I am in the process of re-building my deck and will have steps and a walkway
down to a new water garden as the focal point. I have many questions, but
first would like to know of any good book recommendations you all have?
Also, I am in southeran Pennsylvania, if I was smart (not often I hear that)
would I wait until next spring or start it now and would you add any
plants/fish this year? TIA

Hi Dennis,
As long as you get up to speed on how to manage a pond through winter you can
add fish and plants now.

Winter care usually involves keeping a hole open in the ice.
Many of us do it with a floating heater (comes on at freezing temps) or an air
pump and air stone. Stop feeding when water temp. gets to be 55 degrees. Shut
down waterfalls and fountains (stops ice dams from emptying the pond) and clean
and store the filter for the winter.

I asked a question about books (for a different reason) recently and I'll
attach the answers below ~

Subject: fish/pond book recommendations
From: "Stephen M. Henning" A HREF="mailto
Date: Sat, Jul 10, 2004 5:25 PM
Message-id:

EROSPAM (Ka30P) wrote:

Besides Helen Nash's books, what other books do rec.ponders
like for pondkeeping with fish?

"The Pond Doctor" by Helen Nash you mention is a good general cover
everything book.

Ortho has three books. The older one is "All About Garden Pools and
Fountains" very good on specific fish and specific plants.

The newer version is "All About Water Gardening" is much better on water
plants.

The big one is "Creating Water Gardens" and is my favorite. It covers
plants and fish in great detail and has a lot of useful information.

Frances Perry's The Water Garden doesn't have much on fish.

Louise Riotte's Catfish, Ponds & Lily Pads is great if you want to raise
edible fish.

--
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HREF="http://home.earthlink.net/~rhodyman"http://home.earthlink.net/~rhod
yman/A


Subject: fish/pond book recommendations
From: "RichToyBox" A
"RichToyBox@co mcast.net/A
Date: Sat, Jul 10, 2004 7:38 PM
Message-id: i_%Hc.54043$a24.2725@attbi_s03

I really like Doc Johnson's book. It has some info on things like filters,
a fair amount of info on water quality, and a lot of info on health.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I list the ones I have at http://www.fishpondinfo.com/psource.htm


kathy :-)
algae primer
http://hometown.aol.com/ka30p/myhomepage/garden.html

We built one of those dekblock decks, and are *very* pleased with it. Less
work, less money, and they look great.


"DennisD" wrote in message
...
I am in the process of re-building my deck and will have steps and a
walkway
down to a new water garden as the focal point. I have many questions, but
first would like to know of any good book recommendations you all have?
Also, I am in southeran Pennsylvania, if I was smart (not often I hear
that)
would I wait until next spring or start it now and would you add any
plants/fish this year? TIA

On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 21:39:07 -0400, "DennisD"
wrote:

I am in the process of re-building my deck and will have steps and a walkway
down to a new water garden as the focal point.

I am not sure I understand "southern" PA since the bottom border is a
straight line. Are you near Harrisburg? I am. My plan is to just
fiddle around this season and get the geometry and fluid mechanics
right. I do have plants and fish but I am not counting on much from
them ths season.
http://www.koiphen.com/articles.html mentions some books and is an
excellent guide to starting a serious koi ranch, I think. Certainly
there is a fund of useful information in this group and on the several
forums.
--
Crashj

"DennisD" wrote:

I am in the process of re-building my deck and will have steps and a walkway
down to a new water garden as the focal point. I have many questions, but
first would like to know of any good book recommendations you all have?
Also, I am in southeran Pennsylvania, if I was smart (not often I hear that)
would I wait until next spring or start it now and would you add any
plants/fish this year? TIA

In the Berks/Lancaster area there are four good but very different
sources of information.

Esbenshades in Lititz, advice, plants and ponds
Riverview Park Nursery on Pricetown Road, Reading, advice, plants, ponds
& fish
Fleetwood Building Block in Fleetwood, classes, ponds, steps & walks
next spring Black Creek Nursery off rt 625, Terre Hill, good plants very
cheap & fish

--
Pardon my spam deterrent; send email to
http://home.earthlink.net/~rhodyman

On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 21:39:07 -0400, "DennisD"
wrote:

===I am in the process of re-building my deck and will have steps and a walkway
===down to a new water garden as the focal point. I have many questions, but
===first would like to know of any good book recommendations you all have?
===Also, I am in southeran Pennsylvania, if I was smart (not often I hear that)
===would I wait until next spring or start it now and would you add any
===plants/fish this year? TIA
===


The books put out by Ortho are good, but the best books I found are
those that are aimed at this specific zone. In particular, I have a
Southern HOmes and Garden book which only covers plants that will work
well in this area........I have another book called Gardeing in
Alabama and its geared mainly for Alabama........and you can usually
find books like these at Books A Million or local garden
centers.........

One thing that gets me is buying a book mailorder or online and
finding out the author is a Brit. I don;t have anything against a
Brit, and while lots of plants are the same here as in Britton, a lot
of terms and words are totally different and can get confusing or
comical, so if its just general intersts I don't mind, but try an get
a book specific to your locale.

The last book my wife bought me was the one geared to Gardening in
Alabama, and has quite an extensive section on water gardens in it. It
breaks down all the major plants grown in this area, into
groups...Trees, Vines, Ground Covers, Perenials, Annuals, Water
Gardens, etc etc and then gives a month by month bloow at what you
should do or attempt to do and what not to do according to the month.
I would think there may be a similar book for your area. Oh, and Wal
MArt carries the Ortho Books at a reduced price.
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Opinions expressed are those of my wife,
I had no input whatsoever.
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