Namaste!

We had a lovely trip to London. Arriving on July 14th and leaving on 21st. We were staying at the heart of the city called Covent Garden and Soho. London is brilliant. It is so lively and vibrant. But unbelievably expensive. Cost of food is almost double in compare to what we pay in the States. But the good news is that the museums were mostly free! The weather was nice but people were complaining that they haven’t had a nice and warm summer. We almost covered all the neighborhoods, from the West End to the City, South bank, Hyde park, Camden and Hampstead. I can’t say how much I adore this city. I can easily move there! … working on Mammad!!!

Our next project would be the restoration of a stained glass window we brought from Iran years ago. It was sitting in Mammad’s uncle’s garage in Tehran and Toronto for years. It should be over 100 years old. This would be our winter project! We need to replace some broken glasses, clean and oil the wood frame and if everything goes well we would like to make a nice dinning table out of it. Or we will display it as an arts and crafts piece.

I think I need to register Mammad for a woodwork workshop soon.

After months of research we decided to take some action. Before I give you step by step explanation I would like to mention some useful resources in building a pond that helped us with our endeavor.
1. Pond Building for Hobbyists – Aquascape
2. Creating Japanese Gardens – ORTHO books
3. A Hobbyist guide to Pond Plants – Aquascape
4. How to design and build a water feature – DVD by smartflix.com
5. Pondkoi forum
6. Pond Forum (Graden Web)

First we drew the design of our pond on the ground. With the help of a hose we came up with the design that we liked and then we painted around it.

And we did the same thing for the second and third levels. The first level is about 8″ deep which would be for marginal plants that need 0-8″ of water, like Papyrus, Lizard Tail, …
The second level would be another 8″ deep (total 16″), which would be great for water Lilies.

We left some parts as deep as 30″ for the fish to swim easily and also the depth would protect them from Egrets and Raccoons. If you want to have Koi in your pond you need to have the pond as deep as 3 feet.
The skimmer we used was Savio Skimmerfilter. The skimmer should be placed opposite the waterfall. We first dug a hole for the skimmer. It was very important that the opening of the skimmer be 7″ above the water level in the pond. Usually the water level would be 3″ below the ground level. To find the ground and consequently water level we put some wooden stakes around the pond and marked them with a level.

Now the question is what kind of rock and how much of rock do I need for my pond? We decided to go with Napa, Sonoma and Cold Mountain rocks which are widely used by pond builders in this area. The practical point about Napa rocks is that they have lots of edges and this make them easy to stack. Sonoma is more round which is safer for the liner. Cold Mountain are great for the water fall and around the pond. To calculate the amount (#tons) of rock, we used following formula:

(Volume of first level in ft3): 27 (to convert it to yrd3) x 1.25 (to convert it to Ton)

17x5x8/12 : 27 x 1.25= 2.6 ton
So we ended up with about 4 tons of rock for inside the pond and some hardscaping around it. We bought 2 palettes of Napa rock (one double head and one baby head) and 1 palette of Sonoma rock (double head) and half a ton Cold Mountain rock and about 6 boulders.

There is a big debate whether you should cover the whole liner with small rocks or not. One school of thought believes that by adding river rocks and gravels on the bottom of the pond, you generate some dead pockets and a massive amount of muck will be building up in those pockets. it also becomes more difficult to scoop/vacuum the debris. So we decided to avoid gravel and just cover the liner on the bottom of the pond with Lin Creek Pebbles (3-8 inches). This make it easier to clean the pond and healthier ecosystem.

After digging we covered the base of the pond with some sand.

Then with carpet. We bought our carpet from home depot $0.45/sqft.

After the carpet went the underlayment. You need to make as much padding as you can to avoid any damage to the liner.

And finally the liner. We used 45mill EPDM liner.

Here are some pictures of the pond with rocks in it, and of course the beautiful stone statue we brought from Bali.

Building of the waterfall was not easy.The waterfall filter we bought was Savio Model F100. We built two levels with concrete blocks. Two pieces of Cold Water rocks went on each level to make a 5″ drop for the waterfall. We were very concern about the noise of water because of being too close to the neighbors. But it appeared that the noise level is fine. No complaints yet!

The next step was to power wash the rocks and decide on the place of the plants inside and outside of the pond. For the inside of the pond we decided to plant the plants in fabric pots made of felt. We bought our pots from The Water Garden. Some plant them directly in the pond but we decided to go with the pot since it will be easier to remove the plants from the pond and also would be cleaner for the pond. Here is the list of the plants we used for inside the pond:

1. Hardy Water Lilies: Black Princess (Red), Joey Tomocik (Yellow), Peach, White.
2. Marginals: Papyrus, Horsetail, Lizard tail, Rush, Pennywort, Watercress, Water Mint, Tulbaghia, Iris
3. Floaters: Water Hyacinths, Water Lettuce, Red Stem Parrot Feather
4. Oxygenators: Hornwort, Cabomba, Anacharis, Red Ludwigia, Vallsneria

And here is the result of two months of hard work on weekends and lots of research. It is so rewarding. I can’t say how much we enjoy our pond. When we add the lights I will post some more pictures of the pond at night. Now we need to be patient and let the pond to establish its Nitrogen cycle. We added some beneficial bacteria to help with the cycle. Also, we added some goldfish. They are so cute. We may consider Koi later on!

And here is the moment of Zen!

Within the first week the lily started blooming!

Since the Tara stone statue was very heavy we needed to make a concrete platform to hold it. We also decided to have the statue a bit above the ground. This is a disappearing water feature, meaning the water will fall from the vase that Tara (the stone statue) is holding, disappearing in the ground covered by rock stones. The trick is that the pump should be down in the ground topped with a grate to protect the pump from the crushing forces of the rocks.

