This pond so far has a 10 year history that began in 2015. The original plan was for springtime water catching and irrigation. The irrigation part of the pond was disbanded with the evolution of the food forest above. As it has become a stop-over point, it has ducks in the springtime regularly now. The neatest part about the pond is that I did not introduce any vegetation to it. After the base structure was established the frogs, birds and wind brought the seeds and plants.
A common pond building method that is encouraged is using a plastic liner. For a small decorative pond that may be fine but a real functional pond should not have plastic. While a clay liner is timeless, a plastic liner will breakdown and leak. The on site dirt being screened in the pictures is commonly called ‘hardpan’. It is a mixture of rocks, silt and clay. If rocks are left in the clay liner, they will contribute to pond leaks.
A pond location should be placed at the lowest point of a surrounding area. The first pond edition in 2015 was fairly small but proved proof of concept. I could not find documentation or examples of hardpan working for a pond liner. It showed good signs of water retention ability though it did not stay fully wet the rest of the summer.
This expansion was done in 2016. It was trickier than the first section as water flowed from the original pond into the digging area. The liner was more crudely done in the second half by throwing shovels of screened hardpan into the water. We were able to line the sides fairly well. You can see the incomplete portion of liner in the rear of the pond. The dock floated on a giant piece of freebie styrofoam that came from a neighbor. It later cracked in half when ice grabbed it, then moved.
By 2019 there was quite a bit of frog population on the pond as the population exploded with no predators. This is what attracted the ducks as they eat tadpoles and eggs. Grasses started growing on the side with only maybe one type of aquatic vegetation growing. The water was generally murky through the summer. The dock was fixed with driving piers into the pond. Though minor, any penetration through the liner will create a leak spot. The irrigation pump hung of the dock. The pump and dock were later removed from lack of use.
Over time the pond vegetation variety increased. By 2022 there was some pond grass growing. By this time the pond water level does not drop by much over the summer. I think working in self-interest, the vegetation contributed to the water retention. Somewhere around then shown in the center of the picture, the Strawberry Eaters (Cranes) arrived in the area. Besides the obvious they forage for plants and eat mice and frogs. Robyn was able to increase their pallette to Haskap berries as well.
The trees and shrubs are growing back in well by 2023. In the spring, a muskrat stopped over for a few days (swimming top right). At some point someone almost ran a car into the pond and the shrubs on the roadside had a partial reset.
The bench was installed 2024 or so with this picture in the summer of 2025. The pond clearly is established with frogs annually and ducks in the spring time. Even in droughts there is water retention in the pond all summer long. As the roadside brush isn’t fully grown in, so the view from the bench is not quite complete. It is pretty close to a block-out of the road. Maybe 3 more years? The moose knock down some of the brush foraging each winter but it grows back each summer.