I sincerely hope that this thread doesn't go on as long as the house construction thread. But, it may....

While waiting for the new fridge to arrive yesterday I decided to get to work on the pond. The plants we've put in pretty much define where the pond will go and we'd discussed many times what we want. There will be two connected ponds. One long narrow pond that will look like a flowing stream and another roughly circular pond. The stream will be in the shade and will be surrounded with shade loving plants. The pond will be in the sun and will be planted with lotus and lily.

This will be a lined pond. Around the rim of the pond will be a poured concrete beam that will secure the edge of the pond and prevent collapse from people walking around it.

The first step is to level the area where the pond will be. Since I want the pond to be about 15 cm lower than the stream I had to dig out and level an area slightly larger than the pond.


The stream will come from the vicinity of the large Plumeria tree in the background, flow about where the yellow spirit level is and into the pond.


I used a long, semi-straight 2X4 and the spirit level. It doesn't have to be exact, just roughly level.


The actual pond will be about 15 cm smaller than the excavated area. I've drawn a line in the dirt to define where the trench for the beam will be.


Yes, the old geezer is really doing this all by himself.

Not sure when I'll get to digging the trench and pouring the beam, but I'm hoping it will be this week. They started building a house next to ours so I should have a close-by supply of water "real soon now".