This long weekend we rented a mini excavator to dig holes for planting cedar trees along our fenceline, as well as to dig a pond in between two of our gardens towards the back of the lot.
Digging holes for cedar trees. Photo by Marianne Balkwill
The pond is 20 x 20 feet across and 4 feet deep in the middle. There is a shallow ledge around the entire perimeter as well. Here is a series of photos illustrating our progress.
A string marks the plotting of the future pond. Photo by Marianne Balkwill
Digging out the first shelf of the pond. Photo by Marianne Balkwill
Marianne's Dad cleans up the sides of the pond while Aaron continues to remove material. Photo by Marianne Balkwill.
Things were going great until near the end when we hit an old clay tile which caused water to pour in. A rag as you can see was sacrificed to plug the tile. Photo by Marianne Balkwill
Laying down and smoothing out the pond liner. Due to the water that poured in from the tile the bottom was quite squishy!. Photo by Marianne Balkwill
Pond almost full of water. Our dirt consists of sandy loam, sand and eventually clay which is piled around the pond waiting to be smoothed out. Some dirt was also shovelled into a wheelbarrow and dumped into the chicken run to fill in where they were dust bathing and digging. You can see our cat named White at the top of the mound of dirt. Photo by Marianne Balkwill.
Finished pond. Now we need to plant some grass seed and some pond plants. Any suggestions?
Lastly, we went to an open spot towards the back of the property to dig 10 holes for planting fruit trees in the future.
Future site of fruit trees. We are planning for 4 pear trees of 2 different varieties as well as the same with apple trees. Not 100% sure yet what the last 2 will be. Photo by Marianne Balkwill
It got up to a balmy 16 degrees Celsius on the Easter Sunday, and with the sun shining so bright all day we even got a little sunburned! Marianne's Grandmother, who originally owned the property, also came out to observe the progress and enjoy the nice weather! Digging holes was a lot of work but we had some help as well. Thank you Mom and Dad!
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