an accidental pond

[charlie]

In response to Chris's projects thread I have dug this off the old forum
It represents one of our first bigger bits of engineering!
This project was 6 years ago now
My garden slopes and the bottom of it was always a bit boring so we decided to level it by raising it 3'

Not able to get any machines into the garden so it was all done by hand - Below is end of day 1

We quickly realised that we had no where near enough soil to raise the level so abandoned plan A and decided to make the centre part of the bed a pond!

After a long day we finished the leveling using a clear plastic tube filled with water

A trip to the local dump produced loads of old carpets - guys there must have thought we were nuts!

Started to feel like a pond once the liner arrived

With some water in I was able to finish off the edges

Just waiting for the better weather so we can finish planting

One year on and it was surprising how quickly it all settled in

[Chrisg]

That looks amazing, and definitely puts you in to the first category of able to build everything yourself :lol:

[Wayne]

Excellent work!! I've decided you are mad, but nice mad! :lol:

Admire your resolve Charlie..looks great!!

Wayne

[Sarah]

Blimey Charlie is it really 6 years :o I remember that thread well.

Is that hedge at the bottom the one you replaced with that beautiful wall?

[charlie]

I certainly had to replace it with a wall as it was dieing out in patches, but it was only a concrete block job, roses and other climbers are starting to soften it a bit, but the walls I think you are remembering are in the back half of the garden and mostly stone.
Here is a re-cap of recent wall building
During one of the gales in November a couple of years back a large section of our boundry wall came down, Stone and mud construction and around 200 years old

wall1 by charliepridham, on Flickr
Once we had cleared away all the unstable stuff I discovered the culprit had been Ivy (Hedra helix) not helped by a complete lack of any foundations, if any one is wondering how a lovely climber like Ivy could wreck such havoc take a look at the next picture.

ivy by charliepridham, on Flickr
Wall took nearly 6 weeks! it turned out a massive job as although my side is only 4-5 feet high the other is about 10' and the whole is 4' thick This section was about 40' long and I lost count of the bags of cement powder at 70

Wall3 by charliepridham, on Flickr
The second wall was a continuation of the first mainly because I still had a substantial pile of stone left!

stonewall4 by charliepridham, on Flickr
At least this time the old wall didn't fall down and I was able schedule son to help (moving so fast he is but a blur :lol: )
We were able to work from the field side and you can see where the original job finished.

stonewall3 by charliepridham, on Flickr
From the field side its an impressive wall

stonewall6 by charliepridham, on Flickr
Sadly our side is lower due to the difference in levels, but at least it faces south!

stonewall7 by charliepridham, on Flickr
Another plus - I got rid of the whole pile of stone!!

[Chrisg]

I love that wall. and am so jealous of the availability of stone :lol: I am planning a lot of rockeries / raised beds in the garden and it is scary looking at the price of stone now (and delivery)

[charlie]

Chris, if suffering from a lack of stone, check out this thread on GOTE http://www.growingontheedge.net/viewtop ... a6f42974ff

When I first saw it I thought it was going to look appalling but it actually turns out looking pretty damned good, I think he mentions the method etc during the thread

[Chrisg]

I did see that thread, he has done a great job and it is only going to look better as it ages.

[tony]

Ha could have taken that stone off your hands if I lived a bit nearer when I built my dry stone wall - cost me £200! Absolutely love that wall such a beuatiful job, wish my boundaries could match yours.

[David Matzdorf]

The Bamboo (what is it?) and the Macleaya look perfect there. The pond project makes feel exhausted just reading the thread.