My yard in Durham, NC, has the perfect place for a two-level water garden with a rock falls inbetween. I am a veteran gardener, but a novice with water gardens. I love the sound and sight of moving water, but hesitate (read, "chicken out") when it comes to installing water because of what seems like tremendous maintenance considerations...can anybody help me out with this? A "yay" or "nay", and, why...?

"Kathie" wrote in message
s.com...
My yard in Durham, NC, has the perfect place for a two-level water
garden with a rock falls inbetween. I am a veteran gardener, but a
novice with water gardens. I love the sound and sight of moving water,
but hesitate (read, "chicken out") when it comes to installing water
because of what seems like tremendous maintenance considerations...can
anybody help me out with this? A "yay" or "nay", and, why...?
--
Kathie
Kat ~=^..^=~
------------------------------------------------------------------------
posted via www.GardenBanter.co.uk

If it is installed properly, and you have proper filtration, don't overfeed,
etc, your garden shouldn't be that much maintenance. And believe me, if you do
it right, you will not regret it, and will have hours of enjoyment out of it.
Buy a good book on garden ponds, and read it cover to cover. Read the posts in
this newsgroup so that you can learn what to expect. It does help if you know
something about fish, since that knowledge comes in handy, especially when they
get sick. I've raised fish for 35 years. Everything from local to tropical
freshwater, and even few salt water tanks. Learn about water quality. It is
ALL about water quality. But don't let the project intimidate you. Think it
through before you start. The better your work plan, the easier the install
will be. I have a 1500 gallon pond, and it only took me three days to finish
it. But I planned it off and on for about five years (I had to convince the
mrs, and then there was the issue of money). Obviously, you don't have to take
that long, but do take your time about it, and don't start it until you are
confortable doing it. I hope this helps. Good luck, and happy ponding!

Water gardens are extremely easy if you have a veggie filter. Basically you
pump water through a secondary 'pond' that has plants with lots of roots
(water hyacinths are perfect). This serves both to filter out dirt and to
suck up nutrients that make algae grow and maintains itself. The water
flows from this pond (your veggie filter) back down to where it is being
pumped from. So in your case you would have the 'top' pond that was filled
with hyacinths, mint, watercress or what tickles your fancy that has lots of
roots, the water would fall down the rocks into the second pond where you
could have plants such as water lilies, lotus, etc - if you like fish (my
first fish were feeder fish meant to just keep down the mosquitoes).

If you can afford it, you would want your liner to be one piece that went
from the lower pond, up the rock/falls/stream to the second pond. You need
a pump that can change your water at about once an hour and provide enough
lift to the upper pond. I have my waterfall pump stuck in a bucket filled
with lava rock (the pump is surrounded by lava rock). I use a waterfall
pump because it does not have to have the water filtered before taking it
in. I clean out the bucket/lava rock using pond water about once a year.
If you are going to have fish, make that pond have edges that go straight
down (I'm assuming you have raccoons or other predators.... if you don't
never mind). If you can get to ponds.rec, it is a much larger room and you
will get all the help you could possibly want on any subject that might come
up.

Now if you simply want the sound of water you can make a water feature than
has no pond. The water reservoir and pump would be at the bottom of your
rocks. Water would be pumped up to the top of the rocks and flow down
giving you the sound and look of water but none of the maintenance of
plants. You would again want liner covering wherever water is going to be.
You would have a grate or screen on top of the reservoir which would be
covered with pebbles or rocks. The water would fall through the rock into
the reservoir. This is very pretty and sounds nice but I really enjoy my
fish and plants. Beware that you will become attached to both.

http://www.pond-equipment.creativefo...e_your_pump.ht
m#Pump%20Selection

you may have to cut and paste the above in your browser address bar. It
will help you calculate the size of pump you need. I use far less than
recommended because I like the water to go through slower than what they
have.


"Kathie" wrote in message
s.com...
My yard in Durham, NC, has the perfect place for a two-level water
garden with a rock falls inbetween. I am a veteran gardener, but a
novice with water gardens. I love the sound and sight of moving water,
but hesitate (read, "chicken out") when it comes to installing water
because of what seems like tremendous maintenance considerations...can
anybody help me out with this? A "yay" or "nay", and, why...?
--
Kathie
Kat ~=^..^=~
------------------------------------------------------------------------
posted via www.GardenBanter.co.uk