Wildlife Ponds... Now Total Garden Rebuild

[Treacle Toes]

Great work mumbles!

 

[teuchter]

Fred seems to be claiming your pond as his.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Spent the day digging, another 30 odd bags of dirt, still got 20 ir so to take to the dump. The final shape of the pond is in place though, this taken from the shallow wild end. I've put some stone blocks in place to give an idea of where the stepping stones between the 2 sections will be. this will be nice and shallow with plants growing, the far end sloping off to a margin shelf and then dropping down to the deep end which will be 3 foot deep

Oh, really starting to take shape now.

I'm getting excited for you. Can't wait to see it finished and some plants.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

PS: I like your shed. It's a nice blue!

 

[Mumbles274]

It's actually a garage and my next project, to be converted to a chill/fun room for my girls.

This is the interior which I did myself from a bare concrete shell, it has a model railway in it at the mo, which I'm going to dismantle, will have a pc, tv, sofa, that sort of thing

here is a gif I did that showed the conversion from how it was to mid way through

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

It's actually a garage and my next project, to be converted to a chill/fun room for my girls.

This is the interior which I did myself from a bare concrete shell, it has a model railway in it at the mo, which I'm going to dismantle, will have a pc, tv, sofa, that sort of thing

here is a gif I did that showed the conversion from how it was to mid way through

That's great, and nice colour inside as well

 

[Mumbles274]

Ta, it was painted blue to be the sky backdrop for my model railway

This is how much soil I dug yesterday!!!

 

[machine cat]

This pond is shaping up nicely

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Ta, it was painted blue to be the sky backdrop for my model railway

This is how much soil I dug yesterday!!!

You must be knackered. I filled up two carrier bags full of rubbish!

 

[teuchter]

Can we see a photo of the model railway?

 

[Mumbles274]

You can indeed, prob easiest to post a link to my website if you really want to see it properly. It was fully pc controlled and automated

Southern Electric Modelling

A pic

Couple of vids





and a wee narrow gauge layout I made for less that £100 and sold for £350



All my trains were stolen, and have lost all interst for the timebeing, maybe one day I'll get back on it...

... I do like to my hobbies

 

[teuchter]

Looks good, reminds me of the one I built when I was younger and which reached a similar level of completion!

I'm sorry to hear about all the stock getting stolen. Seems an unlikely target for a burglary... do you think they saw your website and went for it specifically?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

The railway's great

 

[Mumbles274]

Looks good, reminds me of the one I built when I was younger and which reached a similar level of completion!

I'm sorry to hear about all the stock getting stolen. Seems an unlikely target for a burglary... do you think they saw your website and went for it specifically?

Possibly, I'll never know, and I'm not losing any sleep worrying about it. My hunch is it was a chance burglary of the shed that they then came back to to target the railway. I'd been staying at my girlfriends a lot at the time so the house was empty at nights. It was easily 2 weeks between the last time I saw it all and when I realised it was missing. Oh well, it's only stuff

 

[xes]

Another pond related tip. One which I failed on. If you're going to do a little surround to the pond, like paving slabs or something. Then wait for at least a week after you've filledthe pond, as the weight of the water will probably make the level of the pond drop a bit. So let it settle before putting the end touches to it. *says the man with a gap around the edge of his pond*

 

[Mumbles274]

Ok, ta. I've got a concrete edge all round the pond now. Once I have filled the pond I'll prob not have the time to do the surrounds for a week or so anyway. The ground is very compact where I'm digging it out so I may be ok with it not dropping.

Here is a pic as it is right now, have stopped for the day as I'm fucked!!! Also got my girls coming this evening so have to get some food in, pesky kids wanting things like dinner and packed lunches for school

 

[Mumbles274]

Have had a rethink about the plans and I think I'm going to lift the low retaining wall on the lefthand side and relay it in a slinky curve a little further out. I can then back fill a bit with spoil from the pond not much but every little helps. I also think I'm going to get rid of at least one of the the 2 big shrubs I have there. I want to make a little more space for some nice plants and extend the garden theme to that side. Might crack on with that today as I need a little break from diggin but need to do something if it's doesn't pour with rain all day

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Have had a rethink about the plans and I think I'm going to lift the low retaining wall on the lefthand side and relay it in a slinky curve a little further out. I can then back fill a bit with spoil from the pond not much but every little helps. I also think I'm going to get rid of at least one of the the 2 big shrubs I have there. I want to make a little more space for some nice plants and extend the garden theme to that side. Might crack on with that today as I need a little break from diggin but need to do something if it's doesn't pour with rain all day

Any ideas what plants you're going to put there yet?

 

[Mumbles274]

Ferns, palms, grasses, it's a shadey area, as much as anywhere in my garden is shadey so they will have to be happy with only partial sunshine


I do like this last minute design change, even getting rid of the one large shrub has opened up the area, the wall is much more pleasing with a curve and will make a totally better border. Will reuse the blocks and some reclaimed bricks, not sure whether to have a go at rendering it or leaving it as it is. I have staked the small tree and pruned it to a better shape now. Have had a few whacks of the path to try to break it up, the surface is about an inch thick and breaks easily, underneath seems to be made of sterner stuff

Couple pf pics at the early stage, gotta dig up the root to the shrub, break up the path as much as possible where is will be under the border and hoping will be able to lay the wall today... not much then!!! Still get that done and it's a whole lot of earth that doesn't need dumping

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Have come across this fern supplier in Ireland. You can buy as many plants as you want for a maximum postage of £9. A few of the ones I want are sold out though, and others are just plugs. Not sure how large the ones supplied in 9cm pots are either. If they're too small and slow-growing, then I don't think I'll bother, although the place does get excellent reviews.

http://www.shadyplants.net/section221647.html

I've whittled my want list of 12 down to about 5 or 6

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Why don't you just extend the pond to the other side of the garden as well and have a little bridge, Japanese garden style. Would have to be a very small bridge though

http://www.newphotosgalleries.com/japanese-garden-ideas-photos/

 

[Mumbles274]

Thanks, will look at that on my next break, heading back out there

 

[Mumbles274]

Why don't you just extend the pond to the other side of the garden as well and have a little bridge?

LOL don't tempt me!!!

 

[Mumbles274]

Hvae already been debating with myself a garden model railway

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Hvae already been debating with myself a garden model railway

an elevated one, going round the fences

 

[teuchter]

Definitely go for the garden railway.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Definitely go for the garden railway.

a monorail would be better. Bet nobody has a garden monorail!

 

[teuchter]

a monorail would be better. Bet nobody has a garden monorail!

http://www.monorails.org/tmspages/NMM01.html

 

[Mumbles274]

an elevated one, going round the fences

was thinking more ground level, round the back of the pond againsts the rock back drop, tunnel under the waterfall, across the path and along the new bit of wall and back across the path round the pond


it would add more complexity to an already headscratching project so I think I'll have to leave it, mainly the difficulty of getting it round the back of the pond without comprimising the design of that

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

http://www.monorails.org/tmspages/NMM01.html

I knew someone would find one