Stew's Garden Scale Pond

Adding A Water Feature To Our Barkyard Railroad Empire

We're still having fun with this...

Our latest garden scale additions have been to our new old house - a two bedroom, one bath bungalow in Mount Dora. It was built circa 1925, at least, we're pretty sure it was. The records say it was built in 1925, but there was this fire, a fire that destroyed all of the records previous to 1925. But I digress...

If you've been following along, you know we've been busy adding a station stop to break up the monotony. A station to go with that siding that leads to it and the patio. That, and a way to park the cars outside in the "car barn", so as not to have to put everything away everytime we run trains. At least, that's the idea. Having to repair most of the lower loop, a part of the layout that had already been finished, cost us the month of September 2018 in constant effort on the weekends. But that work is done and the station has been a permanent fixture on our Barkyard Railroad for quite some time now.

For the longest time, we fought with trying to "Brigelproof" everything, including the station. When he gets that JollyBall rolling, its momentum can do some serious damage to anything it collides with! The station. The cars sitting at the station. The trestle. The bridge. Everything. We've used the roll picket fence both as a decorative accent and a defense against direct impacts on more breakable items. I lined the station platform with a course of bricks. Then two courses of bricks. Then the second course stacked taller to protect the cars at the platform from being tipped over eveytime Brigel decided to bounce a ball next to them on the patio.

In a similar fashion, I placed concrete blocks under the bridge and Ann moved the big planter pots on either side of it to protect the approach trestles. The blocks look more utilitarian than anything else, and actually draws your eye from the majesty of the bridge and the planters more or less hide the trestles. We talked about a water feature many times, but I was always looking at it from the standpoint of installing it all at once, start to finish, not incrementally. That's what always stopped us, having to have everything in place. From the "mountain" source to the downhill run to a waterfall, natural or man made for the water wheel on the grist mill, to the rapids pouring into the hidden "sump".

The hidden sump is a place to provide enough water storage when not in operation, yet allow sufficient water to be pumped up to the start of the system and maintain the levels necessary for operation throughout. I had planned to locate it near the back corner of the fence by the golden rain tree, where the last of the Big Daddy chairs sits... Or should I say sat? We finally had to say goodbye to it. We got those Adirondack style wooden chairs and a folding table to go with them way back when we were still at the other house in Longwood. I sanded and sealed them once. Then Ann refinished them again. She finally painted them once they made their way here to the Barkyard.

The sump would also allow for aquatic plants to feast on the nutrients that would otherwise feed green algae. Without them, we'll need to constantly dose the entire water feature system with chlorine. Chlorine that will shorten the life of most everything it touches. Chlorine we don't want the dogs drinking. Chlorine we don't want to smell, or for that matter, deal with at all. But all of that is missing the point... Thinking about a water feature as a large, monolithic undertaking is holding us back from actually doing anything about a water feature. Finally Ann has a breakthrough moment and asks what I would think about on of those pond liner things under the bridge. At first I tell her absolutely not. Then I tell her to let me think on it a bit.

The problem with just a simple pond beneath the bridge it's not very prototypical. The practicality that the actual railroad would face is to build to one side or the other of it to avoid having to bridge it in the first place. But from an aesthetics standpoint, anything would probably look better than those concrete blocks. Then I learn the old waterfall fountain we got for Ann so many Christmasses ago has a leak and no longer holds water. At least, the "sump" part of it doesn't. I was talking with our neighbor about it and he gave me some of that clear two part epoxy to repair it that he had leftover from one of his projects. I put the bottles in a plastic bag are set them on the shelf on the side porch until I could get to it...

Ann said to just throw it away, why bother to fix it when it will probably just spring another leak somewhere else? And she was probably right. From what I could tell, the dog had stepped in it, or perhaps pounced on a ball floating in it, which cracked it. I took it outside the fence and sat it next to the house in the garbage staging area. And there it sat next to the house, for at least a month, waiting on me to take the time to mix up the epoxy and fix it. It waited longer than Ann was willing to look at it. One day I decided I was going to fix it once and for all, but it wasn't there where I left it... Funny. Very funny. Once again they've played "Let's see how long it takes me to notice" game. So I put the bottles back on the side porch and moved on. Months later, when Nick handed me the bag with the bottles in it, I realized if I didn't do something with them RFN, they'd disappear forever too. But again, I'm getting off track... Pun intended.

