Last summer I put a pond in the backyard and have loved it.  Unfortunately, I had no money so I used old (free) lining and it sprung a leak and was no longer functional.  This last weekend I spent two days moving rocks, shoveling out gravel, and made other improvements and put in brand new lining.  No leaks and the pumps are running great!  This is the upper portion containing 11 gold fish that overwintered and are getting quite large, cat tails and water lilies. 

This is the whole thing.  The middle section I used to frame in the flower bed, and I want to put moss on the bricks for a softer look.  I put water hyacinth in the bottom part today, which multiply rapidly, have attractive purple flowers, and will hide the pump!  

I love the sound of the flowing water and it makes sitting in the back yard that much more relaxing and gives a feeling of an oasis escape.  I love it!  It was alot of fun to build/create and it was easier and more rewarding than I even thought it would be.

This is my little garden, just some peas, raspberries, watermelon, cantaloupe, and sunflowers along the back fence.  I saw the first pea flower today and I can't wait for fresh peas!!  I had to take off one of the milk jugs covering a cantaloupe because the plant was outgrowing it.  

The milk jug trick was something that I learned from my parents garden.  I wanted to experiment though so planted three hills of cantaloupe and placed a milk jug over two of them and left the third uncovered.  Below is the hill I had to uncover today because it was outgrowing the milk jug.
This is the hill that was left uncovered.  Once it was obvious the milk jug made a significant difference, I placed a 2 liter pop bottle over the top just three days ago, hence the funky picture looking through the bottle neck at the small cantaloupe sprouts.  Guess I never should have questioned my parent's wisdom haha!