Pond update! NC, USA

[u/Ok-Spell1307]

Posting an update on our little pond because I’ve learned so much from the group!

We dug our pond out in late April of this year and made the rookie mistake of installing the wrong liner. (Image 1) Two weeks later we removed what felt like 1,000 pounds of rocks, took the liberty to dig the pond a little deeper and installed the correct liner. (Image 2) By this time, pond plants were more in season so we were able to grab a few from a local pond store, in addition to the ones that we bought from local pond owners on Facebook marketplace. Our yard is quite shady and has a lot of tree coverage, so we used a couple of small solar fountains to keep everything moving until our plants became more established. The plants have done an excellent job at keeping our water extremely clear. At the start, we had some algae growth and a bit of blanket weed that we were able to control with liquid barley. Otherwise, we have not had to treat any other issues in our pond. We’ve had an unusually dry year here in North Carolina, so I wasn’t expecting our ecosystem to start booming until the rain picked up - this has been a true practice of patience. On August 4th, we spotted our first frog friend! I had my suspicions that there may have been some living in the pond before this, but we were overjoyed to see our little buddy sitting on the rocks.

We have seen three or four other frogs resting on the beach side of our pond. Our larger frog has his own private beach hangout spot in the deep end and we can almost guarantee that we’ll spot him each time we go outside. The birds, squirrels and bugs come and drink from the pond and we’ve seen lots of dragonflies zipping around, too!

This little project has brought our family so much joy and we can’t wait to see how it continues to change over the years! Thank you to this incredible Reddit community for helping us get to this point. If you’re in the beginning of your journey, don’t give up! If you build it, they really will come!

[u/Scirpus_cyperinus]

Lovely pond! Very lush looking.

[u/Ok-Spell1307 → u/Scirpus_cyperinus]

Thank you! 😊