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Philphine · 05-09-2007, 05:51 PM

playing with an idea that kind of is blooming on me. let me explain.

i guess from the previous owners digging and building the large garage and deck and pool the back yard is kind of uneven. i get a lot of swampiness when i get a good rain. i've been seeing the shows with dry creek beds and artificial creeks and decided one day while it was raining to kind of make a small trench from puddle to puddle till i had sort a meadering flow from under the deck out to the drainage ditch behind the yard (and caught a cold in the process). i kind of like it so i'm going to try and finish it out as a dry creek bed and try to have all the gutters on the rear of the house and garage, any over flow from the pool and heavy rain flow to it.

meanwhile, my neighbor has a small plastic pond he never put in the ground or did anything with. it's about as big as a bath tub but not as deep and irregularly shaped like a mini pond. i may get it from him and put it in line with my creek bed, so the creek bed feeds it till it's full, then the overflow runs on out the other side down the rest of the creek bed and to the drainage ditch.

what i'm wondering is, what about the standing water in the mini pond? if there are no filters and pumps or we don't get rain for a while, i guess the water would just be there and make for good mosquito breeding. can you just throw some kind of chemical in it, or run the hose into it to keep the water somewhat fresh or something?

the creek bed i'm definitely doing, but the mini pond i may leave out if there is too much hassle surrounding it. it's just an opportunity type thing anyway and kind of defeats the purpose of what i'm doing if it's going be a self made swamp. thanks for any help.

glennjanie · 05-10-2007, 11:29 AM

Hello Philphine:
I would not include the pool in the creek bed. Like you said it would be a breeding ground for misquitoes (and other insects), If you tried to stock it with fish they would leave with the next rain, and it would be a catch basin for all kinds of trash and mud. It would be level full in 2 years with the silt.
I admire you for wanting to use what is at hand but this one is a little overboard.
Glenn

Square Eye · 05-10-2007, 10:50 PM

If you put in a pump, waterfall or fountain, It will help discourage the mosquito problem, a chlorine pellet when the water gets still will help keep it clean. Without some sort of circulation, It will be just a mess.

Kerrylib · 05-11-2007, 08:46 AM

I kinda like the idea of having the pond there. Then when it rains you have the creek bed flowing through. Sounds like there is potential to have a very tranquil setting. Of course if it isn't taken care of, you most certainly will have a slimy mosquito haven.

Mosquito dunks (little donut shapped things you can float in the pond) are a natural bacteria that will kill the mosquito larvae. They are safe to use with fish.

Definately put in a pump. If you wanted to go to the expense of expanding the scale of your pond and landscaping, put a waterfall at the head of the creek and use the pond pump to circulate water up to the waterfall and let it drain back down to the pond via the creek bed.

You're probably better off just avoiding the pond altogether, but putting it in does give you some unique opportunities to explore with your landscaping.

Daryl in Nanoose · 05-13-2007, 08:52 AM

Dry creeks, Ponds, Waterfalls, all are a great way to enhance your backyard. Your dry creek is a great idea but as said previously standing water is a breeding ground for those nice little friends of ours. I got a pond giving to me by a client and went ahead and put it in
I originally just made up a 5 gal filter myself and it kept those little friends away but you do have to clean the rocks in the filter 2 a year http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/daryledi/Wishingwell%20Pondfilter/ .. It really is not a big deal putting these in and what you get back in return is a very tranquil setting.
Here is quick summary of what we did; Removed grass and dug a trench for the electrical conduit. Dug hole for pond with 3" of a sand bed, installed Landscape fabric everywhere including under the pond, put in 3/4" river rock and used some different size rocks to create a border around the area with river rock, Bought a prefabbed waterfall, pump which came with a fountain and made my own filter and presto. I have recently replaced my own filter and pump with a proper pond filter so I had more water running and I find it easier to clean than my own filter and does keep the water Crystal clear not to mention its a little loader so I can here it on our deck thats about 10 feet away 6 feet off the ground.
Oh by the way the foam you see in the water is not normally there, I have been doing a few things down there and I have to clean it up and replace the water.

Philphine · 05-21-2007, 04:24 PM

well, i was out flea market hopping and as luck would have it, came across an even smaller shaped pond for cheap, so i think i'm gonna do it. after reading the responces and trying a bit of research, i guess i'll try to work out some kind of pump system. from the bit of reading i've done it won't be as hard or expensive as i thought, so i'll add it to the plan for now. thanks for the advise.