Add pond and pathways to new side garden

someones been busy...what are you going to put in the pond?

I'm surprised to see this pic ...I thought it didn't load! I was looking at my photos of the beds that I hastily dug last year at this time...it was a terrible mess. Had been toying with the idea of a ramp into that area and had to put in a pond or a tank to hold the 18 fishes...an aq. is ok over winter but the poor things need better accommodation. Soooo this pic is the start of a big job. Will have to blog it.

Lots of work to do Lori...hope you get the right sort of weather for it.

LOL..thanks Dorjac. as I was saying ...our drought has ended too...so this will have to wait. no probs just hope the driveway culvert doesn't wash out!

sorry Sandra, just realized I didn't altogether answer your question. I have a nymphaea which I have had since my other garden days. It is surviving in a chinese goldfish pot ...it was in the basement over winter and it is trying to bloom although it's pretty crowded in the pot! It's also ironic that with the stream on the property and small lakes dotting the area our lot remains very well drained as the soil is mostly sand...So praying for rain to help fill the tank. Otherwise I'll be hauling water from the creek!

over here you would have no problem filling your pond...we have had soo much rain over the last few weeks. our valley is flooded..
my soil is full of stone we call pembrokeshire rab but it very well drained and i have learnt to plant things that like it here. although at the moment every thing is very wet....

Must not be the greatest for the photovoltaic cells! How is your rooftop electricity generator working in all the rain? Your lovely country is always green. there are areas in North America where they still are crying for rain (along the Mississippi Valley...Pennsylvania of all places) ...how strange it has been this spring. We have had some precip at last...We were on a strict "No Burning" status in Renfrew County. We had less snow this past winter and the forest floor is quite dry. There have been forest fires burning out of control in some of the northern areas of the province.

Seems like all of us, wherever we live, have had strange weather recently. Floods are terrifying, as they come so quickly. Drought is slow and insidious and can see off whole cultures.....I know this sounds dreary, but we are all finding how badly the weather affects us, especially if we are gardeners. It hammered down last night for quite some time. Now today is a blue sunny day. UK is so overpopulated in parts, that even a threat of water shortage has to be acted on.....I suppose.

It always makes gardeners happy when the rain comes at night...and the next day is sunny and fair! here in the province of Ontario our climate ranges from sub-arctic to Point Pelee which is on the same latitude as northern California...where I live is on the 45th parallel of latitude! Half way! might sound like I'm crowing a bit, but I have decided that even the rainy days are wonderful, from here on in. Bring it on...I live in a very sparsely populated area and I love it. When I turn out the lights the stars look to be at the tree tops! I'm very grateful for this place. It's our last home...next is the pine box! ;-)

I fancy a whicker one Lori. We saw a hearse on its way to The Woodland resting place quite near us, with a whickered passenger on board. Birch and bluebells in season. One of the things I would like, where I live is to get far enough out from London's huge sky glow, and look at that great wheel of stars which we can no longer see. See that misty milky way which is no longer to be seen here. All we can see are just the brightest of stars and satellites hurrying about their business.

wicker? hmmm....sounds very "green" Wonder if there's such a thing as a paper one??. ahhhh.... I know what you mean about sky gazing, Dorjac. Terry (hub) bought a telescope when we moved and we've not used it properly yet. I need a viewing platform and now that the wicked light is gone I can envision one very near our front door! Good old satellites~ we have our internet service via a new one commissioned for those of us in far flung Eastern Ontario. Would love to send you some of our "dark" sky...the viewing is excellent.

dont know about paper ones but cardboard boxes certainly exist.
we had thunder and rain last night, hallluja but only about one sixth of an inch of soil was vaguely damp this morning, fortunately our pond which receives all the rain off fr the roofs had done very well and is nearly full again now.
i planted my first ever water lily today, not having had a proper pond before i find it very exiting.
just going to take the dog for an night stroll, cannt let her loose at night , she wld take off hunting and not be back for hours, and do a bit of star gazing, nearly time for the shooting stars, can you see those your way Dorjac?

ooo...What colour is your waterlily? Just put mine in the tank...it seems to be happily spreading out after sitting all winter in the chinese goldfish bowl. want to get some elodea to oxygenate the tank...it's soo hot out there today, and tomorrow is supposed to be worse. Only had about 2 hours to work today.. by 10 a.m. it was sizzling.
Our last meteor event was the June Bootid on 27th. Saw only two at about 2 a.m. The perseid is the big event tho...August 12.

it is a Nymphaea Marliacea albida, to give it its full name - i.e. bog standard white water lily, i also was given a cple of handfulls of elodea en water hyacinths by a friend, so just waiting for everything to get cracking.
drat we missed the june shoots.
we usually have a good view of the perseids, last few years have been totally clear.
last year we had friends over and sat outside with our dinner and some nice vin, and cafe with armagnac, this is Armagnac country after all, we did rather loose count of the numbers we saw lol, but lots of wishes were made.

be careful what u wish for Resi...i made a wish 25 years ago on a shooting star...all these years later hes 24 year old David...lol

:~))
that must have been a romantic starry evening Sandra lol.

Wishes that come true...that's great, Sandra!
I bought my nymphaea so long ago now, Resi, that I've forgotten it's var. It's a pretty pink with yellow centre. Last season I posted some pics of the white waterlilies in a pond not far from here...think I might try to find a pair of hip waders and maybe get some roots. Second thought: not so sure they'd be happy in my shallow little tank. Maybe I should wait until I have the pond properly dug out...
found a large shipping pallet in the shed and it looks like it's sturdy enough to make a decent platform for the telescope.
managed to work for 2-1/2 hours this morning... making progress on the retaining walls beside the stream. Took a chance and hooked up the hose and watered the bed in the side garden... to do the front garden had to make numerous trips to the stream. Water level is getting low again and the forest service have upped the level of fire danger!

it was Resi...
they do occasionally Lori

little and often is the way Lori..thats the best way to get big jobs done..look forward to your pics...:-)

I keep pecking away...pics will most certainly follow! ;-)

i suspect you have finished the new pond now Lori, hope the fish are still doing well :o))

Thanks San, I have too many irons in the fire! I have the nymphaea in the "tank" (it's just a square wood frame with the butyl liner) It's not very deep (24 inches), but at least the nymph. can spread out. Fishies are still in the aq. (lost one of the largest three...the silver white one.) My water went wonky...too much ammonia suddenly and fishy went very pink. I isolated her and changed her water but she lingered a while without improvement and was dead next morning. The aq. is a bit of work but have righted the water situation and the rest look ok.