Day 19, Wednesday, June 17, 2026: New rock plants!

Wednesday morning greeted us with some more warm weather, though the high in the day was expected to be just 22 degrees C. The crew met outside at 8 am again. After an initial discussion on what adjustments were needed to the patio steps, most of the crew went on to their own separate tasks. We also had to check out the improvements that the foam had made to our waterfall contours. P started the pump and we were amazed to see how well the top waterfall spilled over the topmost spill rock! The shape of the water flow in the lower waterfall had also improved, but we definitely needed to apply more foam to one of the rocks where water was leaking out on the sides.

Moving along with our tasks, P lined the top waterfall’s edge with yet more rocks to hide the liner on the left. Y placed small rocks in the stream and slightly bigger ones along the edges of the stream to form the basis for where we would be able to fold the liner over and hide it. P2 dug out the existing steps to lift the bottom step higher up. D in the meantime, went to shop for sand bag substitutes to dam our flow from the upper pond to the stream’s entrance – this was critical to getting the bog shelves under the water and effectively hiding the pond liner in those areas in the upper pond. After breakfast, P2 worked on flattening the Northern part of the garden to accommodate some flat steps up where the path around the upper pond would be. Y sifted out the large river rock from the soil mix prepared yesterday, mixed in our smaller, gritty gravel as a substitute, and completed planting our first four rock face plants in shelves that we had identified for this purpose on the side of the rock stack.

During the evening shift, P used the sand tubes that D had bought earlier to raise the height of the stream entrance by filling them with sand and placing them to adjust the level of the water. However, the tubes turned out to be a little unwieldy and P ended up putting gravel underneath the fabric liner. This also raised the level of the water above the bog shelf in the upper pond. Additionally, P repositioned some of the rocks in the stack by the lower waterfall and sprayed some foam to shape the water flow. And just like that, it was time for food!

After dinner, we also received an update from K and T about the bridge. The handrails look so elegant and the base of the bridge is ready to go as well. As E echoed all our thoughts – wow, they [T and K] are so talented!

Tomorrow, we hope to have a fully fixed waterfall flow across the upper and lower waterfalls. The next big task will be to conceal the pond liner fully across the ponds and the stream. Then we can start planting as a full time activity. Of course there’s also the path at some point. Lots to do here, more tomorrow!