So You Want to Build a Pond

Adding a backyard pond involves more than digging a hole, throwing down a liner and filling it with water. There is just something magical about water and the sense of peacefulness and serenity it provides…that is until a bird swallows one of your prized fish in two seconds flat, or string algae invades your once crystal clear water, and even when you keep scooping it out, the stuff comes back even thicker and greener.

If you are even considering building a pond this will happen to you too. But happily there is a light at the end of the tunnel, or a rainbow at the end of the stream, or more debt at the bottom of the money pit…however you want to look at it. After a lot of time and expense, you will have a reflective pool of clear, sparkling water, fish that do survive and actually begin to get bigger, water lilies that not only dazzle your neighbors, but provide shade for your fish in the summer, and even attract varieties of butterflies and hummingbirds you didn’t even know existed.

Sure, you could build a swimming pool or putting green for not a lot more than the cost of a pond. But will your children or grand children delight in the discovery of newly spawned baby fish, in your heavily chlorinated swimming pool? Or can you see your reflection in the fake turf of a putting green?

In fact, ponds don’t have to be expensive. You can even enjoy your own indoor water garden with simply a bowl of water. Plant it with water hyacinth or water lettuce, plants that don’t even need soil. They simply float on the surface of the water with their roots dangling a couple of inches below. You will however, need to add nutrients to the water by purchasing water fertilizer at a pond store. And because these floating plants are native to the Amazon, they require intense sunlight, so a grow light is an order for an indoor environment.

Outdoors, a sealed whiskey barrel would make an ideal pond. Simply fill it one third of the way with unscented cat litter(100 percent ground clay) and fill it halfway with water. Add a miniature lotus plant and you have a tropical water garden that you can enjoy year after year. Simply add “mosquito dunks” small capsules you place in the water to keep the bugs away. Or if your container holds at least 20 gallons, you can add one or two gold fish. Fish love insects!

Just think, you will be creating a wildlife habitat and replacing wetlands that urban development has destroyed.

So is a pond worth the money, time and aggravation? Absolutely.