pond&things

   I have added this page of large photos to give better detail to the water and garden features found on previous pages, enjoy.
   This view looks down from new pond (spring 2001) to large pond, the distance is about 50 feet with a 15 foot drop, several small waterfalls are built into the 50 foot stream.

  
   The following picture shows the hilly area behind the pond I had to work with. My thought was to leave as much of the natural setting as possible , and make an easier way to access the hillside. Since I also wanted a waterfall for my pond I decided on a stream with several waterfalls  to follow a walkway up the hillside. A bridge over the stream would connect to another walkway to the opposite side of the pond. Almost 35 tons of sandstone was used in this project as can be seen in the following photo.
  
   The hillside as it appears today 080701. Remember that working on a hillside can be quite strenuous. Wear appropriate shoes, preferably a quality pair of boots (work shoes) with ankle support and good tread on soles.
   When changing the features of a hillside try to leave as much natural vegetation as possible as this aids in the prevention of erosion.  Make up a plan of all changes and materials needed for your project. Be careful in your material selection, the types of wood to use, what plants (sun or shade), rocks (granite is very heavy). I used  sandstone as much as possible as it is easy to work with (can easily be split with a chisel and hammer) and is much lighter then other types of rock.
   A stairway or ramp up the hillside can be made several ways, using wood is less evasive to the hillside as only holes for posts to support the stairway would be dug. I wanted the area to reflect a quarry type appearance, so the choice was for stones to be used for the stairs. When using stones be sure of each location so only enough dirt is removed for each step. By doing this each stone will be supported by solid earth, if the ground is too soft  the stone could possibly wobble or slide. A ramp should only be considered on a long gentle slope and instead of removing ground use a retaining system and add ground .
  
   The next photo is  the mid level area of my deck just after I added the railroad ties and completed landscaping for flower bed.
  
   A big change was made to this area as seen below
  
   to be cont.


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