Our first spring project is underway, or perhaps I should say, the first of Dean’s spring projects.
While I’m busy working on getting 3 new garden beds filled with plants, Dean is focusing on pond clean-up. Our pond was neglected for years. When we moved in a year and a half ago, we knew that pond clean-up would be a top priority.
The largest pond on our property is overgrown with an aquatic plant called parrot feather. Plus, there is so much sediment and muck in the bottom of the pond that it is due for a major overhaul.
We have a neighbor who does heavy equipment work, and we think we’ve devised a plan to make this pond clean-up project as effective as possible.
The first part of the plan is for him to clear out the stream that this main pond empties into. This will allow the water to have a better outlet out of the pond.
We also have the sediment and the excess parrot feather to remove. The plan is to dig a deep trench along the backside of the pond so the water and fish will gravitate there. This process will clean the muck and parrot feather in the back of the pond and dry out the front and middle of the pond so it can be dug out and cleaned up as well.
There will basically be an earthen dam separating the front and back sections of the pond. When the front section is sufficiently cleaned out, the dam will be broken, and the water and fish should begin to flow back into the front of the pond.
Lastly, if we need to, we will rent a muck pump to try and pump the muck out of the bottom of the pond.
All of this will, hopefully, bring the pond back to its original shape and get rid of the overgrown aquatic plants, all while keeping our fish alive.
While all of the above is going on, we’ll also have French drains put into our front and side yard to help the water drain better as well. A lot of our property is wet and swampy, so the drains will help dry the yard up a bit. We’ll see. If it does work, we’ll add more of these drains to the backside of our property so that land is more useful as well.
Putting the French drains in will make the front of our property a big dirty mess this year. However, in the long run, it is worth it. We want a dry, flat front yard that we can enjoy with friends and family. Not only that but I envision a beautifully landscaped pond where the boys can fish and kayak during the warm summer months as well.
You can get a real life glimpse of this project in my recent Spring Projects vlog right here.
Wish us luck with our pond clean-up, friends!
And if anyone has any tips or suggestions on how to clean out a large pond without killing all the fish in it, please share with me in the comments section below. We have a plan, but seeing how we’ve never done this before, we aren’t certain our plan will work! Fingers crossed it does!
Love and light,
Meagan