Back to Gardening Chapter 4, Design - Part D: A Tale of Three Ponds (cont'd...again)

In this section of Chapter 4, I share my lessons learned from ponds I've made in my backyard, and then I summarize all the ways that ponds are good for gardens.

Back to Gardening Chapter 4, Design - Part D: A Tale of Three Ponds

Pond 3

In the fall of 2022 I had to accept two plains truths:

1. Pond 2 was too small for goldfish, and was using up prime growing space in my garden.

2. Pond 3 had to be substantially larger than Pond 2, and if it was going to have any chance of success in 2023 without hijacking spring 2023 (when planting needs to be the focus), work would have to begin immediately, right up until freeze-up.

In addition to the above, it was also the case that I needed to do some substantial reorganizing of my garden for the coming year for other reasons that would involve moving trees and berry bushes. So, on the whole, there was an overwhelming amount of work to be done, and not much time.

In short - I had a hole to fill (Pond 2), and a hole to dig (Pond 3). I also had a bunch of trees and bushes to moves, and then about 5 beds to make and fill with soil to put in place of the trees and bushes. Since Pond 3 would be about 3 times the size of Pond 2, I figured that digging Pond 3 would provide most of the materials I would need to fill Pond 2, and all the new garden beds. Everything would have to be done simultaneously, since every shovelful of earth from Pond 3 would need a place to go, and it would all have to be done before freeze-up (some time in December). Looking at the project in its entirety, it was clear that I needed help, because I only had a handful of weekends to get it done - and good weather was not guaranteed for any of them.

I had two options to consider:

1. Find a guy with a small excavator; or,

2. Find some strong young guys and get them to do the hard stuff.

The excavator would have been be a fast way to dig Pond 3 - but the fence around my garden would have to be taken down to allow it access to the pond area, and it would tear my garden to pieces while moving the soil around. By rough calculation, I figured that a couple strong young guys would cost less than or as much as a tractor, and would be able to do a wider range of tasks around the garden. Thankfully, there was two guys on my street who were able to able to give me a hand. I paid them a little better than minimum wage, they worked hard, and we got everything done. Pond 3 was dug, Pond 2 was filled, and I had 4 new garden beds ready to go for next spring.

This picture gives a poor sense of scale, but Pond 3 was almost 6’ deep relative to grade at its deepest, and was about 14’ by 6’ in dimension.

Lesson 14: If you need help, get help.

Lesson 15: If you need the help to work when you want, and do what you say - get paid help.

Lesson 16: If you are having trouble finding paid help - offer better than minimum wage.

Once the garden thawed out the following spring, I went back to work on Pond 3. As I saw it, I had four main tasks to accomplish:

1. Make a system of trenches leading to and from the pond.

2. Build a concrete perimeter along the garden side of the pond.

3. Gather ditch plants to establish along the perimeter.

4. Devises a means to circulate the water.