Saturday, August 24, 2013

Pond Shade from Salvaged Materials

0.722912001449177920130607_180001.jpgI have a small pond made from a 280 gallon stock watering tank. It receives full sun all day, and, with roughly 10 goldfish and koi, is highly susceptible to string algae, despite weekly cleanings and a homemade filter for the pump. Having built a pond pergola for our 1800 gallon pond in the back, we had some scrap lattice laying around, so I decided to try my hand at a fewer, small scale projects, like my Potato Raised Bed, and this pond shade. 

Why build a pond shade? It cuts down on water loss from evaporation, gives your more sensitive bog plants some relief from sun exposure, and adds a conversational piece to your garden. 

0.792452826275005820130607_181149.jpgI'm a lazy builder/crafter. I tend to build projects around what I have on hand, and save hardware from everything I scrap. In this project, I used two wooden fence rails, an old rake handle about 49" long, leftover lattice, a solar shade a friend had pulled off his 70's double wide trailer, four L brackets, a pallet board cut to the width of the lattice, and lots of various sized screws and staples. 

For my tools, I used my 18v wireless Ryobi drill, circular saw, zip saw (not pictured), stapler, and clamps, scissors.


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