The Edge

Mix 800 Gallons of Water,
2600 Pounds of Rock...

This was the longest part of the project. I needed to get the liner in place, filled and held down sufficiently to not have any overnight problems. It took between 3 and 6 hours to fill the hole. This is due to shutting the water off to try and fix a fold in the liner or pull out a rock from under the liner before too much water got in the pond. I also found the need for food during the process. Fortunately it was a fairly warm day so being ankle deep, then shin high and finally up to my ... Well the water was about 30" deep when I climbed out of the hole.

	Two on Three, Three on Two... Layering the stone around the perimeter shelving ledges was at least tedious if not sometime puzzling. The stone needed to overhang the ledge by at least an inch or so and then the next layer had to placed 2 stones over three followed by a layer of 3 stones over 2 so they would hold each other down and in place. Digging through 2600 pounds of stone for the right size and shape was the worst 3D jigsaw puzzle I've put together.
	Put a Lid On IT! Will YA! The final layer to hold it all together is made up of large cobble stone. You know the stuff everyone has laying around, the stuff they are trying to get rid of, that same stuff you see everywhere... Until you need it. Back to the landscape supply house, 35 large, not to mention heavy, cobblestones please; and four BIG flat rocks. I need the two large stones for a feeding area (what a lucky fit these things were, and the other two I'll need for the waterfall.. I guess?
	Quiet on the Set! Light! Plants! Action! Installing the low voltage landscape lights was a simple bury the wire, put together the lights, and plug them in process. The hard part here was creating a level shelf of dirt about 16" wide all around the pond for a walk way to placed down. I Also planted two water lilies, a Canna, Arrowhead Tara, Pickerel Rush. Anacharis, Cabomba and Water Arum. There all in the pond on the marginal shelves or the bottom. I also threw in 3 floating Water Hyacinths.
	TAA DAHH! That All Folk! This is an aerial view of the completed construction. The pile of dirt on the left is for the waterfall. (I really have no clue what I am gonna do there) The stone walk is in place the feeding station and a stoned area behind I felt would be heavily traveled so this should stop it from becoming a dust bowl. I still need to camouflage the filter and hoses, landscape all the surrounding dirt areas and get some fish. I used the left over cobblestones on the right to create a Japanese symbol that stands for "Don't Do This" .. it's too much work... I am kidding of course it was rewarding and SO far SO good.

The Edge