Pondage Part One
posted by Missus Boot at 16:21
I've only been living in this house for 10 years and the only bit of gardening I'd ever done was hack up some shrubs and chuck grass-seeds on a large sea of mud in order to grow some sort of lawn.

Edd had been going on about doing a pond and getting some fish for years, and this wish was fulfilled when one of his mother's neighbours got rid of her husband and gave away his koi (and chucked his computer out onto the street, but we didn't get that unfortunately). We adopted the fish and immediately set about building them some suitable accommodation.

Here is the occassionally hacked-at garden. It has big shrub things, a tatty lawn, lots of twigs and a washing machine for the ultimate in urban council-house chic.


First of all, that shrubbery needs a trim and a half. I hack away at it with secateurs, attempting a Mary Quant bob and hoping that it will grow back.


The Babapapa shape of the pond was marked out with bricks, and we started to dig, eventually getting an amoeba formation. Incidentally, digging is not fun.


We dug up a lot of bottles, suggesting that the previous occupant liked to have a sneaky little drink and bury the evidence. Tsk.


As well as bottles of what seem like brown ale and whisky, we found an old Lucozade bottle containing a mysterious substance. No-one would test it.


I'm crap at digging so I made tea and had wonderful ideas while Edd did the magic with his shovel and did stuff with sand.


Here's the little island formation. A waterfall will go around the back and sides, and a plant looking like one of Tina Turner's wigs is to go in the middle.


The pond liner (free with the fish) didn't look too clever, but there was a slight chance it would stretch when filled. Heh. It didn't stretch.


So now we have to drain the pond and re-line it. It took ages to fill, but the sparse greenery of the garden did need a water, so it wasn't all bad.

Labels: Fish, Flowers, Piccies, Pondage, Stuff