We needed to make a shelf around the concrete platform to secure one side of the grate on it. Therefore, we made the step in two phases. As a result we used rebars to reinforce the bondage of concrete.

We made a smaller wooden frame for the top, same as we did for the bottom one. This is the concrete step after it is done. Looks like an Olympic step!

Then it was time to frame around the platform. We used two half concrete block on each side. The good thing about them was the openings inside them so that the grate could easily sit on it. we sloped the inside of the hole so that the water would flow smoothly to the front, where the pump sits. For the grates we looked into everything from drainage grates to grill grates. But the most practical and economical we found were the closet shelves from home depot!

The next step was to place the underlayment followed by the liner. We used 35 mil liner which was thick enough for this size water feature. We covered the edges with some paddings underneath the underlayment to protect the liner.

We had a bit of a struggle with installation of the statue. The hole in the back of the statue was lower than the one in the vase (sloped backward), so when the water would flow back in the hole around the pipe and leaked from the back of the statue. To solve this problem we sealed around the hole with concrete and transparent silicone. Seems it is now working. We also took a trip to Lyngso to purchase some rocks. Mammad was in favor of the bigger ones and I was leaning toward the smaller ones. So, we ended up with a very nice selection of rocks. The ones with moss on them are so cool. With a sprinkle of water on them the moss came back to life. The other thing we did was installing a timer for the pump and also for the lighting.
Now that the patio is fully functional, all you need to do is to sit under the Gazebo in front of the water feature and enjoy the sound and beauty that resembles Bali. Salamat Pagi!

A little bit about Tara

Tara, a female Buddha and meditational deity, is arguably the most popular goddess in the Buddhist pantheon. She is considered to be the goddess of universal compassion who represents virtuous and enlightened activity.Tara was once just an ordinary person, but after many lifetimes of practicing the Bodhisattva Path, Tara attained perfect enlightenment and vowed to stay and help all other creatures on their paths to enlightenment. The interesting thing about Tara is that she vowed not only to be a bodhisattva, but to do this in the form of a woman. Typically, in Buddhist thought, a Bodhisattva takes the male form. Tara’s vow is striking because it went against traditional teaching. Her inspiring independence, along with many other qualities, has lead her to be perhaps the most popular Bodhisattva in the Buddhist tradition besides Avalokitesvara.

After days and days of rinsing, staining, varnishing, …. The time came. A week ago concrete footings were poured and we let the concrete dry and set for 10 days. The post base we used was Simpson Strong-Ties ABU66. The thickness of the posts weren’t standard (about 4.5″ and each was slightly different in size), so John (our carpenter) had to go with 6×6 post bases and fill in the gaps with plywood.

The posts had to be installed one at a time with lots of measurement involved to assure that the horizontal supports would fit directly in the holes at the top of the posts. Then the fist panel of carvings went up.

The next step was to put the roof on, one piece at a time!

This is the inside view of the roof.

And some pictures of the installed Gazebo. We decided to have the front carving of the Gazebo facing towards the house so that we can enjoy their beauty from inside the house!

The next step was Travis having his guys cut the pavers so that they fit nicely around the posts. They did a fantastic job. (Travis Hugins, Old World Cobble, same contractor who did our driveway).

Well, it is not done yet! John has to come back again and make some wooden covers around the post bases to cover the brackets and the holes and nails. Then we will get ready for putting our first water feature in!

I just love them!

We ended up redoing all our irrigation system. We also changed most of it to a drip system. It is more environmentally and economically friendly but needs lots of maintenance. The plants seem to love it.

Mammad also installed a Reduced Pressure Backflow Prevention valve (Febco 825Y) instead of using anti siphon valves. The advantage is that you need only one for the whole system. Otherwise we would have had to change the exsiting valves to anti siphons which would stick out of the ground and look really ugly. The first attempt at installing the backflow device was unsuccessful as there were several leaks in the elbows. But with some ingenuity and with the help of the handy Dremel tool Mammad successfully fixed the problem.
Before/After:

After a year the Gazebo is finally out of the garage. There are about 36 peices to assemble. This is the first time we were checking to see if all the parts are in!

It is smaller than we imagined 9′x6′. We spent some time to decide where to put it. We were debating on having it either in the back yard or in the patio. It seems having it in the patio is a better choice, especially that you can see the nice front carvings from the dinning room.

Then Mammad spent another 2-3 hour in OSH to find some cleaning, coating and protection stuff for the wood. He first sand them lightly and then clean them with a mixture of various cleaners, Superdeck wood cleaner, bleach and water. Then lightly sanded, rubbed some mineral spirits, washed again, then rinsed . Then he applied Varathane wood stain (color: Cabernet) on it. The last step wil be applying McCloskey Marine Spar Varnish for UV protection.

Meanwhile I was working on the chinese antique carved temple window shutters I bought from Ebay. Since no one was taking any pictures of me there is none available for viewing! I may take some tomorrow myself. Till then.

Finally it is done! To make a long story short we fired the first painter on first day because of the lousy job he delivered and hired a new one. Pataki Painting did our exterior paint. I will write a thorough review on the job they delivered after the final touch up is done. We also ended up doing the landscaping and sprinkler/drip systetm ourselves. The front yard is almost done and it is becoming an attraction center for butterflies and humming birds.
Now it is the time to install the Pavillion we bought from Balli and the water features with stone statues. I will keep you posted.

LEAF RUST!

From 35 votes collected in total (from my blog and the box I put out for neighbors to drop their votes)

14 votes for Leaf Rust

6 votes for Adobe Yellow

6 votes for Full Sun

5 votes for Pink

4 votes for Custom Red

Thanks so much for your votes. I will keep you posted with the final look of our house!