[guest]

I thought some may find these pics of interest...

We moved into our place in 1998, initially i did not want the back yard cleared but decided to add a pond..

Heres a pic of the before:
<img src=http://www.apartofme.com/images/BRUSHPIL.JPG>

i basically cut down the trees and asked anyone who wanted the wood to come on by.. thios was from 5/2000

 

[guest]

As you can see it looked pretty ratty...

The pond was done in 3 steps.. the reason was mostly financial..

In the 1st step.. my excavator guy, cleared and stumped the back of the back yard and burried the stumps... We shook the stumps and saved that loam and also scraped the loam layer off of the yard for later use...

<img src=http://www.apartofme.com/images/MVC-840X.JPG>

 

[guest]

more scraping burying and piling of loam..

<img src=http://www.apartofme.com/images/MVC-845X.JPG>

 

[guest]

in the 1st phase.. the general shape of my pond was dug just a foot deep..

<img src=http://www.apartofme.com/images/MVC-012X.JPG>

The reason for the odd shape was, i had had some stumps burried at another time, and the pond was sort of dug around the burried stumps...

 

[guest]

1st signs of a pond...

<img src=http://www.apartofme.com/images/MVC-013X1.JPG>

 

[guest]

In the 2nd phase.. the stumps had been burried, the rest of the ground was scraped of surface loam and piled up.. as you can see, we are on clay..


<img src=http://www.apartofme.com/images/MVC-041X.JPG>

 

[guest]

My excavator guy, dug the pond hole.. I am on wetland or natural low spots so the pond easily took on water..
actually the guy said he saw 2 springs bubbling up water while he dug...

<img src=http://www.apartofme.com/images/MVC-042X.JPG>

 

[guest]

I had to travel this day and missed out on most of the fun.. here is the end of stage 2.. the pond was dug and it filled in with water within 2 days...
if you see that rock on the pic above in the pond.. i used that to gage the water flow.. it covered the rock in a day.. plenty of water..

<img src=http://www.apartofme.com/images/MVC-049X.JPG>

All the yard loam was piled and the clay yard was left to dry out a little

 

[guest]

Stage III:
sorry if the pics take a long time to download...

In this stage the excavator spread all the yard loam and get a level of loam on all the yard..

<img src=http://www.apartofme.com/images/MVC-062X.JPG>

 

[guest]

you see the water filled in nicely.. it was still clay colored but that went away as soon as it settled..

<img src=http://www.apartofme.com/images/MVC-065X.JPG>

 

[guest]

as you can see, it looked good.. level, decent loam but it was full of roots and sticks..

It was going to take me 3 years to pull those sticks.. maybe a york rake would have helped.. but i'd gone this far.. I wanted grass.. and i wanted it now!!!

<img src=http://www.apartofme.com/images/MVC-072X.JPG>

 

[guest]

Being a fat lazy american.. I decided to go the easy route..
I got my excavator guy to dump 100 yards of screened loam..

I had him put a coat of loam on top of the yard loam..

I initially had him try his dozer (per my request) but it was way too wet..

<img src=http://www.apartofme.com/images/MVC-101F.JPG>

 

[guest]

I also hired the guys nephew to follow the excavator around as he spread the loam and pull out any of the bigger sticks..

<img src=http://www.apartofme.com/images/MVC-109S.JPG>

 

[guest]

This Guy is a master with his machines.. he does awesome work.. if you can see, he spread the loam with the excavator but its so smooth it looks like it was done with a dozer..

<img src=http://www.apartofme.com/images/MVC-118S.JPG>

 

[guest]

one more pic..

<img src=http://www.apartofme.com/images/MVC-119X.JPG>

 

[guest]

If you see the line of rocks in the back of the photo.. That was the natural spot where water would flow.. so i had him pile the rocks and dig it out so its sort of a stream (that does not really go anywhere)

<img src=http://www.apartofme.com/images/MVC-132L.JPG>

 

[guest]

Finally done...

Now time for grass..
<img src=http://www.apartofme.com/images/MVC-291L.JPG>

 

[guest]

you can still see how wet the soil is.. i never had to water the grass once..

<img src=http://www.apartofme.com/images/MVC-295L.JPG>

 

[guest]

one more pic:

<img src=http://www.apartofme.com/images/MVC-294L.JPG>

 

[guest]

one year later...

plus i had a little more of the yard cleared to the left...

<img src=http://www.apartofme.com/images/MVC-164X.JPG>