(Saturday, 6 April 2019)

From the letdown of not flying in a B-17 today, it's a pretty uneventful drive to Skycraft, after getting past the traffic jam on I-4 coming from Lakeland that is. I want to just get in and get out, usually a losing proposition for me. Nick still wants to browse, even though he knows what he's looking for. I manage to keep going long enough to find some gears for me. He finds some replacement brushes and connectors and stuff he needs for the drive motor on the mill. All in all, it's another enjoyable visit to Skycraft. We head back out the way we came, and towards home. We were going to ask Ann if she wanted to go to Applebee's, or even Chili's, or wherever, but before we can even say anything, she tells us she's cooking chicken on the grill and it should be ready about the time we get there.

Home, just in time to eat! Boy that sure was nice, and I let Ann know it too. After the day we've had, it's certainly welcomed. Once we're done, the plan is to bring Klaus over and let the two puppies play in the barkyard... While we wait for them to arrive, I set the doodlebugs to chasing each other around the track. Brigel knows he wants to chase them and knock them off the rails, but can't decide which one to chase, so he chases both! One at a time of course. It's comical to watch, as Ann and I sit and enjoy the show. About that time, Nick's back with his pup.

As we're sitting there, Ann asks me if I have a tape measure in the garage. I grab it for her, wondering what she's measuring for, until I see where she's measuring... It's around the bridge, 30" x 57". She's wanting that pond under there again, isn't she? Yep. That's exactly what she's measuring for. As much as I'd like to take time to plan the entire water feature before doing anything, I realize that incrementally, a pond will at least replace those ugly concrete blocks. We both say incrementally about the same time...

(Sunday, 7 April 2019)

Ann announces she and Nick are going to Lowe's and she may be bringing home one of those black plastic pond liners. I nod in acknowledgement. I decide I need to get busy and start the excavation, or at least the removal of the river rock from beneath the bridge. I fill an entire Homer bucket and nearly another... Alright, you got me, it's actually a Lowe's bucket but you know what I mean. I try to use the metal screening from one of the old window screen frames just sitting there rotting behind the garage, but it's way to fine a screen to separate the dirt from the rocks, so that will have to wait.

As far as excavating beneath the bridge, I'm glad I waited, just in case. Well, they come home with a kidney shaped pond liner, one of those black plastic ones with a shallow and a deep end. I start by making a rough outline around it with the shovel, then many cartloads of dirt later, we're test fitting it. Because of the shape of the bottom, there's really no good way to pack the dirt around it without leaving a void or having it cave in and ruin the careful grooming of the profile. And of course, the "pup" is right down in the thick of it, helping up dig it out! What a sight! A german shepherd, standing in a hole so deep only his back are showing, as he's heads down and digging as dirt is flying out of the hole... And he's covered in it!

I decide the "best" approach is going to be backfilling around it using a constant stream of water from the hose to wash it into place, conforming to the shape of the liner. Once close to the top edge of the liner, it will begin to wash into the lower spots surrounding it, slowly working our way all around it. It takes the both of us and some doing to get it settled in and not floating away. We have to not only fill in around it, but also fill it with water to hold it in place. As we finish up, I realize I haven't been check for level, but as we finish filling it with water, it's probably not more than a ¼" off along the entire perimeter. There. Done. We now have a plain pond water feature with "bubbler".

It doesn't take long before the just plain pond is green, even with the pump running the bubbler 24/7. Ann says she doesn't want to have to chlorinate it, but also doesn't want to drain and fill it every week either. I don't have the heart to tell her that's why I didn't want to get just a pond. At least, not a small pond that isn't big enough to have water lillies or water hyacynth or the like to keep the nutrients low and inhibit the algae growth. But now she's talking about getting some sort of filter to take out the algae, like in an aquarium or the like, and I have to tell her that isn't going to work.

Well maybe we need to have some fish then too. I have to tell her that isn't going to work either because the fish are what add the nutrients to the water that need to be removed so the algae can't feed on them. We have a somewhat heated discussion about how all that works, and I tell her about how all the articles I've read about water features say the same thing, you need aquatic plants that feed on those nutrients so that the algae can't. I tell her I'll send her some links and find some of the articles in my Garden Railways magazines, just sitting on the shelf and collecting dust. (NOTE: In hindsight, I have yet to do this!)

