So I knew that putting in a water element, pond, falls, wasn’t going to be as easy as say digging a hole and filling with water and, Ta Da! a pond! But this is taking more thought than I had anticipated.

After we dug the initial hole, and kind of got a feel for the size, depth, and the direction on the water fall, we started to talk about rocks. I love rocks, my kids love rocks, rocks seem like a no brainer to me, but they aren’t, they are super duper important, and choosing carefully is apparently the name of the game!

Water hitting, cascading, dribbling, rolling over rocks creates different tones, pitches, and sounds. Flat rocks, round rocks, odd shape rocks with pockets, sheesh… I wasn’t thinking water symphony when I had my pond idea, but I do like the ‘right’ sound of cascading water, not that ‘pitchy’ sound. Do you know what I mean?

So we’ve been sitting on it a bit, watching videos, talking to Aqua Experts that have been super helpful (and by the way, I am so becoming an Aqua Expert in my next life, they have an awesome job), and visiting rock yards.

We decided to dig the hole deeper on one end, and this was a bit tricky as we ran into hard clay. We expanded the sides by 3 inches, and we bought a smaller pump to start with (1200 gallons an hour).

We have the ‘mechanical’ supplies in hand –

• pond skin (liner)
• pump
• hose/tubing
• sealant foam
• bucket for falls

And now we have our rock supplies, which we finalized today, and hopefully didn’t drive the guys at the brick/rock yard too crazy. They were so helpful, and helped finalize our choices.

• pea gravel for the bottom
• 3″ cinder block to line the sides (this choice saved us about $400 dollars. It will be under water shoring up the edges, not super visible, and if we don’t like it, next year we can paint it. Switching to this option gave us more money to use on the top edge rock that will be visible)
• Tumbled quartzite – soft edges, natural and perfect fro the top edge. Safe for kid and dog paws, nice to sit on, and durable
• Boulders – this was SO FUN choosing boulders. By the pound at that, and one of our boulders weighs 465 pounds! I think we will go back and get two more. They are super affordable for this project, keeps things looking super natural, and they will give this project ‘weight’. (I wouldn’t mind coming back in my next life as a rock yard guy, they have a pretty awesome job, but I am pretty sure I couldn’t do the lifting they do. Their job is spinal abuse!)

Like everything, this little project just got a bit bigger, and a bit more complicated. Good weather, wine, garden food, and helpful helpers are keeping it fun!

Kids and dogs are waiting for the finished product, so am I. The pressure is on! ~ Nancy