Garden makeover

[Bri62]

Moved in the new house last year after living in France for 5 years ......finaly got my garden finished

when i started


when i finished



Brian

 

[Bri62]

Very nice indeed!

Obviously not a fan of grass I take it?

lol your right there .....gave the lawn mower to next doors

 

[Bri62]

Haha did you do it all yourself? It looks like it has been done extremely well

all done myself apart from the fiberglassing of the pond.
Brian

 

[Bri62]

Nice fish.

thanks.....getting good growth this year

 

[Bri62]

Buy goldfish instead and sit really close to the pond

Do those koi things sit out there in winter too?

Yep the water is heated during the winter to 14 deg.


Brian

 

[Bri62]

That's amazing!!!

Thanks

 

[Bri62]

you should have done a build thread looks awesome!...would love a pond, but the expense of how i'd like it scared me!

what did yours cost you if you don't mind me asking.

I have done a full build log (27 pages) from start to finish it cost roughly £10,000
Brian

 

[Bri62]

Very impressive! And to have done 90% on your own is all the more impressive.

I'm assuming the water setup don't require much cleaning?

I clean the filters in the summer twice a week ....but it takes 5 mins and i don't even get my hands wet just a case of opening a few valves in sequence.
Brian

 

[Bri62]

Beautifully done, I'd love a garden like that.

Thank you.

 

[Bri62]

Half of the filter set up.

 

[Bri62]

you should have done a build thread looks awesome!...

I will do a build log as i get time

Ok the start.

Hired a mini digger as i'm not as fit as i used to be.


After a day and a half i give up with the digger mainly because i was rubbish at driving one so i finished it by hand ......hard going

The size of the hole is 5x3x1.2m and in total i removed 48 tonne of spoil 2 x 18 tonne grab lorries and 2 skips the rest was used for landscaping cost a fortune just to dig the hole
Brian

 

[Bri62]

It had to happen......Rain



and then the resulting mud bath


Brian

 

[Bri62]

Wow so that's pretty deep then!!! bet the carp love that... what's the temp difference top to bottom?

What bonsai's have you got? I'd love a decent bonsai but I keep ruining them by not taking care of them properly, yours look great in the snow.

http://www.herons.co.uk/index.asp

This place is down the road from me I could spend hours just looking.

There is no difference in temp, the water is gravity fed from a bottom drain and returned to the pond 16" under the surface.

Bottom drain ready to go in.


Ready for the base to go in.

Brian

 

[Bri62]

Thats an awesome job, have you got a pic of the before and after from the same angle/spot?

I'll have a look

 

[Bri62]

Some of my favorite bonsai I got from my mum......there 50 years old, grown from seedlings.



Brian

 

[Bri62]

The base is going in ...made the wife happy

they managed to drop the barrow in


All done.
4m3 of C35 mix with fibers
Brian

 

[Bri62]

Looks fantastic. Loving the build pictures

Thanks
Took delivery of 350 6" 7n block and had to move them from the front to back so not looking forward to that


Job done......and it done me in too, there heavy started 2 at a time but was soon down to single.
After an hour went to my brothers to borrow a barrow.
Brian

 

[Bri62]

Block work going up.


finished for the day, got another 3 courses to go.

Wished i had used 4" block by this time
Brian

 

[Bri62]

Filter bay dug out and floor layed.



couldn't find my trowel so made do with the level.

Skimmer in place and the block work finished.


Water returns installed 6'2" deep and 6200 gallons
Brian

 

[Bri62]

Did you fill it courtesy of a local fire hydrant?

Unfortunately not had to be filled by tap through an activated carbon filter took 3 days and two nights
Brian