So for the next few weekends, we have other commitments. In other words, not much more gets done on the Barkyard. I spent some time looking at making a router jig for the control tower, but that's another story (That I have yet to write)...

(Saturday, 25 May 2019)
At some point, Ann decided to install the the waterfall part of the fountain at the end of the pond, probably shortly after we planted those hibiscus along the inside of the upper loop. Before she moved the two struggling ones from the planter along the fence to join the others. It's a nice touch and inspired more imaginings of what the water feature is now, and could become later. In any case, now sitting on the patio when you look under the bridge you see the waterfall emptying into the pond. It's definitely better than those concrete blocks that were sitting there a short time ago. The only issue now, and we both agree, is the waterfall looks like it's just out in the middle of nowhere with no reason to be there... But we're working on that this Memorial Day weekend.

Sitting here this morning with Ann discussing going to the rock place and how we're going to use them and what's next for the waterfall and planters and such for the barkyard. The plan is to be at the rock place right at 9 o'clock, mainly since it's cooler and we'll probably need to make multiple trips to get enough to do anything with. Ann gets her shower, then right as I'm about to get mine, the power goes out! Guess I'll have to wait for that shower... When the power finally comes back on, about five minutes until nine, the bathroom fan refuses to come on. I fiddle with the breaker and spend those five minutes trying to "finesse" that fan controller into working again, but can't remember what I did last time. Looks like I just needed to give it enough time to decide the power was back on.

By now, Nick is here with the truck and we're ready to leave. Oh well, I'll just shower later since I'll be hot, sweaty, and dirty enough to need one later anyway. We get to the rock place only to see a hastily scribbled sign hanging on the gate, "Closed Saturday for the Holiday"... Right next to the "If the gate's open, we're open, come on in" and "Sat 9-2" signs. Nick says it wasn't there yesterday, but I really wasn't looking for it so I couldn't tell you for sure. We decide to head to Lowe's and make the best of it. Maybe it's a sign we don't really need rocks... At least not yet.

Ann wants to get some plants to hide the fact that the waterfall is just a standalone piece out in the middle of nowhere next to a pond liner... Nick is wanting us to split up and go get the 4x4s I want to start the first step in the staircase planter scheme we've talked about. Normally I would have gone and doen just that. This time I decide to stay with Ann so we can discuss our options, and perhaps "nudge" her in the direction I'm thinking... More to scale and "puppy proof". Plants are another one of those things I need to get to, in the sense that I need to compile a list of what scale size plants would do well where on the layout, especially those we can use as ground cover that will hold up to the dogs and foot traffic. Along those lines, juniper it always a good choice.

Ann is looking more for tall plants to disguise the waterfall fountain, but is having problems with scale. She's on the right track, pun intended, but the wrong scale. She asks me if these tall things that kind of look like reeds, with the cattails already open and wispy at the top would work. They're about three feet tall, too tall I'm thinking, so I tell her they're a scale 72' tall. The height of a seven story building. Probably too tall. We load up one of them in the cart and wheel it over to where the ponds are, thinking they'll have some set up that we can compare to. Nope. We do find some large basins, stacked upside down about the height of the waterfall, and sure enough they are way too tall. I'm glad I tagged along so I could give a sense of scale and use to just the gardening aspect of it.

That's when I came across the junipers and cypress. I point out they are much closer to scale, and the juniper also holds up well to foot traffic and being stepped on repeatedly. Ann had already found some plants that will work well as a scale sized reeds along the edge of the pond, so we need to do some rearranging of the cart to be able to fit all the plants. Ann's looking for a white bougainvillea to plant with the purple one to compliment it, but they don't really have any. The plan is to move the hisbiscus already planted there, but struggling to thrive, over together with the ones we've planted along the inside of the upper loop. But we need something to replace them with. She finds some white star jasmine instead. It will take quite a while to grow up the fence and compete sizewise with the bougainvillea, but the fragrance is pleasant and unmistakable.

