What A Result!

The weather was very kind again to us yesterday and it was a glorious morning when we ventured outside into the garden to work further magic demolishing the old pond. We made sure to have a breakfast that would sustain us through the brute force and ignorance (we're good at that) that would be required to relocate the remaining sleepers and that soil & rubble from the border at the back of the old pond. Who'd have thought that a good helping of all butter croissants and proper coffee would keep you going until Batman time! You know Batman time ..... dinner dinner dinner dinner BATMAN!

Anyway, progress was exhausting and energy sapping to say the least but by dinner we'd made good progress in clearing the pond border of soil & rubble which was duly wheeled round to AREA 51. In fact we'd managed to excavate two thirds of the border - which equated to umpteen barrow fulls (lost count at around twenty or so).

Back to it after a spot of lunch ... well i did have cucumber in my sandwich! The problem was that after stopping for half an hour or so resulted in the last third of the border appear quarry like in size. What's more, someone had added lead to the heads of all the spades, shovels and garden forks while we'd been having something to eat. This really called for some mind over matter and i don't mean the "if you don't mind it doesn't matter" carry on either.

With gritted teeth (yep soil gets everywhere) and a great determination in our hearts (plus the aches and pains in our muscles and joints) we dug deep (sorry for another pun) and got on with the job in hand. We soon ripped through the remaining mass of soil, compost, bricks and bits of concrete until we were finally wheeling the last of it round for dumping in AREA 51. It was at his juncture that we realised that the area was looking pretty full. In fact we'd under estimated how much earth etc the back borders on the pond actually held and were faced with the realisation that perhaps the soil from excavating the new pond won't all fit in. "Good job i didn't cancel the skip" was the solution from Wifey.

We spent the last hour or two (time flies when you're having fun) fighting and wrestling with the remaining sleepers and stacking them out of the way. By 5.00pm all that we were left with was the old pond liner and some bits of wood which we'll soon move in the day or two.

An exhausting & painful weekend, but very happy with the result!

Steady Progress

It was 08.00am and the garden was already calling out to us. It was a fairly fresh morning yesterday but once we'd started titivating we soon warmed to a working temperature. So after an hours titivating about and some more in depth planning over a cup of coffee we started to level the ground in the back corner where our first sleeper was going to be laid which we could then take our levels from in forming the new raised patio in AREA 51. With the ground duly skimmed level and a good helping of sand laid to bed the sleeper on, it was finally time to move one of the mammoth lumps of oak.

We decided it might be easier on the arms and back etc to load a sleeper on to the wheel barrow and barrow them around to AREA 51. Although this approach to moving the sleepers from one part of the garden to the other was fairly precarious to say the least, it was certainly much easier and less strenuous than trying to actually carry them around.

Progress in taking down the old pond was actually quite slow as most of our time was being spent building the retaining walls for the raised patio area and ensuring they were bedded down correctly and of course level. The oak sleepers were beasts of wood to lift, move and maneuver so it really was essential that the ground was prepared properly so that the sleepers would fit absolutely first time so that we wouldn't have to move them again. Fortunately we managed to get this right with all but one, so we were pretty pleased that the thought and effort we put into planning paid off. So where does this leave us ....

Old Pond - Part Demolished

The above picture was taken yesterday when we'd finished for the day. There's just one row of sleepers that we need to remove from the front and right hand side of the pond before we start dismantling and clearing the earth out of the border to the left and back of the pond, as well as the retaining sleepers. And as for the raised patio area at AREA 51 ....

AREA 51 - Raised Patio Build

We've left a gap for now so it's easier to get the barrow in for tipping the rubble and soil. We also need to cut some sleepers so they fill this gap correctly which is not an easy feat to achieve, even with a chainsaw! I'm positive though with some perseverance will get it done. In the meantime, there's more barrowing to be done.

Area 51 - Restricted Access

With illness now behind us (hopefully) and the resurrection of the fallen fence, we've finally been able to make a physical start to the new pond build process! So what progress have we made so far ....

Old Pond

We started to dismantle the actual pond by removing the wooden beams which were screwed on top of the sleepers. This proved to be a pain as we predicted due to the screws being rusty, even though they had a coating of grease when first used. A bit of brute force and ignorance fettled the ones we couldn't unscrew. It was then time to remove the first of umpteen sleepers which formed the pond walls. Moving just one sleeper caused a cascade of memories to flood back to the forefront of our minds as to how exhausting it was to build the pond originally using the sleepers ... and that was with extra help! It also brought home the reality of how difficult it would be to front the new pond using these unforgiving pieces of wood especially trying to sit three high, one on top of the other without any wobbling, falling down or threat of injuring someone. Guess what .... time for a rethink!

