The most pleasant surprise so far in the garden has been the micropond. Hand-dug 4’x7′, probably a foot and a half deep at the deepest. The stones to stabilize its walls came from the neighbor’s creek who expressly forbade me to spend money on stones. He calls this a nanopond, at best a puddle. Standard procedure is to line the pond with an impermeable liner so it holds water. Under the liner goes a felt-like sheet to protect the liner from snags and tears. Looked like this puddle might be a couple of hundred dollars.
When I came back after a couple of rainy weeks, it was holding a respectable amount of water. I was elated. My neighbor was like yeah we got hardpan here. Overnight frost made a thin layer of ice on it. I saw a tiny, possibly a millimeter or two long, black insect scribbling across the surface. I wondered if it was in fact swimming under the ice. I put a finger in its path to test my hypothesis. The ice cracked; the insect sank all eighteen inches to the bottom of the micropond.