Now that we have a cart full of plants, it's time to load up those 4x4s. Just about the time I have a lumber cart ready to load, they need to come through with the forklift, and the guy is asking me to clear the aisle. I tell him sure and ask him if he can snip the banding on the next bunlde of 4x4s since I'll need more than just those few left on top... The ones no one else wanted either. I decide I may as well load up those concrete blocks and stones and bricks and masonry stuff I need while we're waiting on the forklift. One gentleman is visibly upset that he has to clear the aisle. When I see the load it's carrying, if you can call it that, I see why. It's less than a dozen 1x3s! And they're only going to the shelf at eye level, not way up on top. WTF? I could have carried half in each hand and not needed a forklist at all. Whatever.

Ann and Nick are helping me by loading the bricks as I'm hefting the 50# bags of stones and concrete blocks. We head around the front of the aisle with the 4x4s and see that the forklift is further down the aisle, giving us access to them, and the guy actually snipped the banding for us too! I eventually find twelve good ones, load them on another lumber cart, and we're ready for checkout. Our gal is there, asking what we're working on this time. You know you're spending too much time on rennovation and restoration when you're in the big box store two or three times on some days and the folks know you. Nick has an associate there he knows pretty well now that's always marking something down for him on clearance. Anyway, a little over $300 later, we're out the door.

When we get home and start to unload, we greet the neighbors on their way somewhere. We chat a bit about what it is we're up to and how they haven't seen the backyard for quite some time. Ann heads through the house to unlatch the gate to share the barkyard with them. Nick and I continue to unload as Ann gives them the tour. They're impressed by the progress we've made, but it's by no means finished. Until I can get all the projects done that I'm currently working on, I can't even think about how to layout the town center and all that inside the lower loop. But we're making progress, little by little. The neighbors are on their way and we finish unloading the truck.

I must say I am really enjoying the waterfall fountain and pond beneath the howe truss bridge. That one vision of Ann's has set us on a course forward. I am trying to explain how I see the terraced planter working, in a staircase fashion, but she's still not seeing it even with me setting a bunch of eight foot long 4x4s in place. I grab a bunch of shorter pieces of 4x4 and arrange them the way I see the lowest tier of the terraced planter following the curve of the upper loop, coming up behind the waterfall, hiding the fact that it's just a casting... Also giving it a place for the source of the water to come from behind, not just bubbling up out of the ground in the middle of nowhere. Then the next terrace can have a source that feeds another waterfall that flows into this waterfall, etc.

Ann begins to understand what I'm thinking and starts with a vision of her own, maybe having that first terrace behind the hisbiscus actually having houses and such. I was thinking a farm, but somewhere in all of this, we'll definitely need that grist mill with the water wheel. All in good time. For now, I'll be happy to get the plants in the ground and the rest of the now aging parts removed and refreshed. I show her how "stacking" the plants will allow the ground level junipers to hide where the waterfall meets the ground and the cypress, still sitting in their pots about the same height they would be in the next level, will hide the back of the water fall for now. At least until we get that next part of the water feature installed.

Ann wants to start with moving the hibiscus, but right now they're in the sun, so I suggest waiting just a bit until the shade moves over them. She doesn't want to hear that, but agrees, and starts removing the green wire "fencing" along the station planter... Now in full sun. She gets about halfway done and realizes why I recommended waiting for the plants to be in the shade. She moves to the plants around the pond, placing them just so and begins to see how the scale size effect works to not only disguise the real world parts, but also complement the scene with realistic looking scenery. I'm sitting on the patio, taking a break from trying to get her ten wheeler to run reliably, admiring the progress and scale "correctness" of the scene. Totally awesome!

I'm starting to feel light headed so I head inside to refill the tumbler with ice water. Ann suggests I have my leftover pizza, so I fire up the oven and get it started preheating. Between the pizza and the 45 minute break in the air conditioning, I'm ready to head back outside. Ann comes out with me, telling me she wants me to move the car barn and remove roll picket fence and such from along the loop. Now that we've taken away the jolly ball for good, we don't need the extra protection from it. With that done and all the trouble I'm having with Ann's ten wheeler, I put it away and move the yellow passenger cars to the car barn siding, which now leads to the dilapitated car barn, but the siding's just a bit too short. I grab another piece of track from the office and clamp it in place. Now I have enough room that I park the yellow cars on the siding, I can move the green cars out on the mainline and run the green train.

