Day three

The pond liner isn’t going to be delivered until tomorrow it seems. So how should I best make use of the day.

I don’t need to move the pebbles as they will be re-used around the new pond. I will need some of the soil to back fill around the pond too.

If I moved the soil I would be too tired to carry on with the pond construction tomorrow so I’ll leave well alone for now.

Instead I edged the lawn and weeded the borders. I mowed the lawn then applied moss killer and feed.

Later that day I built a three shelf unit for the garden shed then reorganised the contents. Everything is now tidy and accessible but there is not an inch of space to spare.

Normally we share Tuesdays with the in-laws but sadly Jen, Mrs Snippets sister, is unwell. Instead we will have a jolly out somewhere as I don’t know when the liner will be delivered.

Day two

Having done my duty by visiting my beloved mother on this special day, I returned home with good intentions.

I set to once again with my trusty mattock and tackled the clay layer. I had dug down about 150mm in some areas, but due to the rocks mentioned in the previous post, I had to abandon the mattock in favour of my spade, as I needed to feel for the rocks in order to lever them out. A mattock bouncing off hard rocks soon loses its appeal.

I tidied the exposed surface with a rake and was pleased to see that the heavy clay layer was receding in favour of friable soil, making up 2/3 the area.

An hour had quickly passed and I was exhausted. I was eager to measure how I had got on.

I need to dig to a depth of 340mm so that the pond liner will seat itself correctly. To check for depth I wrapped a ring of blue tape on my rake handle, the bottom edge measuring 340mm from the head.

I placed the rake vertically in the hole and was pleased to find that I only needed to dig a further 100mm or so, but that will be for another day.

I now have the problem of how to move a tonne of pebbles as well as a tonne of clay. The pebbles will be placed around the pond upon completion but as for the clay I am momentarily at a loss.

The sod is broken before the old one is😉

The spot chosen for the new pond is near to our lounge window in the south west corner of our garden. It is an area about 2.5m x 1.5m and 500mm above the ground and it is contained by a low brick wall. It is open to two sides facing the house and sheltered by a high boundary wall to one side and shrubbery on another. Although mostly in the shade, it does receive some sun. The area was covered by small pebbles and a round container pond that did not attract any pond life but the birds were happy to drink from it.

I removed all the garden ornaments, large rocks and pebbles and I took away the existing pond. I swept up the leaves and removed approximately a tonne of pebbles.

Beneath this, I discovered a 50mm layer of ugly, dark, grey chippings which I placed in a dumpy bag. To my surprise, there was a green, plastic, mesh underneath, presumably a weed or root barrier.

Out came my Bosch multi-tool and the mesh was quickly removed to reveal a layer of very heavy clay soil about 250mm thick.

After several, mighty blows of my mattock …’CLINK!’ Upon inspection and clearing the clay, I found the cause of the ‘CLINK’! I was now faced with a layer of rocks; rocks the size of a grapefruit!

What to do? When in doubt, go inside for a cuppa!

I’ll carry on tomorrow when re-energised.

I give up! We’re going to fix this. Aren’t I ? 🤣

 

There’s been this itch ever since we left our old place in Teigngrace during late August ‘22.

You see I had created our first pond there, which provided such joy and a reward for the hard work.

The pond itself measured 12 feet in diameter, extended by a beach, banks and rockeries. I had hand dug it out of a sloping lawn. It was hard work and during its progression I quipped that it would either be a glorious thing or my resting place.

Within a couple of months it had been populated by all sorts of pond life such as; Snails, Backswimmers, Water Boatmen, Pond Skaters, Diving Beetles, Mosquito Larvae, Dragonfly and Damselfly Larvae. 

It was regularly visited by Toads, Frogs, Newts and Grass Snakes as well as Squirrels, Hedgehogs, Deer and a host of birds.

If you had told me that in such a short period of time that we (We? Mrs Snippets of course) would have both enjoyed all this wildlife, I don’t think I would have believed you.

Mrs Snippets and I used to sit around our pond several times each day, with cuppas in hand and take five. We both remember the time a young Goldcrest circled the pond, hovering above it, feet from our noses, before disappearing in a flash. It was a hot day and although we had both been sitting very still we believe we had disturbed its intended pit stop for a drink.

I used to write daily about the comings and goings around it in my blog titled “Once a pond in time” but I don’t think there is any trace of it now.

We moved to a town house at Aller in Newton Abbot and inherited a lovely garden, so well planned and laid out, but with little promise of the opportunity to site another pond.

As a compromise I built a small pond, out of an old tray and surrounded it with rocks. 

This image doesn’t do it any justice as we had just stripped it before I had decided to make another.

We also created another at the bottom of the garden up on a raised gravelled area.

But, these did not quell the itch.

Recently family members had built ponds in their gardens with great success which prompted me to scratch that itch and get on with it.

So…

A “Second a pond in time” was born in order to create a diary of effort, events, progress and results.