My before and after

[tbendl]

 

[Sheal]

Wow! What a transformation tbendl, you wouldn't think it was the same area.

 

[tbendl]

It's crazy isn't it. I'm glad I had the pictures. I get wrapped up in "I've got this to do next" and sometimes forget to realize the "I did this and should sit and appreciate it" part!
Thanks for the kind words Sheal.

 

[Beth_B]

Wow! You've really worked hard. That pond is beautiful.

 

[tbendl]

August will be 2 years I've been working on the pond and yard. It keeps me sane. Thank you Beth_B.

 

[Verdun]

Excellent tbendl

 

[tbendl]

Thanks so much Verdun. back atcha.

 

[Larisa]

Incredible result! It looks so harmonious!

 

[tbendl]

Thank you Larisa. It is my sane haven for sure.

 

[vette-kid]

Really beautiful. Looks like there was a pond there before? How many koi do you have in there and is it self sustaining, or do you have to treat the water and change it, feed the fish etc?

 

[tbendl]

Apparently years and years ago there was a pond there. I dug out around 2 feet of muck to get to the bottom of the original pond that was there.
I have shubunkins, they are goldfish that look like Koi but don't get as big and are much easier to take care of. It is "mostly" self sustaining. I have 2 filters and 2 pumps that I have to clean out, during the summer it's every 3-4 weeks, fall and winter it's maybe every 2 months. The cleaning takes about 1/2 hour. I don't treat the water or change it, rain adds usually and I'll occasionally throw a hose in the waterfall area and top off the pond if it gets low but that's pretty rare. The fish are fine foraging for algae and don't need to be fed but they come running like kids chasing an ice cream truck when I do feed them so I do throw them some food in the morning because it makes me smile. Lol
The biggest pain is during the fall. I have a huge tree that sheds come fall so last fall I finally got a net for it. Here's a few pictures of the year before.

 

[Tetters]

You have made a cracking good job of that tbendl. I don`t envy you with that tree though - I might have been tempted to cut that down I wonder if it would help a bit if your next project was a ''shade'' over the top. I have been thinking about making one over my pond - with some sturdy upright poles and green shade netting stretched over the tops. It would look quite good I think with some evergreen climbers on the supports. What do you think?

 

[tbendl]

We get high winds quite often through here and I'd be worried about it getting blown about. I have, and still, consider it but I built a nifty pole "tent" that I put netting over in the fall. The tree takes about 3 weeks for every single "needle" to fall so it isn't that bad now that I can net it.
And the tree is so pretty in the summer that I can't bring myself to cut it down. Although I yell at it every fall. Lol

 

[DeborahJane]

Really incredible garden and rock pool tbendl. It would be lovely to sit at your table and enjoy the view. The paving is great. We call it crazy paving here. Id love to put it somewhere.

 

[tbendl]

Haha I love that. I'm going to call it that as well. "Crazy paving". Thank you so much, I really do love sitting out there in the morning and evening.