Here's another question:

My husband and I are planning to majorly revamp our zone 3 backyard
and put in a path with flat stones, and a small pond, maybe 6' by 8'.
I'm interested to know if anyone has any general suggestions before we
start, based on their own experience. We went and picked out rock
that we like for stepping stones, about 2" thick. We're not sure
about the pond yet. We're pretty handy and want to do it ourselves.
It gets very cold here in the winter. The backyard is a mixture of
sun and shade, mostly dappled shade.

Thanks,
Cynthia

Ponds are most enjoyable features, but they come with a price tag of
being responsible for the critters that live there. It should be
deep enough so it doesn't freeze solid and has enough room for fish
and whatever to hibernate under the ice. The ice must also have a
hole to allow gasses to exit, otherwise fish waste and mulm (bottom
buildup) will rot slowly during the winter and the gasses formed will
kill your wet pets. If there is enough shade to keep the water
temperature below 90 degrees in the summer you shouldn't have to worry
about too much sun.

Download rec.ponds and read a while and look at the url's in the
messages, you'll get a lot of good ideas there.

Regards,

Hal

On Sat, 05 Jul 2003 18:32:46 GMT,
(Jacquard_The_Ripper) wrote:

We're not sure
about the pond yet. We're pretty handy and want to do it ourselves.
It gets very cold here in the winter. The backyard is a mixture of
sun and shade, mostly dappled shade.

Jacquard_The_Ripper wrote:
Here's another question:

My husband and I are planning to majorly revamp our zone 3 backyard
and put in a path with flat stones, and a small pond, maybe 6' by 8'.
I'm interested to know if anyone has any general suggestions before we
start, based on their own experience. We went and picked out rock
that we like for stepping stones, about 2" thick. We're not sure
about the pond yet. We're pretty handy and want to do it ourselves.
It gets very cold here in the winter. The backyard is a mixture of
sun and shade, mostly dappled shade.

Thanks,
Cynthia

Hi Cynthia,
Do visit rec.ponds. Friendly folk and helpful hints.
Building your own pond can be enjoyable if you plan
ahead - rec.ponds covers people with all size ponds in
many zones.

--
Bonnie
NJ
http://home.earthlink.net/~maebe43/

(Jacquard_The_Ripper) wrote in message news:3f0718c1.597920093@news...
Here's another question:

I'm interested to know if anyone has any general suggestions before we
start, based on their own experience.

Thanks,
Cynthia

Cynthia,

Wow! You're a brave soul to live in Zone 3! There are several
considerations to planning ponds, like trees, utilities, vantage
point, design, etc. Try the rec.ponds or visit www.garden-envy.com
for our tip-sheet on planning a pond.

Garden Envy

Hi Cynthia,

I'll start with one suggestion and then probably get long winded from there for
which I apologize up front lol.


Go with a flexible liner... Unless a pre form (hard plastic) is impeccably
installed it will crack in a frost heave, they are near to impossible to repair
once that happens. Some have had luck patching them but in my experience most
have not.

The pond needs to be level, I have a small area that is a bit lower so any
overflow goes into the direction I chose it to go instead of towards the house.

You don't need to use filtration with really good planning and planting, a pond
can be run totally natural if done right.

Always keep a low fish count, and if you are going to have koi be kind and give
them ample room to live and swim ... it bothers me when someone has a fish that
can barely turn around in it's surroundings, it's cruel in my opinion.

Predators happen, there are things we can do to discourage them but you are
putting these brightly colored fish out for all the world to see, it is only
natural a heron would come a calling.

Go as large as you can afford, I have never heard of a ponder saying they
wished they'd put a smaller pond in, it's much cheaper in the long run to go
large, ponding *is addictive.


There is a rec.ponds group that are always there to help out with questions and
ideas.

Happy ponding!!!
Colleen
zone 5 Connecticut