Our Cheap Duck Pond

My Pond

I had not realised, that I was yet to write about my lovely pond.

My mum had given me a little 3 tier waterfall a while ago. So I had installed them myself and surrounded them with some calla lilies I had hiding in the back on my yard. But I really wanted to make it bigger after a while, so I set out to add a 4th tier.

Firstly I marked out where I wanted to put it using a spray can and then we dug it out. This took a few days and created heaps of extra dirt. We shovelled the dirt into our trailer and posted an add for free dirt on our local buy/swap/sell site. I had it gone within the day which was a blessing.

Next I was given the best advice by a friend. She told me to line the pond with some old carpet so the plastic does not rip between the rocks and pressure of the water (Thanks Andy) I obtained the carpet by simply posting another add on the same site, in search of some carpet. I was lucky enough to have a lady who was about to throw some out. So far, the only cost we have had, was the pump which cost under $50.

I wasn't happy with the shape once we put the carpet in, so we dug a sort of shelf which made it a little wider.

The next step was to line it with some plastic, to keep the water in. This cost me around $75 from Bunnings.

We needed two people to pull and open the plastic up, as it was quite stiff. Then we positioned it in the hole, keeping in mind that there needs to be some slack, to give way for the water. Meaning, don't pull it tight around the pond. Leave extra in the middle, otherwise you may put a hole in it with the rocks. I hope that makes sense. Sorry if it didn't.

We then went on a hunt for rocks around the area we live in. This was easily found, but took some time to collect. It can get quite heavy on your car / trailer if you do it all in one trip, so I would advise to do it gradually. We had friends who were moving that donated rocks also. Then in true masonry form, we started to pile them into the pond.  This was fun, for the more we added, the more we could see the pond take form. We then filled it with water, with the help of our two year old of course. After it was full to the desired height, I cut the extra plastic around the outside and covered the edges of it with more rocks. 

The same friend who gave us the rocks also gave us some extra calla lilies. They were flowering, which was lovely and just gave it that extra little touch. So total cost for the pond was under $130  :o)

Since then, we have added some gold fish, but I'm not too sure if I will leave them in there, for I think my ducks may think of them as a tasty treat once they are older.

Pallet Planter

Here is another planter I have made using pallets.
I whipped this up in about 30 mins. Very easy to do. Pulling the pallet apart probably took me longer.
The plants I also acquired for free via my mum. (thanks mum xx)
And the yucca's were from her neighbour Narelle who I also say thank you to :o)
The dirt was from my garden that I had sitting there, I just put some fertiliser in it I had laying around.
So total cost for this one was free

Sand Pit Tent

This wasn't free but I wanted to share anyways. The tent I brought from Bunnings for I think about $35. My son loves playing in his sand pit, and because of the tent he can play in there on rainy days like he is in this pic  :o)

My Pallet veggie patch

My Pallet Planter

Hi again. So this is my latest triumph. A veggie patch planter. This was made by pallets I had collected and taken apart. In it is some tomato's and lettuce. In the two barrels below is strawberries and mint. And in my sons wheel barrow, are more lettuce I couldn't fit in the planter. I need to buy him a new one now :o)

I had originally built it as a bench. Below is a picture of its first form, before I changed my mind.

As you can see, the planter box was the better idea. lol

How cool are gnomes :o)

This didn't cost me anything to make.
My mum gave me the gnome, a couple of friends gave me the succulents and the log I found on the side of the road.
So total cost for this one - FREE!!!

I have added this this little man. The succulents I got for free from mum (Thanks again mum xx)   :o)

My tree bench

Hi again. I have a lot of catching up to do so bear with me. After building the chicken coop i realised there must be a way I can fix up my yard for even less cost. So when I went to visit my parents, I asked them if they had anything lying around the house I could use that they didn't need. Well this was the best question I could have asked. I ended up with a trailer load of stuff I could put to use. The best thing was an old drop saw dad gave me.

The next day I had an epiphany and thought "what about pallets?" I quickly did a research on Google for other projects that used them and found there were HEAPS. There are a million and one things you can make from them. So I went on the hunt. I called around Seymour businesses and finally, on my way to pick up a couple, I drove past Reece (our local plumbing store) and saw a mountain of them laying there. They were really good quality too. So I asked them if I could take some and they seriously couldn't get them in my trailer fast enough.  
After looking around town, I soon noticed this to be a trend. A lot of business have them all sitting there collecting dust. Its such a great way to recycle old unused timber and the cost is fantastic. FREE!!!!

First thing I had built was a seat that sits around a gumtree. I thought to myself. How the heck am I going to build that?!? Google baby :o)
I watched a few videos, got some tips and then started taking apart the pallets. To take them apart i was using a really small chisel and a hammer. I got quite a few bits of timber that would split in half because of it. So after a while I gave up and went to Bunnings. I found one of these electrician bolsters, which I thought wouldn't split the wood, and to my surprise it worked. It actually made it sooooo much easier to take them apart.

