I'm gradually moving my backyard from "backyard" to a sort-of Japanese Garden.

This item is for reporting what I've done, and discussing things about doing
this sort of garden.

16 responses total.

Yesterday I did the first actual thing, as opposed to thinking about what to
do.  I made a pathway of sandstone slabs (left over from something else) from
the back door to the steps up to the upper part of the back yard (there's
about a 2 foot difference, with a wall of stacked sandstone).  

In general, paths or stepping stones aren't supposed to be nice straight
conduits for walking.  A good path is supposed to do things like make you
notice particular features or (what I did) at least make sure you don't just
walk in under autopilot while still thinking about work or whatever.  The path
I did is stepping stones in the grass in a very uneven layout.  It's got some
balance, but it's still almost random in layout.

Today I'm hoping to build a variation on the traditional stone lantern.  I'm
going to use old bricks and more sandstone, stacked up in the correct shape.
Another element of a good garden is that it should look ancient, even if
recently built.  The use of old materials should help quite a bit.  I may also
mix in some old chunks of concrete, since the ones I have are very old and
weathered.

Eventually I want to have a pond, but I'm still figuring that one out.

One of our volunteers is an artist and makes fountains.  Want one?  He has
good electrical and plumbing skills.

Thanks, but this is my own little project.  And did I mention that I too have
good electrical and plumbing skills?  ;)

(If he's got a good source for low volume pumps I'd like to talk to him,
though)

Stop by early Saturday afternoons, or Wed evenings, or phone then.

Nice, cheap, low volume pumps are difficult to find.  I got a submersible
Ehime fountain pump from a mail order aquarium supply house.  It uses a
magnetic drive and uses very little power, only about 9 watts.  For low heads,
check out the power heads used for under gavel filters.

We installed a little pool recently too.  We purchased a 6' diameter plastic
cow trough from the farm supply store in Dexter.  It is made of nice, heavy
plastic.  Our neighbors had a pool made with a plastic liner but after kids
twice punctured it, while poking sticks around in it, it got filled in.  That
will not be a problem with the cow trough!  It has already served as pool for
the kids for about six years and has not suffered from that.  So, I dug a nice
hole in the ground, leveled it and set the cow trough level to the ground.
It's about 26" deep and it took less that a week for water strider spiders
and water beetles to find it.  Frogs a sure to follow very soon.  We will set
cinder blocks in the bottom on which we can put rocks and aquatic plants. 
We also want to put some fish in it.  We need to find a good source for plants
and domestic fish.  (Could get some Bluegills, etc. from local ponds.)

Thanks for the info, Klaus.  I'm still thinking more along the lines of a
non-circular pond, though.

Got the lantern done, but it still needs glass or paper "windows" to stop the
wind from blowing out the candles.  Looks great, except now I've realized I
really can't put the pond where I had planned (too much stuff in one place).

I have also heard of people using large scraps of rubber roofing to line
ponds with.  It's a little more durable than the usual plastic liners sold
for the purpose.

Update:  I finished the windows for the lantern.  after a couple months they
are getting properly weatherd and old-looking.

I found that the stepping stones I put in to the lawn are too low.  I put them
in in early spring when the grass was short, and more recently they've been
practically buriied in grass.  So yesterday I pired them up and poured some
sand under them to get more height.

I'm also trying to figure out the next mev.  I was thinking that playing with
borders to make part of the lawn look like a body of water would be cool. 
I'd have "shores" consisiting of a border of some kind, and rocks for islands.
The stepping stones would work with this.

Green water?   Are you aiming at a lily pond effect?

It would be more sybolic than exact.  So as long as the shape is there...

I haven't done much else since the last couple of things (well, there's the
stump removal, but that's not really part of this item...)

But I have pictures finally posted:
http://www.wwnet.net/~scott/lantern.html

Nice!

When is the first official tour?

Not planned at present.

OK, finally some movement.  I added a little Japanese Maple (I mean tiny, like
2 feet tall, although it will grow) to the other side of the stone stairs.
I used some spare sandstone to build a terrace for it.  In 30-40 years it
should look totally kickass.  ;)

The pond location is finally (I hope) nailed down!  A row of three little
evergreens (yews?  Arborvitae?) were getting cramped right in the center of
the back yard (to the right of the steps as seen in the lantern pictures),
and I needed something to fill a gap in front.  So lately I've been toiling
with a shovel to transplant the little trees (tallest one is almost 7 feet).
The resulting hole will be in the perfect spot for a pond.

Response not possible - You must register and login before posting.

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss