Welcome to Brian and Lorraine's Pond

Welcome to Brian and Lorraine's Pond
Water-Water-Water

Every home owner (or at least most of them) would say that a water feature adds to the beauty and value of your home.
Be it a lake, stream or pond, water is a bonus that can be enjoyed year in and year out.

While vacationing or just out for a drive Lorraine would always be asking me to get this rock or that rock so we could take them home. They were colorful rocks or had a nice shape and in the end I thought we were starting to get quite a rock collection at the house. Lorraine then thought that a pond in the back yard would be the cats meow or should I say the fish in the bucket.

One of Lorraine's hobbies is getting me to either plant new vegetation or move existing plants, the numbers must be in the high hundreds and with the idea of a pond I knew that more digging was definitely in my future.



We had Honeysuckle, Lilacs, and other shrubs where the pond was to be located, all of which were there for many years and well grown. We got a back-hoe and trenched around the plants to encourage new root growth to start. We hoped would be less stressful to the shrubs when we moved them.




It all started back in 1993, what to do with that big space out in the back yard? When the past owners lived here there were very few homes or neighbors in the area so the landscape was centered in the middle of the property. As time went by, the area started to grow and houses began to spring up everywhere. Liking our privacy, a major landscaping change needed to be done. The first part involved planting along the property lines---evergreens, saplings, ivy's, and shrubs were used for these areas. With many mature plants centered in the back yard we thought to relocate them to the outer edges was a great idea.



The plan seemed good but what to do with the holes that were left? After all the last thing I wanted was more grass to mow. This is when the idea of a pond came into play. A back hoe was called in to help move the shrubs and to start the rough digging for the pond. Four hours later we had ourselves a b-i-g hole in the ground!



So here we are with a hole in the ground and lack the know-how to continue. Research was the next thing on the list. (It should have been the first!!!) Calls were made, enquires sent out, and questions were asked to little avail. Nobody in the Truro area seemed to have the information that was needed to continue this project. They had never worked on a "man made" pond of this size before. Finally a magazine was brought home that had a advertisement for a pond suppler in the Toronto area and contact was made. The information that was available from these people was great. Everything that you ever wanted to know! Then we started to talk about cost and with the size being 45 feet by 35 feet it didn't take long to add up.


Since the soil was sand, not clay and we had no natural source of water, a liner was needed. A fish safe rubber liner was recommended but costs were so high that a PVC liner was the way we had to go. The thought was that the PVC would last about 10 years and by then we would have changes we would want to make anyway. Also the PVC liner was available locally at Hinspergers Poly Industries (902-893-4458).




The next requirement was the pump and filter and as before the size of the pond determines the size of the equipment needed. We needed the biggest they had and so the order was placed with Picov's a water garden supplier in Toronto (1-800-663-0300).




With all the ordering done the time was right to start hand digging and shaping the pond. Shelves were dug for plants and the ground was smoothed so that the underlay and liner would not have any chance of damage.



Next was water-water-water.
We used the well and the garden hose
and pumped for four days on and off.
Things were starting to look good.



With water in the pond, I thought most of the work was done. The fun was ready to begin. WRONG!!! We had to edge the pond to hold and cover the plastic liner and how better to use the rocks and lots of them. Lorraine and I hauled rock for the rest of that year in the van and barely got the amount we needed to go around the outside of the pond.




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