 

So as per the video, I cut my wood to specs and put them down on the floor to make sure it all fit together properly. The drop saw took me a bit of getting used to. I thought I was going to cut my arm off at first. But after a while it got a lot easier. And I'm now a pro lol.

Here is my 2 year old helping mum. He is a gun with the drill lol

Then I cut out and screwed together the legs. I placed them on top to make sure it all fit nicely.

With the help of my hubby I flipped it over and began putting it together. This was tricky, but we got there in the end. Thanks Ants ;o)

I put it together in two halves, then took it to the tree and screwed the halves together. I had to dig in the ground a little to make sure it was level. And that's it. My first chair.It doesn't sit completely flush, but I don't mind. It does the job and looks cool  ;o)

Oh, I forgot to mention. This bench cost me nothing. Just my time :o)

First Blog. Chicken Coop

Hi there. My name is Jade and this will be my first blog. I have been gardening like crazy lately and a friend gave me the idea of sharing my little hobby farm I have created in the suburbs via a blog. So here I am, and I hope you enjoy and maybe can take a couple of ideas with you at the end.

It all started when we moved to Puckapunyal Military Base start of this year, 2012. Out here there isnt much work so I began channelling my energies into my garden. Because we are only living on pretty much one pay-check now, I knew I wouldn't be able to spend much on it. So I started looking for cheap ways of getting it how I wanted for next to nothing. My first little project was a house for my two chickens. At that stage I had found two little couple day old hens. One was a Silver Spangled Hamburg and the other a little Bantam.  They are so sweet. They never leave each others side. I found a house for them that my cousin gave me for free. All I had to do was transport it from her place to mine which was about an hour and a half away.  Seeing as we have a box trailer I didn't see this as too much of a problem. But unfortunately that was not to be the case. Halfway home it decided to jump out of the trailer onto the free-way. Luckily there were no accidents. Once home and in the place I wanted it, I quickly realised it needed a little work.
Here is what we started with. The bottom piece was what flew out of the trailer :-/

As you can see the top half needed extra support to hold it up so I had to go to the hardware and buy some wood to make a brace for it. This you can see below. I hammered together some wood to make a box. I had the hardware guy measure it for me and cut the wood, so all i would have to do is put it together.

I then covered the other side with some chipboard I salvaged from our old desk that was destroyed in the move and this seemed to do the trick for now. I also hammered together a little ladder for them to walk up when they were able to get into the top half of the coop. I put some flowers in front of the coop to make it look pretty :o)

Next I needed to make a nest box and I did this using a tv I found at the local tip. I carefully unscrewed the tv and pulled out all the insides. i put it back together and then silicone all the gaps. I cut out a false floor and shoved it in the tv. I then screwed it to the side of the coop where I had make a hole.

Also, now that it had started to rain I noticed that water was getting inside the coop so a friend gave me some free metal sheets for the top to stop the rain. They just sit on top and work fine.
So far the only thing I have paid for is the wood to make the square support. This wasn't much.
The pretty flowers I had planted in front of the coop have been eaten by the chickens. So I wouldn't wast my time with planting anything in the area your chickens will be.

I decided that I would need to contain them at night so I found some pool fencing on gumtree for $100.
I have quite a bit left over after installing this. To install it I just dug the holes for the posts and placed them in. I didnt want to cement them for we are renting and I need to be able to take this down and with us when we move onto our next posting. To keep it all in place I screwed some screw's into the joins and this worked well in keeping it all together and sturdy. My mums neighbour gave me some Yuccas which I planted inside their enclosure. I then brought some netting for the top for they started to fly over the fence. I screwed some steaks to the fence and then stapled the net to the steaks. This has worked perfectly for they have not gotten out since.

I then found a couple of battery hens at the local stock feed that need new homes. So I had to increase the size of their house to accomodate them. They were $10 each and were in such bad shape. It was really sad. They had lost most of their feathers and you could tell they had had a bad life up until I got them.

I purchased this house from a local buy/swap/sell site for $100. The roof opens up which is perfect for when I need to collect eggs. 

                    

I brought some cement sheeting to close the top part in, and a green spray can. I then got to work making it look a little nicer. I built a little ladder for them to get in and out also.

When it came to building a nesting box I was a little stumped for I didnt want to spend any more money than I already had. So one day when we were at the tip unloading some rubbish I noticed someone had thrown out two little girls shelves. I thought they would make perfect box's and so i took them home. Using a hack saw I cut out little doorways for them to get in, screwed in a divider and put down some peat straw. Then one of my battery hens started laying. Hooray!

So far I had spent about $300 or so. But that included two houses, bedding, chooks, fencing and plants. Not too bad.