Ponds, Streams & Waterfalls
On a big project such as the one we're covering in this video series, the rocks needed to give the cascades a natural look are quite substantial - some in the 36-inch range or larger, with weights rising to a ton or more in a few cases. Handling these brutes takes reliable equipment as well as distinct skill in working with
This is another instance in pond construction in which experience is a huge advantage: When it's time to size and set things up for a long, cascading stream leading down a reasonably steep hill to a pond-free basin, there's nothing about the process that I'd like to approach without knowing
We love working on projects we can record and share through the Internet. At The Pond Digger (Yucaipa, Calif.), we've always believed that these videos help our prospective clients make informed decisions about what they want to do in their backyards. That's why we generally keep them pretty basic. At the same time, we've always believed that our videos have value in a professional context, particularly for
The life of a pond installer is dotted with moments of quiet satisfaction. Getting a contract signed is an obvious one, as is accepting final payment. But in between, you have to take positive moments where you can find them - and for me, there's nothing more soul-satisfying than introducing aquatic animals to a new pond I've built. In the specific project covered
We've come to the part of the installation process that's my personal favorite: finishing up the plant placement and setting the edges. This is, of course, part of every pond-installation project on one level or another, but with a frog pond, my approach is a little different. As you'll see in the video linked below (and may have noticed in previous installments), the profile of this frog pond is
No matter how firm a focus you maintain on making a pond into a safe, comfortable home for frogs, there's always the need to keep at least one eye (if not both) on the way the pond looks. My goal, as I discuss in some detail in the video linked below, is to make every watershape I produce look as though it belongs where I've put it, as though the pond
As mentioned previously in this video series, one of the key points distinguishing frog ponds from most other modern backyard ponds is the fact that there's no circulation system of any kind - no pump to keep the water moving, no skimmer or filter to help keep it clean. That fact puts quite a burden on the frog-pond designer to make certain the water will be safe for tadpoles and attractive to the
The fact that frog ponds are so shallow offers the pond installer some special challenges with respect to making them look completely natural. As you'll see in the video linked below, there's an obvious temptation to take the easy way out by lining the edge with rocks of similarly large sizes and settling for the dreaded "string of pearls" look, where stones hang out like some sort of lumpy
There are many kinds of swimming pools and spas out there, and maybe even more specialized types of fountains. So it shouldn't come as surprise that there's also plenty of variety when it comes to ponds. From huge agricultural retention basins to the smallest birdbaths and everything in between, the broad spectrum
Competence is a wonderful thing - and that was exactly the problem with the pond we were called in to replace: The original installers had none, and kept on demonstrating their utter lack of it all through the six or seven weeks they were on the job site. Happily, competence is something my own crew has in abundance, and in two days we not only got rid of the mess our predecessors left behind, but also installed a brand-new pond and turned a shabby mess into a
