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Garden Tour: The Pond

September 18th, 2012

A few years ago we put in a small garden pond. We’d been wanting a water feature for quite a while. When my parents put in a larger pond, they passed their small pond along to us. Mr Chiots dug the hole, we added water and fish, planted a few plants, and we had a pond garden.


Now that this garden has been around for a few years, it’s starting to look really nice. Our fish have sized up and are actually a good size. We don’t feed them or anything, they get enough food with what grows in the pond.

This little pond provides valuable wildlife habitat in our garden. We’ve had toads use it for breeding, birds use it for drinking, and we now have a few water insects as well. It also provides a nice watering hole for the Chiots and the outdoor cats.


The pond is located in a part of the garden that gets afternoon shade. It’s overshadowed slightly by a mature dogwood tree. It’s surrounded by goatsbeard, Japanese Hakone grass, hosts, various low growing sedum, peppermint, creeping thyme, and a boxwood. I also have a beautiful waterlily that blooms during the early summer.



The pond has proven to be a valuable addition to our garden. Since we put it in we have noticed an even greater number of insects and animals in the garden, particularly amphibians. I’d highly recommend adding a small water feature to your garden.

Do you have a water feature in your garden?

Chiot’s Run Garden Tour
The Middle Garden
The Side Garden
The Front Hillside Garden
Mr Chiot’s Mailbox Garden
Garden Tour: The Front Garden

11 Comments to “Garden Tour: The Pond”
  1. daisy on September 18, 2012 at 5:38 am

    What a wonderful feature. Anything that adds a habitat for wildlife has to be a good thing. We hope to have a pond at our next house.

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  2. whit on September 18, 2012 at 7:26 am

    Beautiful pictures, Susy.

    Our new place has two water features: a large naturalized pond out near the pastures and a small pond like the one you describe here in the front yard. Frogs are abundant, needless to say, especially in Seattle’s rainy season.

    Our ducks still won’t go near the pond…they’ve relegated us to filling up the kiddie pool each day. At least that waste water can be placed in the garden now, but i am not looking forward to winter. It seems like such a waste.

    Happy trails and safe travels!
    Fondly,
    Whit

    Reply to whit's comment

  3. Ann on September 18, 2012 at 7:46 am

    I hand dug a 500 gallon pond last year. It took me a full year to get all the edging done and the plants set the way I like. I love the sound of the small waterfall and the spitter on the opposite side. I love to watch my fish grow and thrive. They had babies so often this summer that I am going to have to start culling baby fish just so the others won’t be over crowded. I have given away as many as I can possibly give so that is not the answer. I guess it is a sign that my pond is a healthy place for them and that all is well with my style of pond care. I would love to have a somewhat larger pond but that won’t happen without a backhoe to do the excavation!! But I learned so much putting the other pond in, like in, what to do wrong so I would love to put all those lessons to the test but I am not sure when that will happen

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  4. Tiffany Selvey on September 18, 2012 at 8:38 am

    Not yet, but hopefully in the next year or so we will have a nice little water feature.

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  5. Donna B. on September 18, 2012 at 9:20 am

    I love how simple your pond is! And Dexter certainly enjoys it too…
    Amongst all of my gardening “wants”, the water feature is definitely high on the list!
    I’m pondering though if it’s best to place it in the shaded ara of the yard [to plant hostas and other water/shade lovers] or in the hotter area [possible bog-garden!] which will also require me to refill the water often. Decisions decisions! :D

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  6. Erika on September 18, 2012 at 9:37 am

    We had an old outhouse foundation that I dug out and turned into a pond many years ago. We then built up a trickling waterfall feature that the birds love. It gets pretty much all shade so no water lillies would bloom and leaves in the fall are a real pain. I love your lily. If we cover the pond with netting to catch the leaves the fish will survive. Unfortunately the pond is surrounded by a lot of walnut trees and their leaves kill everything in the pond. I think I’ll just stick to landscaping around the little stream at our new place. 3/4 quarters of the length of it is very overgrown and will take years to make it look nice.

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  7. Cally on September 18, 2012 at 9:37 am

    I am just in LOVE with your blog. We, my friend, are birds of a feather! Hats off to you and your inquisitive, creative mind!

    Reply to Cally's comment

  8. Deb on September 18, 2012 at 11:01 am

    Looks very nice. Don’t have one but would love one. Could you please tell me the kind of plant in the next to last photo? I have that but no idea what it is. Thanks. Enjoying your garden tour.

    Reply to Deb's comment

  9. amy on September 18, 2012 at 11:15 am

    My son hand dug our duck pond. Our ducks for some reason no longer seem interested but it has over the years been home to turtles, frogs a myriad of insects and now for some bizarre reason garter snakes. I am not too sure how I feel about this…..I welcome snakes in my yard and we have a rock foundation so some live there as well but in the water….I don’t know…..Since their arrival they have eaten or the frogs have left on their own accord. I truthfully would rather have the frogs in there than the snakes….It is kind’ve creepy watching them slither around.

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  10. KimH on September 18, 2012 at 7:30 pm

    I have a water fountain in my little sanctuary but no pond. We have most of the stuff to make one, including the liner & all the accompanying paraphernalia but M’honey never got around to putting it in and I claimed the spot to put garlic & tomatoes in. Now we have a wild bed of cherry tomatoes and chard instead!

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  11. Sincerely, Emily on September 19, 2012 at 4:09 pm

    Love you little pond. I love ours too. I have used the bases of two 275 gallon totes (cut in half) and partially sunk in the ground. Then the bottom of a 55-gallon barrel, again sunk in the ground. Love the lily pads, frogs, toad, fish.. love everything about it, except the snake that visits. I’m not so excited about sticking my hand in to pull of lily pads with him about.

    Reply to Sincerely, Emily's comment

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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