THE NATURAL POOL GETS BUILT

The plants of one end of the perennial garden are moved into temporary locations before excavation begins.

Finally.  Work began on July 18th.  The original start date was to have been the end of May.  More than two days without rain were needed before excavation and this rain-free event did not happen until well into the summer.  It’s not as if the pool was missed.  It was rarely warm enough to think of swimming anyway.  The meadow hasn’t even been hayed because of all the wet, and it’s now mid-August.  But the pool did get built at last. 

The Process

1.  The hole

The photo may be confusing: the sides are shallow because this is where the plantings will be; the deep part is, well, the deep part.  At the top left of the deep part there is a huge rock, too big to move.  It was the only rock or stone found in the entire excavation.

As I looked into the hole being dug it seemed at once small and huge.  The swimming section of the pool is 12 feet by 28, smaller than the typical concrete pool size, with a depth of about 4 feet in the shallow end, up to 8 feet at the deep end.  The pool area excavated is larger than this because of the regenerative plant zone that will surround it on two sides.  The inverse of the empty pit is the dirt (100% clay, by the way) removed from it.  Where to put it?  When you have 11 acres the selection of a dumping site isn’t difficult.  Chris had spotted an area in the field behind the sugar house that lay somewhat lower than the surrounding area and may, in fact, have had soil dumped on it when the house was built.  The excavated dirt has, essentially, vanished.

2.  The liners

This is the first liner, a felt-like material.  

Second is the rubber liner, heavy and hard to manage.  Builder Tim standing in the deep end offers a gauge of the depth.

The third liner is the same felt-like stuff as the bottom layer.  The wood walls are being readied.

3.  The walls, filtration, and stone

It gets uglier: the filtration hoses/pipes are installed, and begin to be covered by gravel.  The walls take shape.  Large stones will line the sloping sides.  The bottom is all gravel and rocks.

The entry steps are placed, the water still muddy and uninviting.

The pool begins to look swimmable.  The water starts to clear up.

The plants arrive:  mostly indigenous sedges and pickerel weed recommended by an expert on wetlands restoration.  

Maine vacation! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4.  After an absence of ten days I came back to this:

The box in the rear contains the filtration pump.  It will need to be removed for the winter.

The boardwalk was enlarged from the original design. The wood is a Brazilian wood, ipe, resistant to rot, splintering, etc. We considered black locust (a local wood)  but a good supply wasn't available.

The pool has been quick to attract wildlife.  A heron has been spotted twice so far.
(Photo taken through the porch screen by my dog sitter.)

5.  The pool from here on

Unlike traditional pools, a natural pool is, or will be, a work in progress for a while.  A natural balance has to be established, and this takes time.  Early in the design stage we discussed how our relationship with the pool builders* will be ongoing for a while, as the balancing of natural elements will need to be monitored.  Although the water is clear, there are currently web-like strings of green algae that are stirred up when someone swims.  (Green slime, I call it.)   Sunlight interacts with nutrients in the water resulting in green algae growth.  The plants are mere babies still, too young to do their filtration work.  This coming week we will add good bacteria to help clean the pool/pond of nutrients that cause the algae growth.  Evaporation will need watching too, as the tops of the wooden walls should always be covered with water, the wetland plants always in standing water.  

That's the stuff:  green slime, aka algae, caught by a skimmer. Ugh.

The water looks beautifully clear most of the time.  Where is the algae this morning?

New grass starts to covers the messed-up areas.  The pipe in the foreground is the well-head, exposed now by the removal of tall meadow grass that kept it hidden.

My perennial garden profited from the destruction of its eastern end as the remaining sections were filled in with
relocated plants. 

And after summer is gone?  I’m looking forward to how the pool/pond will look in the fall and winter.  Besides removing the filtration pump, I should have nothing to maintain.  It will freeze over like any natural body of water. I could worry about Skyler wandering onto the ice (the invisible dog fence has been looped around the pool to include it in the “safe” area) but I suspect his aversion to all bodies of water (to him they are merely large drinking bowls) may continue to intimidate him.  His sister Daisy won’t go anywhere near the pool now after getting a warning shock at the new fence border.  Too early to tell if this scare will have a lasting effect.  Skyler seems to sense the border is out there without actually testing its limit.  (He's a pessimist.)

Skyler on the "diving stone" at the deep end

The builders were Linden L.A.N.D. Group, Sustainable Landscape and Interior Design, a local company, http://www.lindenlandgroup.com.  Son-in-law Chris Huston drew up the plans.