Keeping Busy

In our Feb 22nd post on our Matzke Park Butterfly Garden Blog  (you can take a look (HERE) I described our project to clean out the pond by the patio.  This thing was put in as a birthday present for me way back when Carrie was still in high school.  (so not that long ago, really) We have had it in operation since and have totally cleaned it out about 4 times in that period.  It gradually accumulates dead plant material and had developed a slow leak. So... get out the buckets again.. and mom and I went to work.  We could've used some of those 18 grandkid hands.

I pumped most of the water out, then used a wet/dry shop vac to suck out the last 3 inches of muck.  We then scooped out the two wheelbarrows of pea gravel in the "bog". (yes, I know I called it a "blog" in the video narration)   The water is pumped up from the bottom of the gravel where it is naturally filtered and then spills back into the main pond. I re-lined the bog with a liner that is used to contain oil spills under storage tanks and tried three different construction adhesives that would cement it to the side of the fiberglass pond.  That took about a week.  I finally broke down and bought the 100 feet of special tape that is made for the liner... a double stick rubber that works under water.  Only comes in 100 ft. rolls.

I do have to get the water lilies re-planted and placed. The water plants had almost filled the pond solid, so the compost got a nice addition. I allowed only two small goldfish to remain, as over time, they breed back to a solid dark brown wild variety that you can't see in the pond anyway.   So after it stabilizes, we will get some new ones... the multi-colored shubunkins like these in a picture from the internet.



Anyway... it looks really nice, and I am glad to have it back today.  Take a look yourself: