Home Is Where The Garden Is

I’ve had a pond in my yard for over a decade. After years of trying, I finally convinced my girlfriend to put a small pond on her deck - 400 gallons, but it was a start.

A few years later she was thinking of removing her pool (it was above ground with a below ground deep end.) It took only a little convincing to have her remove the pool and install a pond. Her eldest son spent a weekend with a bobcat moving dirt and expanding the deep area. We hauled debris, moved tons of clay, and spent numerous days leveling, installing a retaining wall and wood walls, the pond liner, building a bog area with 6 tons of rock (hauled in by hand!) and (again by hand) brought in over a dozen cubic yards of dirt. Many days her entire family got involved (especially when it came to installing the 600 lb plus liner!)

The dirt was for the planned garden that would surround much of the pond. The bog area would be home to shallow water and bog plants, and would act as a natural filtration area (courtesy of a network of pipes, drains, and a 3000 gallon per hour pump.) We started this project in late September, so were not able to complete everything before winter set in. Now it’s 2006, and things are starting to shape up. The over 1,000 bulbs she planted are blooming in stages (the Spring bloomers are done for the year,) and the numerous other plants, decorative shrubbery and water lilies are doing quite well.

The new pond? Over 7,000 gallons, 4 feet deep at the deepest point, roughly 25x15 feet. A slight increase over the deck pond...

The spots on the image are rain drops. I could have removed them in PhotoShop, but thought they added to the image.

The photo was taken in the "bog-area," the natural filter I designed for the pond. The plantings are not yet complete, and the deck is still under construction, but this is a *real* garden. In the background you'll see the pond and a lot of floating plants. The squirting water is the trickle feed / water aeration for the bog area.

Eventually the liner and exposed dirt will be covered with vines, climbers, Hosta and other assorted bog-friendly plants.

The sky was overcast, grey, but BRIGHT. It always seems to rain the week of the WWP, and I waited, and waited. Finally I gave up and took the photo in the rain. My camera was not happy.....

The theme for my image was how we bring the garden and nature close to home. My goal was to capture the image from a more unique perspective. I home you enjoy this pano!

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USA-Canada / USA-Illinois

Lat: 41° 43' 24.5" N
Long: 88° 48' 9" W

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: High. Pinpoints the exact spot.

Agnos MrotatorB pano head

Nikon Coolpix 8700

Nokin FC-E9 Fisheye lens

No tripod - I fabricated a "monopod" from 3/8" steel rod, assorted washers and nuts. Basically I use this as a spike the tripod head mounted on. This was pushed into the ground so the tripod head was only 1" above the dirt.