps ( water fall )

Now this is where is get aggravating- or it did for me. Take your longest slate rock piece and lay it across both cinder blocks at the very top of the slide. Remember your flat rocks I told you to find- well get two of them and place under the slate rock on both sides at the tops edge of it. Then slide your other next lower size slate under the bottom of the previous slate- keep walking the steps down to where your pond is ( I call them steps because that really explains it).

Caulk Gun & Silicon

Make sure your last slate is hanging over the pond. Now if the cinder blocks are showing- that is fine because we are going to use the concrete to decorate the with the rock look to give it a natural look. But I don't like concrete, because it doesn't look natural to me. Now if you are sure that you have your slates in place the way you like it- get your silicon sealant and seal each lip of your slate on top of the other. Let the silicon set for about a day. But you can fill your tub- just don't run the pump.

A long sigh

Now that you have your steps slates walking down and sealed and hanging over your pond- you can sigh- for a bit.

Large Rocks

Your large rocks will be place around the back of your pond to hide the the two hoses.

Medium Rocks - Concrete/Mortar

You will be stacking and concreting your rocks at the side of cinder blocks.

Now your medium rocks are going to me used around the cinder blocks on the sides- you will make it look--> to your liking. Use two of the medium rocks to place your hose on each side under the rocks on the very top slate.

Hand Sized Rocks -

You will be stacking and concreting your rocks and making a wall for the water.

Now on the hand size rocks- you can set them on the top of the cinder blocks that are showing. You also want to walk your rocks down the slates and sealed them like a wall to make the water stay on the slates all the way down to the last one hanging over the pond.

Dirt

Transfer the dirt you dug- directly behind your large rocks making a mound. Plant your favorite flowers and you will have a finished art piece. If you desire- buy some solar lights and place them in between the stone rocks around your pond.

Mulch

You can use your mulch as a path around your pond, or on the mound after your flowers come up.

When your flowers are bloomed it really makes your art work look beautiful. Your friends, family, and children will really enjoy listening to the water and watching the fish. My sister seen mine and she created her one. The pond really nice and the sound of the water is relaxing.