Backyard ponds

Backyard ponds

Backyard ponds have become a very popular feature to add to any yard or garden area where there’s room. It’s not uncommon to see small ponds added to a manicured lawn when there is no garden area in sight too. Outdoor garden ponds are wonderful to look at, soothing to the senses, and can be filled with both plant and animal life year round too.

The problem most beginner gardeners have, is keeping a pond clean and clear. If a garden pond is not taken care of properly, or not designed properly in the beginning, it can quickly become a dark, dank, smelly, ugly looking place that no one wants to go near.

When creating your own garden pond, one of your primary goals should be to create a balanced ecosystem that is as natural as possible. This way, the pond will continuously clean itself, and you won’t have to do much of anything other than enjoy it.

One of the biggest causes of ponds going bad is excessive algae growth. When you create a backyard pond without putting enough plants and animals in place to keep everything balanced naturally, the algae will start growing out of control in your water. When this happens, the water will become murky and ugly looking, it will smell badly after awhile, and it will attract mosquitoes and other bugs which will be a big annoyance for you.
======================================
Garden Tip...

In summer, watering in the cool of the evening will be followed by the best results, for it will give the plants time to take up and assimilate the moisture necessary to their life, and being completely charged with water, they will be prepared for the hot sun and drying winds of the following day.
~ James Sheehan
======================================

Helping to keep algae growth under control though, is a simple matter of making sure you have specific types of plants in your pond. Algae needs sun to thrive for instance, so one way to help keep it under control is to put water plants in your pond which float on the surface, and help block the sunlight to algae below. Water lilies are a good example of surface floating plants which help block the sunlight from encouraging algae growth.

Another thing you can do is put fish in your pond. Since the fish will eat the algae, it will help keep them from growing out of control. Algae feeds on decaying plant matter such as dropped leaves, so another way you can help control the growth is to clean debris from your pond regularly. Alternatively though, you can simply place plants in and around your pond which feed on the mineral salts produced by decaying matter, and this will essentially “starve” the algae so they’re unable to grow and multiply.

After creating your pond and adding plants to it, be sure to put plants around the outside of the pond too. This will help create a larger ecosystem which can attract a variety of birds, frogs, squirrels and other wildlife which will help with pond pest control naturally, and thus help keep your pond clean and beautiful too.
======================================
Garden Tip...

The Calla Lily, or "The Lily of the Nile," is an old and popular favorite, and is found in window-garden collections everywhere. It is a native of the tropics, where it is said it grows to an enormous size; a single flower often measuring one to two feet in diameter. The Calla will attain its highest perfection if planted in a rich, mucky soil, obtained from a swamp or bog. It also requires an abundance of water during the growing season. Callas, like all other bulbous plants, must have a season of rest. If required to bloom during the winter or spring months, they must be rested in the summer season, if this is not done we must not expect to have any success in flowering them. The blooming season can be reversed if desired, by resting in winter. Without allowing them at least three months of rest, it is useless to expect to flower them successfully. By "resting," we mean to withhold water, and allow the leaves and stalks to die down completely to the bulb. Then turn the pot on its side under a tree or grape-arbor, and let the soil dry up completely; this will kill the stalk but not injure the bulb.
~ James Sheehan
======================================