CREATING A POND

Creating a pond in your backyard has many purposes... It's a water garden for birds, butterflies, dragonflies, frogs, fish and you! Ponds come in all sizes and designs. The can be made above ground in a tub, or barrel, a preformed shape like I have or a more advanced style that is done with a pond liner. No matter what kind of pond it is it will bring you pleasure. Water is a natural draw for wild life to your backyard, a relaxing scenic addition that will enhance your yard and provide you with a summer of enjoyment.

There are many reasons to incorporate a pond into your yard.

For the shear pleasure.

For its soothing sounds and relaxing atmosphere.

To increase property value and enhance appearance

A fun way to let your creative juices flow

For the simple love of water

To fill in wasted space or cut down on grass cutting

Often one pond leads to another... I'm thinking about that..

It's so interesting to see what others have come up with, their style, choice of inhabitants, plants preferred, where in the yard they decided to locate it and even some great suggestions and tips.

My pond is a preformed shell made of some sort of hardy plastic. It's shape is similar to a peanut. The ends are wider and narrower in the middle. On each end of the form there are shelves for plants. I happened to come across this pond form at a garage sale. I would have probably had hubby dig it out and do a liner type pond but when I saw this I was thrilled.

The first thing you have to do is decide where you want to put your pond. I like mine close to the house and deck. I find I'm out around this area of the yard and my gardens the most so it would be beneficial to have it in this area. I would recommend you plan your pond in a full sun area and not under trees. Aquatic plants do much better in full sunlight and you will have less maintenance if you avoid trees hanging over your pond.

Next you have to decide the size and style you want. It can be as simple as a tub with a pump and some plants and PRESTO!.. You have a mini pond.. Or you can get a preformed shell like I have. They can be dug in or set on the ground and then landscaped to blend in. Hubby dug mine in and I scaped the area around it. My pond hold 600 gallons. It's not deep enough for me to leave the fish out in winter so they come in the basement in October and go back out in April.

Once you have your pond all set up and running there's is really no more work involved other than feeding your fish and plants, netting up the floaties on occasion, topping up the water every week or so and as I'm doing here today removing some of my over grown pond lettuce. You will get far more pleasure than the small about of work it requires in upkeep.

My pond was up in one weekend, filled, pump running, filter running, water fall looking great. By the next weekend I had plants added and fish. You can add snails and pollywogs to help control algae issues. I have a UV sterilizer in my pump so it's a non issue for me.

I still have a good 2 months left to enjoy this years pond before it's time to shut it down for the winter.

#aquaticplants #koi #pondfish #goldfish #shubunkins #procedure #fishkeeping