Ever wonder if having a water garden is worth the work? Enjoy one gardener’s journey from barren backyard to a bird’s paradise.

Becky’s Backyard journey:

Our backyard made me sigh. It was plain. It was ugly.  It lacked character.  My husband and I bought Grandma’s little War 2 house on a small city lot.  The house came with an old apple tree in the backyard, plagued by blight; a peony bush, and one lone arborvitae on the back corner. That was it. For me this was a bleak dessert.

Little by little, we added scraps of plants left over from projects or salvaged.  A hedge was started on one side to create a living fence filled with lilac flowers. Jeff eventually built a beautiful wood fence to replace a wire grapevine trellis.  The old apple tree blew over and the stump-turned-fire-pit became our family’s favorite gathering place. The backyard was used and it was ok.

Then Jeff started saying we needed a pond.  I had no intention of giving up any more yard space to a pond.  There wasn’t much left. Because our children were young, we also had a swing and plenty of tricycles and outdoor toys along with backyard chickens.  

Eventually he just bought the pond kit, laid out a hose, and said, “Here’s our pond. What do you think?”  The hose outline looked huge but he really wanted a pond so I tucked the hose in to create a smaller pond and the rest is history.*

That pond became the most beautiful, fun part of our backyard!  Jeff created small steps plus a zero-entry spot so little people could enjoy it safely. (The girls all fell in while we were watching so we were able to teach them how to get in and out of the pond safely.) At night, we would leave the windows open to hear the trickle from the stream. So did the neighbors.

We named pet fish and taught them to eat from our hands.  The girls snorkeled in summer, skated in winter, and swam whenever the water was not frozen.  When neighbors came around the house corner and saw the pond for the first time, they would give a happy little gasp and stay to enjoy it. It was such an unexpected piece of beauty in a very ordinary city lot.

I thought a pond would “take too much space” but instead the pond made the space.  Our backyard became a place worth staying and playing in.  

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*Just for the record, after the pond was finished, I did admittedly ask Jeff if we could make it bigger. -sheepish grin 🙂

For further reading about ponds:

Do you wonder what the most common problems with ponds are? Check out this article listing them!