While we're sitting there enjoying the train and our newly disguised waterfall, and the scene it creates, I bring out the big box the yellow cars were packed in. Ann asks what it's for and I tell her I'm boxing up the yellow cars since I'm putting her engine away until I can troubleshoot the hiccups. She mentions I still need to put the paint cans away, the cans of house paint that need a place to go, other than sitting on the front porch that is. With all the cars boxed up and back under the bench where they belong, I have enough room to stack the paint cans together with the ones already there. While I can't get everything all cleaned up all at once, I do a little every time I go in the garage, and every little bit helps.

(Sunday, 26 May 2019)

Reworking the lower loop yet again. After I moved the dilapitated car barn behind the garage and took out the picket fence guarding the track yesterday, Ann started to blow the leaves and such away from the track and over toward the fence earlier than I could get out there this morning. She and Nick are off to the grocery store and my plan was to cut the 4x4s and layout the different tiers of the terrace. I say was because when I see where she left off with the leaves, I figure I can take it the rest of the way. Change of plans... Time to get that edging installed and the artifical turf cut to fit. It takes some doing, but I'm just cleaning out the rest of the debris and making it look nice, not perfect. While I'm at it, I clean out the felt like stuff that we tried out in place of the turf... But it was nowhere near as good as the turf, either aesthetically or functionally.

For now, I need to do something else to protect the track, now that the old defenses no longer exist. Enter the Downtown Marketplace, but that's another story. The next in the series as a matter of fact...

I head out to finally cut those 4x4s, my work area now in the shade, as well as most of the upper loop where I'll be placing them. I wanted to look at making the "staircase" block placement up to the lower loop track more permanent, but waited too long, and now it's in full afternoon sun. Tomorrow. Maybe.

I start out by placing the lowest tier about as close as I can to the hibiscus. Then using the waterfall as a guide to the height and placement of the next tier, I put it in place. I grab up the remaining pieces of 4x4 leftover from the old fence and cut them to the closest "even" sizes possible, like two and three feet long, using the leftover smaller pieces to cut "mini" posts that I use to elevate the next higher tiers. I cut some of the new 4x4s in half, thinking that will give me two pieces four feet long. Nope. These are 97", not 96" like I'd expect. Time to grab those extra long four footers and trim them down to size. I cut another 4x4 into three 32" sections. That should be enough pieces to get started. I cut more pieces as needed, but stop short of laying out everything until I can get a read from Ann and her thoughts.

I ask her if she thinks it's too much. She tells me she thinks it needs to go back further away from the hibiscus, mainly because we'll need room to walk, like to water plants and get to them to weed and such. Good point. I hadn't thought of that. I tell her I plan on adding irrigation and power feeds before we start covering everything with dirt, but she reminds me I did say I thought it may be too much. I revise the lower tier and start over from there. I'm having trouble trying to fit around the waterfall and struggle with just how high the planter needs to be behind it. I continue to cut pieces as I need them and fit together a new terrace layout. I use all the pieces I have except one of the 4x4s, so that's good enough for now. Not to mention I'm losing the shade and it's nearly time for supper

Our story here isn't finished either. The planning, started for the new staircased planter inside the upper loop, stalls while we discuss the size and scale of the new planter. In my original vision of the layout, both loops were supposed to be one on top of the other at the near end of the yard, with the lines crossing each other, at grade, on the far end where they would loop back around. But I ran out of track! So we have just the "dogbone" arrangement for our current incarnation, not the folded dogbone I had planned. That's lasted for a while, and until I bought another hundred feet of track, we couldn't even add the station siding. But we wouldn't even be talking about this had I not bought the track...

The stopping point is how much of the upper loop the new terraced arrangement will occupy. I've always envisioned a "mountain" taking up the entire loop, with tunnels, and... Yeah. Ann thinks even what little I have so far is way too much. So now we need to come up with a plan that works for both of us, minimizing "encroachment" while maximizing effect.

To be continued...

(Thursday, 20 June 2019)

Ann and Nick setup the new hot tub this evening. Can't wait to float in it tomorrow night...