Whilst endeavouring to build a new pond in the area we deem as the back garden, we're also in the process of "updating" another area which we call the middle garden. For the past seven years this particular area of garden has slowly but surely got away from us. So much so, that it actually became a dumping ground for materials, predominately of the building type such as bricks, chunks of wood and sheets of polycarb, which we couldn't find a more appropriate place for. This "restricted area" became affectionately known as AREA 51. And so it was that earlier this year or towards the back end of last year, or perhaps it was the year before that .... at some point in the not too distant past we made the conscious decision to finally turn the middle garden into a middle garden once again. With the help and we must say patience of Tracy & John from Worlds Home & Garden Services, the transformation from a no go area back to a real garden again has begun. We'd already decided that AREA 51 would make an ideal raised patio area, however this would have to be completed at some time in the future as funds wouldn't stretch to completing this along with everything else. For the time being work has currently ceased as the next stage in the make over is to lay the paving which will form the paths from one gate to another. However as this is our only access for the mini digger which we're hiring to assist us excavate the area for the new pond, we thought it made sense to wait until the mini diggering (just invented a new word) had been completed. It's at this point we jump back to the rethinking!

Bingo! We use the sleepers from the old pond to form the raised patio area for the middle garden. Not only that, but we use the soil excavated from the new pond area as infill. Genius ... cancel that skip! AREA 51 was therefore duly cleared apart from some rubble (lots of visits to the waste recycling centre this weekend) and the site readied for the imminent relocation of very heavy raised patio retainers.

Area 51

The shed to the rear of the old pond has also been emptied of all its contents and completely dismantled. Well we say dismantled but in truth once we started to take things apart it kind of dismantled itself. However we'll be salvaging what we can for use as a small tool shed in the bottom garden.

DIY (Demolish It Yourself)

Hopefully the gorgeous weather we've been having lately will remain kind to us for the weekend so we'll be able to get some more DIY (Demolish It Yourself) completed.

Best Laid Plans

So work was due to commence on clearing the old pond and site last weekend. There's quite a bit to do so that we have a blank canvas with which to start the new pond build. Firstly we need to remove the soil and then the hardcore from the pond borders (we've actually managed to take up all but  theplants), then we need to remove the sleepers and store them away from the area of the site as we'll be re-using these to "front" the new pond. We also need to remove all the gravel from the area which we were hoping to simply move and use elsewhere, however we're not in a position to do this yet so again we need to find a place to store it until we're ready.

The reason for the post title then .... because we were unable to start the above work because the fence between our property and next door blew down! We're still at a loss as to how 4 inch posts managed to rot so easily and quickly, however i think it's fair to say that the sewage flood we were subjected to on two occasions late last year certainly contributed considerably. It meant that we spent Friday afternoon with the help of Tracy & John from Wolds Home & Garden Services digging out the old posts and concrete to make way for the new. A task made extremely difficult apparently by my concrete mixing skills, resulting in the use of a concrete breaker having to be seriously abused! Saturday morning we managed to get a number of posts cemented in before having to bob out, with the remainder of the posts being concreted in on Sunday. The rails were then screwed on during the week ready for boarding, which was due to be started Friday when home from work and finished off Saturday morning so that we could spend the rest of the weekend tidying up the old pond and area.

Best laid plans - take two!

Friday saw Wifey seriously ill with the latest stomach bug prompting many a visit to the loo ..... with bucket! It seemed to hit her with extreme prejudice knocking her completely off her feet (apart from the running to the bathroom). Needless to say that come tea time on Friday i was beginning to feel a bit queasy and by the time 9.00 pm came, was in full illness mode. I must admit that i've been no way near as bad as Wifey, but still wouldn't wish what i experienced on anyone.

Both of us were feeling more human this morning and so we've managed to position the landscape fabric and pin it down, board one side of the fence so there's at least a garden divide again which should keep next door's cat out and prevent our dog from eating said cat. We also managed to gravel one side also. Not a great deal achieved really, but in the scheme of things and the way we're still feeling it was quite a monumental effort really.

So here's to next weekend when we can finally start clearing the old pond site ready to begin work on the new.

The Quest Continues

So the whole reason for keeping this blog (online diary) is so that we can share our thought and decision making process which is going into building a new Koi pond. To therefore "share" this experience we also need to divulge all the decision changes we decide to make ..... and yes you've guessed it there's another one on the way!

Increasing the size of the filter house would mean that all the equipment could be accommodated and therefore would provide a solution to the Ebay bargain dilemma. However it was when we started to think and plan the set-up to accommodate all the equipment that we once again questioned if this was the correct set-up for us? Could the expense of purchasing all the valves. pipework etc to run this system be better spent on an alternate solution using alternate equipment? Perhaps the blinkers were on in that we were thinking that we had to make this new system work with the equipment we already had and that maybe we should be reviewing the alternatives? At this juncture it was decided that we did indeed need to review the situation and so some in depth investigative work was carried out over the last weekend with many subsequent emails and phone calls being made since.

The consensus of opinion was that although our envisaged set-up would work, and work fine, we felt that the equipment "footprint" was simply too much with two vortexes, a Nexus 200 and all the other valves, pipework, etc as well as installation of all the quarantine equipment. However there was a definite need to increase the biological filtration. We also felt that it was important to give a helping hand to the mechanical filtration also. The solution to this being to incorporate one vortex before the Nexus (helping hand on the mechanical front) and to then purchase a bead filter to increase the biological filtration capabilities of the system. We also identified appropriate water pumps and configuration in order to make this system as efficient, as well as economical, as possible.

We're also in the process of gathering costs for materials and equipment hire costs for physically building the pond, so once these have been received we'll bring you an update - which will be v4.0!

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