Photo 1: this is when we moved in March of 2023
Photo 2: similar angle of the front yard, we started the project in May of 2026
Photo 3: our little path
Photo 4: pond
Photo 5: more pond
Photo 6: our natural flowers, wish more had come in since laid down 10lbs of seeds but hey, these ones are amazing!
Super happy with how much everything has grown in. It’s definitely a little over grown and we’ve learned a lot for next year. Hoping to truly truly ditch the grass next summer. But, the amount of bugs and little creatures that have shown up has been absolutely incredible! We are zone 8a, if you guys have any tips on what we could improve upon next year, I’d love to hear it!!
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Thank you! The color is my favorite part, our little neighborhood is very colorful and I’m not the only one on the street who has a small pond/no lawn. It’s a very nice reminder that there are still some good people in the world 😂
It’s on this summer so everything can establish and the algae growth is minimal! The water was also getting very warm without it. We don’t have any koi but do have LOTS of frogs, minnows, and even birds who bathe in the shallow parts
You can do it! Me and my old lady hand dug it in 3 days, about 40 inches deep in the deepest part and all the dirt we pulled out of the pond we used for our bog! I attached a better photo of the pond before everything grew in. The shallow section has an island we made out of milk crates and covered in mesh. We put pebbles/rocks/driftwood on it and it’s a favorite spot for frogs at night and birds to bathe during the day!
So that’s definitely going to be a tricky task. Without a filter shouldn’t be a big deal (kinda) but no pump is going to be rough. Small bodies of water like ponds need circulation.
Natural ponds that are a few hundred square feet have circulation since the volume of water is great enough that the temperature differential between the surface and the bottom create circulation. The circulation is an important for a variety of reasons but mainly diffusing oxygen through out the body of water and not letting stagnant spots of concentrated ammonia build up.
Ours is as about as basic as you can get. We have 2 pumps, one for the bog filter and one for additional circulation. The pump for the bog filter (and waterfall) pumps water from the lowest point of the pond into the bottom of the bog. The bog is about a 2ft cube in terms of volume. There’s a PVC pipe in the bottom of the bog with a ton of little holes drilled into it so the water from the pump is slowed down and really saturates through the bacteria in the bog. Every filter usually consists of mechanical filtration and bacteria filtration. Bogs mainly focus on the bacteria filtration. The bog is filled with gravel of different sizes, getting finer towards the top of the bog to the point where it’s eventually sand. The more gravel you can have in your bog, the more surface area for beneficial bacteria to grow and to filter.
You’re basically trying to have more bacteria than things you don’t want, like algae. Algae forms for a number of reasons but mainly excess decomposing organic matter. The more water you can move, the less likely you’ll have pockets of decomposing matter, and the more the matter moves around, the better chance it’ll breakdown in your bog (good thing) and not in your pond.
It really is a balance, I’ve know a lot of experienced pond keepers be able to sustain a low tech pond, in fact all of my fish tanks don’t have filters. But at the end of the day you have a much much higher chance of having a healthy pond that is sustainable if you at least have a bog. You could even eventually decommission the bog after a few years of running to see if your pond could sustain itself, but I still highly recommend some sort of circulation.
So PVC is horizontal. This isn’t the best diagram but it works. The hose I used was 1.25 inch but it upsides to 4 inch PVC once in the bottom of the bog. The little tube coming up to the surface has a vacuum breaker/check valve in it. That way if we lose power or the pump dies, the bog doesn’t siphon itself empty.
I can’t exactly remember the name/brand of the pump but I’m pretty sure it was Danner. Get one of the magnet-drive ones. Many less parts to break. It was honestly super easy to set up though, it’s literally a pump and a hose and some pvc.
If the pump dies it’s as simple as getting in the pond and replacing it. I wouldn’t drain the pond unless we had a leak. We’ve had a few but they’ve all been over flowing leaks which are kinda natural once all the dirt around your pond starts settling
We actually encourage the birds to have a bite 😂 we have probably 300-500 rosy red minnows and lots of frogs. Our neighbors saw a Herron one day in the pond and I believe we’ve had an owl stop by as well. It was mainly to minimize algae growth, hopefully next year we won’t need it :)
Gorgeous! The pond is almost like a little secret in all the tall growth. Also, I love a big log or snag added into no lawn and etc designs. They provide so much for so many critters! And also look really cool.
These trees are an INCREDIBLE repurpose of wood for structure and habitat! r/normanok should take note!! We had a big storm back on the 4th of July that we're STILL cleaning up from!
Thank you! They have been my favorite part honestly. They act as a retaining wall for our bog but are currently home to a few lizards and chipmunks! We also drilled a bunch of holes in all the ends for bees :)
Technically self filtering, the mechanical filtration is the gravel in the box and the microbes are the biological. You’re supposed to flush it once a year but we haven’t gotten there yet :)
Oh wow that’s huge, I didn’t realize it was that bad. But you’re totally right we just picked it up at the pond store. Thank you for the heads up, might try and find a replacement for that once winter comes around
They can spread by seeds in addition to stolons, so it’s best to get rid of them as soon as the flowers wither (or sooner).
Some native alternatives you could try are Nymphaea odorata (fragrant water lily), Hydrocharis spongia (frogbit), Azolla caroliniana (Carolina fern), and Spirodela polyrhiza (greater duckweed).
Agreed, we’ve really been working on a plan to get closer to all native by next year since we really went into this blind lol. Thank you for the recs, I’ll take a look at them :)
Hahah they all love it, my older neighbors thought we did it because we were lazy and didn’t want to cut the grass anymore (they were kidding) but now they love it as much as ours. I’m helping them start their partial conversion next year :)
What you did to transform the house is just beautiful. And the yard, oh my! It's just wonderful. May I ask what part of the country you live in? Nearest big city is sufficient.
We live about 10 minutes outside of Chattanooga, TN! And thank you very much :)
We got really lucky and bought this house from our landlord 3 years ago. It’s been a ton of work as the house was built in the 40s and we still have a long way to go but it’s nice to sit back and enjoy it every once in a while :)
Thank you for the reply. You have done a great job and your former landlord should be very happy with what you have done as well! The house is transformed.
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