Beginning a water garden

digging the pond, day one

Last year I talked about wanting to convert an area of our garden into a bird and butterfly garden. Well this is the spot. This is prime gardening property on the south of our house, but for a while it has been a blend of plants we want and things we have neglected. For instance, we like the sedums, bachelor buttons, forsythia bushes, and the nectarine tree, but there is also a pile of rocks covered in sprawling chocolate mint, a pond liner that had been waiting to go in the ground, and a host of weeds.

Well, last weekend my husband and I began tackling this project. While my husband was digging the hole for the pond, I pulled weeds. We worked out there Saturday and Sunday, sweating in the 90+ degree heat and I'm happy to say it's starting to come together. The next step this weekend will be to get more flat rocks to surround the pond and figure out how we want to move the water. This may be one of those projects that gets bigger the further you get into it. But I know once it's done, we will surely enjoy the water feature. And the birds will too.

To get started we have been consulting our local pond and water garden store, Water's Edge. They have a page on their website with a host of information about planning your water garden, water quality, plants, fish, moving the water, etc. 

If you have a water feature of your own or know of any resources, please share with us!

digging the pond, day two