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Replies to Msg. #1266259
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 Msg. #  Subject Posted by    Board    Date   
09513 Re: My Back Yard
   turn it into a REAL pond. 6-8 foot deep so fish can survive winter. St... 		Fiz   GRITZ   10 Jun 2025
 7:48 PM
09511 Re: My Back Yard
   Decomposed > This year, it's a pond, about fifty feet long and a coupl... 		Zimbler0   GRITZ   10 Jun 2025
 7:38 PM
09510 Re: My Back Yard
   [color=blue][b]You could always let it be a swimming hole for the wild... 		Beldin   GRITZ   10 Jun 2025
 7:27 PM
09507 Re: My Back Yard
   [b][color=blue]This year, it's a pond, about fifty feet long and a cou... 		ribit   GRITZ   10 Jun 2025
 7:14 PM

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My Back Yard

By: De_Composed in GRITZ
Tue, 10 Jun 25 6:46 PM
Msg. 09505 of 11957
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As you can see, my wife and I have got a problem with our back yard. Our IMMEDIATE back yard, that is - the area along the back deck. This year, it's a pond, about fifty feet long and a couple of inches deep.

If we could just get four or five days without rain, the thing would dry up. So far, that hasn't happened once. We got the pond when the snow melted, and rain has steadily refilled it ever since.

The blame lies in the excavation. The back yard should have been given a positive slope to the left or the right. Clearly it wasn't. As the dirt settled, a bowl formed. Oh well. What's done is done.

Now I have to figure out what to do. I don't want more excavation. That's extremely messy and fairly expensive. Nor can I just fill the pond up with soil - though I've got plenty of that nearby (see the huge mounds in the picture.) Filling the pond would only spread it out, making it still bigger. I don't want that.

My plan is to dig a 2' deep (maybe less), square hole in the middle of the pond - once it finally dries up. I'll line its sides and floor with some stepping stones I've got, then use a garden hose inserted into the hole to siphon the pond away as often as needed. That oughta work. There's a 10' drop you can't see that's nearby, where the house's water spigot is. I figure I can clear the hose of air by flushing water through it, then disconnect the hose from the spigot and watch the pond drain. That'll be pretty easy so long as the hose doesn't get clogged up. When I'm not siphoning, I can put a cap (more stepping stones?) over the hole so nobody will fall in and break their legs. That's another advantage to it being a square hole with stepping-stone walls. I should be able to make it nice and strong.