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CIWGA vice president
A lot of you don't know me since I am from Des Moines, so Jamie and Lisa asked that I tell you a little bit about myself and how I got started in this pond adventure.
It all started back in 1968 when my new wife and I were looking for our first house. The realtor told us that the owners of this particular house had dug out the back yard with the intention of building a sunken garden. There was approximately a six-foot fall in a gentle slope to a flat back yard. I could see the possibilities, but assumed this would be our starter house and not one we would put a lot of work into.
In 1996 we were still in the starter house, but it had been added onto twice and completely remodeled over the intervening 28 years. Over all of this time we had cleaned up the back yard, installed timber walls over the broken stone and concrete that we could never seem to keep standing, built a greenhouse/shed and planted a number of flower beds. After watching pond shows on PBS and observing small water features at my uncles and parents, I decided that the time had come. I wanted to greatly expand the flowerbeds into perennial beds and at the same time add water. I never do things one at a time! As many of you have done I consulted the only expert I knew in central Iowa. I called this Jamie Beyer guy in Ames. After visiting his back yard and having him take a look at mine I was fired up and ready to go. And of course I did everything just the opposite of what he had told me.
My first mistake was to haul a bunch of rocks in and put them right where the pond was to be located. That was my first lesson learned. Never move dirt, rocks, etc. more often than is absolutely necessary. My next mistake was to start digging during the wettest May on record. I have great pictures of the hole filled with muddy rainwater and my pumps first use being to pump it out. Now when I teach master gardeners and talk with groups the first thing I tell them is to never start digging until the forecast says you will have time to get the liner in the hole before it rains. My next problem was that I had 30 tons of black dirt hauled into the yard during the same wet month. The bobcat tore foot deep ruts in the yard! At the end of that day I sat down and said what have I done.
After a whole lot of repair work and a little dry weather the yard was back in shape and I had water flowing down the hill and into the pond. I spent June gathering and placing more rocks, planting any plant I could find on sale and generally trying to get the yard back into shape. As with all novices with new ponds I had green water for more than a month and was sure it would never clear up. When it finally did and we could see our fish, we felt like the idea might turn out all right. By the end of the summer it looked pretty good.
The next year things really picked up and we actually had our first tour, the gardening club from Principal Financial Group, where I work. Most had not seen a pond before and were impressed. Over the last five years we have experienced all of the ups and downs a ponder goes through. We have lost fish, fought algae, learned how to keep a filter from plugging and a whole lot more. It's given me the courage to feel I have enough knowledge to give something back to others. After going through the master gardener program in 1999, I have begun teaching new master gardeners and others about the enjoyment and headaches we all experience with our water features. I tell them of the joys of the first fish, the first plants, the first blooms, etc. I also tell them about green water, predators, etc., just to be sure they know as many facts as possible. I want to be sure they know the trials and tribulations, as well as the enjoyment they will feel if they decide water is for them.
In closing I want to thank you all for being a part of our wonderful organization. I have learned so much from you all since our first meeting back in November. I look forward to getting to know more of you and offer an open invitation to stop by and see our back yard.
Doug and Johanna Rieck
1315 SW Broad
Des Moines, IA 50315
(515) 244-2862