Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Keeping Busy in the Garden

After the cold snap last week we thawed out over the weekend and the temperatures were quite pleasant again, so much so that we got stuck into a few more jobs in the garden. Just for a change (lol) we got stuck into the pond project again. The pipe work we started in this blog is now coming along nicely for connecting up the pond filters, all that remains now are a few small connections and having received a delivery of a couple more parts we can get that finished soon.



When I had initially drawn up plans for the filter house the idea would be to have space available to store items and possibly keep various other koi related paraphernalia such as a microscope (for identifying pests/parasites on samples that would be taken from the koi). However it quickly became apparent that this would make the pipe work quite tricky to fit into such a tight space. We therefore decided to set up the filters in the best layout and make our lives much easier in setting everything up. This has given the space a more spacious feel and also will make moving about in there a much easier task in future. We may have to introduce some additional storage in the garden to fit things in, we may create a garden storage chest.

When ever we work in the filter house Twinkles comes to watch (or rather sleep) with us.
Econobead 60
Filling up the Bead Filters with the filter media
With the wet weather it was amazing how much water had accumulated in the small water feature. As this currently has pipe connections into the filter house (but no filter on the end) I wanted to drain this in case the water levels got too high. We are going to have some fun with this small pond, intending it to complement the main pond but not be quite as serious! I may add some lights to it, but one other thing I had seen was a pond mister with built in lights, its even remote controlled so a perfect gadget! Although small this pond will as I mentioned have a filter connected to it. We will probably add fish, perhaps a shoal of goldfish, although maybe keeping with the white theme on the deck area perhaps we should go for fish that are more white rather than orange.


The smaller water feature (photo from Danger Garden's visit to our garden as I realised
I don't have a recent photo and its dark now!)
The smaller water feature will have a small fountain, the pipework for which are all now in place. We just have to connect up the pump and filter. Whilst this would be a quick job (far quicker than the filter set up for the main pond), it will be one of the final jobs we undertake, mainly to avoid adding extra items to the filter house. 

The main pond also still is empty of water, although that hadn't stopped rain from getting in, so we emptied that too. The water that had been sitting there was getting stagnant and I didn't want to risk it freezing if we had a very cold snap. We got that emptied and Mark washed the walls down to remove any fibreglass dust that may remain there. Fortunately we have a small pond pump to remove the water, to save us having to do it all by scooping the water into buckets.


As we have mentioned in previous blogs we are members of the local Koi club, they held a pond show recently, which we were not ready to enter, hopefully next year we will be able to if we choose.

Judge Gary Pritchard at one of the ponds in the Kangei Garden Show
Its great to be so close to completing this project, I was asked recently if I was looking forward to the Christmas break, and although I am looking forward to the celebrations to be honest I'm more looking forward to completing this project. To be now so close to finally filling the pond up and moving our fish into there new home is the biggest excitement to look forward to at the moment!

 Gaz

17 comments :

  1. I am still just awed by this whole project - it will be amazing when it is all finished, and next year's pond show will be lucky to have you if you choose to enter!

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    1. We cant wait to finish now, the pipeworks are proving to be more fiddly than I had anticipated, but talking to others who have built ponds everyone says the same. Having never done anything resembling plumbing before everything has be be checked and measured several times, but its coming together!

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  2. Things look great. Guess I didn't realize you had the little one too. I can just imagine how excited both of you are about next year and finally having it all come together for you.
    Cher Sunray Gardens

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  3. Finishing this project sounds like the best Christmas gift of all! (or maybe the perfect way to start the New Year?)...

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    1. It sure will be Loree. Really looking forward to it all coming together and getting our fish into their new home.

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  4. The picture of you standing inside the pond made me realize how large it will be! Your fish will be lucky to live in such a fabulous home! How exciting to think of actually having this project finished! At first glance I thought that the last picture was of a vicar blessing a pond.

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    1. Often the photos don't really convey the size very well. But the internal dimensions of the pond are just over 20'x10' by about 6'6".

      I did laugh about the vicar!

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  5. You guys won't know what to do with your spare time once this project is finished. What's next on the list?

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    1. We have a few ideas, but all slightly smaller than this one :)

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  6. Seriously that pond is very very deep

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    1. We have seen deeper! but this was big enough for us.

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  7. Even I am excited to see the finish of this great project. Have a terrific Christmas and New Year.

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    1. Thanks Alistair, I hope you and the family have a great time.

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  8. Getting close! Piping looks meticulous--great work.

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    1. Like some aspects of the project it is taking longer than we expected but the pipework is so nearly finished already :)

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  9. Cant believe how professional you two have made your pond and pond house you have done such a good job xx

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