Adding a water feature

[Jon Chown]

Five years ago, I decided to rip up my little back yard, level it, put in a retaining wall and a water feature. As our house takes up most of our yard we can not get any equipment down either side, so pick and shovel was the only way.

Here is the gear that we purchased to start with. We already had quite a few bush and river rocks for the edges.

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As is Murphy’s Law, the day after we started, the rains came and made the whole site a mud heap.

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As you can see we used a very large plastic pond liner which I can not recommend and would never use again. After the first big rain it popped out of the ground and I had to build all over again – this time in concrete.

Many - many - many barrow loads of clay later.

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Next the retaining walls.

[Jon Chown]

But first - we have to remove a few more barrows of soil.

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Then we can start with the retaining walls

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Then we lay a little turf.....

[Jon Chown]

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More materials - pavers, bush rock and bedding sand.

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At the other end of the yard, I had plans for a blokes shed, so I left this part untouched.

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and then to put in some plants

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Now we have to wait for nature to have it's turn to give the area a more natural feel......

[Jon Chown]

And Five years down the track we have.....

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and the shed at the other end - now full of junk.

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and all that dirt had to go somewhere and no one wanted it so we had to pay for its removal

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Jon

[anttal63]

ouch jon who did the hard labour? well it certainly looks great now.

[Jon Chown]

ouch jon who did the hard labour

Antonio, I have three sons all over 25, you would thing it would have been a breeze, but they are all missing when work has to be done so most of the barrowing and shoveling was done by yours truly.

Jon

[mudlarkpottery]

That looks fantastic Jon. But where are you going to put all your bonsais?
Penny.

[anttal63]

yeah jon they go missing in action. i know the drill. we do the digging cause we can.

[Jon Chown]

That looks fantastic Jon. But where are you going to put all your bonsais?

Thanks Penny - My bonsai are safe and secure in a locked courtyard, and thats a whole nother DIY job with more shovels, picks and barrows.

Jon

[Jon Chown]

yeah jon they go missing in action. i know the drill. we do the digging cause we can.

Yes, the young ones couldn't keep up but they sure know when food is on the table.

Jon

[Steven]

Great post Jon, thanks for sharing mate! Your pond and water fall look great!
Have you got any shots of your benches that you would like to share?

Regards,
Steven

[Jon Chown]

Have you got any shots of your benches that you would like to share?

Sure, I will begin another thread under benches. Unfortunately the only photos I have of the work being done have been saved at 320 x 200 size and may not come out the best. I will also have to take some recent ones to show how it looks now after everything has settled down.

Jon

[Leevers]

I know this is a very old thread, but am very curious should the owner of this pond still be around, whether the retaining wall blocks were just stacked on top of one another? The curve around the front of your pond with the blocks doesn't appear to be securely held together, but rather relying on the weight of the blocks themselves to hold them together.

The other question I have was whether any liner was used on the inside of the wall to prevent the soil from draining from the blocks?

Also am curious as to whether there are blocks behind the garden against the cyclone fence?


Sorry for all the questions, but have considered doing a similar thing, and if the strength of the blocks will hold the soil securely, then I'll do just that!

Thanks in Advance!

Regards,
Chris