Build-a-Pond: Darien, CT

[BSDeality]

Well, i just got around to resizing these since i've got a slow day today. These were from Build-a-pond on June 23 2004 in Darien, CT.

This is just about first thing in the morning after we made introductions and talked a little about the basics. we marked out a 11x16 pond with a 10' falls.

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we used the dirt to raise up the berm for the falls

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we've finished excavating and have just put in the geo-textile.

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we've now put in the liner and started stacking rocks vertically along the walls.

We also made a rock bridge for the fish to hide in the event of a predator at the very bottom level

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just another view of the rock stacks
you can also see we played around with the falls a little bit, tryin to figure out how we wanted it to flow. the level was very helpful for this.

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we used a mixture of rock sizes, from 2" to 3/8" pea gravel, a simple thing, but makes it look much more natural. you can also see the rock bridge in this picture as well as a huge boulder we un-earthed while digging the place for the skimmer. we propped it securely enough to where you can sit or stand on it right on the edge of the pond.

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here we've started playing with the flow of the falls after we put the liner down.

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we placed lots of large pedestal-like rocks around the edge for people to sit on or kneel on. the pond is filled up and flowing in this picture.

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another shot of the falls. everyone has different tastes, our instructor likes the 'dropped tree across the falls' look. personally, i wanted to rip it out.

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and here is the last one, it shows just how high the berm is for the falls. we did virtually no planting in the pond or around it (homeowners request). we put the falls in the downhill spot so that it is visible from 3 rooms on the house. from the house it was hard to tell that the berm really is so high, however from the side or back its really about 2-3' raised over grade.