Back Yard Pond
Do you like the sound of moving water? Do you find the sound relaxing? Well, you can easily create the sound of moving water in your own garden. You can put in a fish pond or a water garden. So, if you think that your garden requires landscaping, it might be a good idea to consider a fish pond or water garden.
People believe that a fish pond takes lot of looking after, but that is not inevitably the case. The truth is that the larger the fish pond, the less work you have to put into it. This is because a big pond can create its own ecosystem, whereas a small fish pond requires help.
The ways that you can help a small fish pond be a good environment for your fish are as follows:
Pond Filters - use a pond filter with a good pump. Do not forget that you could get a solar powered pump. It will save on the environment and on your wallet. You should use a pond filter on a small pond, because the ecosystem cannot cope with all the plant waste of a small ornamental pond on its own. A pond pump will feed the filtration system and a waterfall or fountain if you want.
Your pond filtration system should be left running twenty-four hours a day, but you can not just set it and forget it. Make sure that the pump is running daily and keep the filter as clean as necessary for it to do its job. You may find that you have to clean it two or three times a week in the summer and autumn but only once a week in the winter and spring.
Leaf Netting: stop leaves from clogging up your pond in the autumn. The net should be suspended a foot or so above the pond to stop autumn leaves falling into the water and decaying.
Feeding: all fish should be given fish food, not bread or scraps. Some fish ought to have specialized fish food in order to maintain their colour. When you buy your fish, the salesperson should inform you what they eat. In general, the larger the pond the less trouble feeding becomes as they will eat natural food like insects, grubs, larvae and flies.
Fish need less food in the winter when they become semi-dormant and live off the fat stores that they built up in the warmer months, so give food often in the summer and autumn, but less often in the winter. You must check to see if excess food is left floating on the surface.
Winter: make sure that there is a hole in the ice so that the water can take in oxygen and the fish can feed if they wish to. You can buy a floating de-icer or some people float a round football in a hoola-hoop, which seems to work unless the temperature gets very low.
In fact, the hoola-hoop is a good idea all year round actually. If you place the food in the hoop, it stays in one place and you can see if you have given too much. It also makes a nice site to see all the fish feeding in a group.
How to Create a Backyard Pond
1. Excavate the Area
Lay out the size and shape of your pond with a rope or garden hose. Using a spade, dig down 3 inches in a 1-foot-wide ring outside the outline to create the stone-border shelf. Next, create a plant terrace by digging a 1-foot-wide shelf 8 inches deep inside the rope outline. Only dig the terrace in areas where you plan to put plants.
Continue digging inside the plant terrace to make the bed of the pond—a minimum of 18 inches deep, with a slight slope.
2. Level the Pond's Edges
Set a 2x4 across the excavated hole and lay a level on top of it. Roughly level the pond's edges. Then carve out a 6-inch-wide, 1-inch-deep channel on one side to redirect overflow.
Also dig a shallow trench to the nearest electrical outlet for the PVC conduit, which will hold the pump cord.
3. Prepare the Base
Beginning in the center of the hole, distribute a 1-inch layer of sand around the entire base and on the terraced shelves. Cover the sand and the sides of the hole with a ½-inch-thick lining of newspaper to provide a protective layer under the lining. Smooth the entire surface by hand and remove any roots or stones that could bulge through the lining.
4. Line the Pond
Cut a piece of liner to be 4 or more feet wider and longer than the pond. Center the liner over the hole so there are 1 to 2 feet of excess on one side and the rest of the excess is on the opposite side. Set two stones on the shorter excess to hold the liner in place. Beginning at this end, press the liner down along the inside edge and then along the bottom of the hole, working your way around the pond. Smooth out creases and folds and push the liner tightly into crevices
5.Fill the Pond
Using a garden hose, fill the pond with water. As it fills, continuously pull the liner taut on each side. If necessary, have a helper pull from the opposite direction. Fill the pond until the water reaches the top border shelf.
6. Install the Pump
Thread the pump's cord through a section of PVC conduit cut to length. Place the PVC conduit in the trench and backfill the soil.
Hold one end of the recirculating hose as you set the pump in the deepest part of the hole.
7. Create a Rock Border
Fill the overflow channel with pea gravel for drainage.
Arrange flat rocks along the border so the liner's edge is covered but no more than one-third of each rock hangs over the water. Then cover this first ring of rocks with a second one. Stagger the seams between the stones, and set them back from the edge of the first ring a bit. Arrange and rearrange the rocks until they sit in an interlocking position. Experiment with your outcropping until you have a natural, staggered look.
8. Secure and Conceal the Hose
Where the hose exits the water, wedge it between two rocks without crushing it. Conceal it with a third rock. Arrange and secure the hose through the rocks and over a stack to position the waterfall.
Once the pump and hose are secure, plug the cord into an exterior GFCI outlet. Watch the water flow and make sure it looks natural leaving the hose but still spills back into the pond.
9. Landscape Your Pond
Add plants in and around the pond. Keep the pump on during daytime hours, but shut it off at night so it doesn't attract nocturnal animals.
COLTS NECK LOCATION
35 State Route 34 N
Colts Neck, NJ
732-462-0900
http://www.brockfarmsnursery.com
FREEHOLD LOCATION
4189 Us Highway 9
Freehold, NJ
732-462-2700
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