Building Liner Ponds

Written by Brett Fogle

Surprisingly enough, it is usually in mid-summer that many gardeners begin to think about installing a small pond or water garden. Ponds don't need to be weeded or watered, and they can supply exuberant color inrepparttar form of water lilies and bog plants. The sound of a splashing fountain or waterfall is more appealing than weeding a flower bed or mowing that section of lawn. Best of all, no matter how hot or wet it gets,repparttar 116246 pond just keeps on blooming! At this point you may start to think aboutrepparttar 116247 expense and labor of installing a concrete pond, and our 95 degree days are just about enough to stop this pond daydream in its tracks. However, withrepparttar 116248 advent of newer pond liners and pre-formed pools,repparttar 116249 misery associated with concrete mixing and finishing is a thing ofrepparttar 116250 past. Heavy duty pool liners with 10 year guarantees are now common, and can sell for as little as $1.00 a square foot. Preformed ponds in many different shapes and sizes are also an alternative method to create a quick pond at less cost than using concrete. Using these materials,repparttar 116251 average gardener can install a decent size pond in less than one day, and have it stocked with plants, fish and fountain byrepparttar 116252 following morning. The simplest kind of pond to build is an above-the-ground pond. Since no digging is required, it usually takes much longer to fill this pond with water than it does to build it! There are many variations on this theme, but as an example, one can use treated lumber planks which are at least 2 inches thick by 12 inches wide, nail them together to form a rectangular shape ofrepparttar 116253 desired dimensions, and placerepparttar 116254 form whererepparttar 116255 pond is desired. This bottomless "box" can be placed directly onrepparttar 116256 grass, concrete, a deck, etc., and thenrepparttar 116257 bottom is covered with some kind of padding or cushioning material. Most books say to use sand, but I thinkrepparttar 116258 perfect material is roofing felt. It is cheap, convenient, lies flat, makes a barrier to weeds, and provides a good cushion forrepparttar 116259 pool liner. Oncerepparttar 116260 roofing felt is in place,repparttar 116261 pool liner can be dropped intorepparttar 116262 form and you begin fillingrepparttar 116263 pond with water. A few staples onrepparttar 116264 outside ofrepparttar 116265 pond form may be needed to keeprepparttar 116266 liner from blowing intorepparttar 116267 pond, but be sure to use just a few, and place them atrepparttar 116268 edge ofrepparttar 116269 liner. Asrepparttar 116270 pond fills,repparttar 116271 weight ofrepparttar 116272 water will do a good job in smoothing out wrinkles, but if you are a perfectionist, you can help smooth them out by hand before there is more than one inch of water inrepparttar 116273 bottom ofrepparttar 116274 pond. Whilerepparttar 116275 pond is beginning to fill, you can checkrepparttar 116276 level ofrepparttar 116277 form, and if it needs to be raised a little on one or two sides, this can be done by carefully inserting some shims to raiserepparttar 116278 forms where needed. If you preferrepparttar 116279 pond to overflow on a certain side (like, intorepparttar 116280 flower bed, rather than ontorepparttar 116281 deck!) then you may want to leaverepparttar 116282 overflow side a quarter inch lower thanrepparttar 116283 rest ofrepparttar 116284 pond. You should wait untilrepparttar 116285 pond is completely filled before cutting any excess liner or doing any permanent stapling. This will giverepparttar 116286 water pressure enough time to pullrepparttar 116287 liner into every nook and cranny where it needs to go; some of those few holding staples which you used to holdrepparttar 116288 liner in place may actually tear loose asrepparttar 116289 pond fills, but if you stapledrepparttar 116290 liner onrepparttar 116291 outside ofrepparttar 116292 form, nearrepparttar 116293 edges, then no harm is done... you will be trimming some of that excess liner off, anyway. It really does take longer to fill this kind of pond than it does to build it. I once built a twenty-by-thirty foot pond in two hours but it took all night for it to fill with water. I think an ideal depth for an above ground pond is about 14 inches, but it can be deeper or more shallow than that, depending on what materials you are using forrepparttar 116294 form. Railroad ties, landscape timbers, concrete blocks, etc. are all possible materials for pond building.

Fish Health in Hot Summer Heat

Written by Brett Fogle

Summer is over, but for many of us -repparttar heat remains. Here a couple of things to do to keep your fish healthy and your pond clear going into winter. First, remember to keep your pond well aerated. This is very important to your fish becauserepparttar 116245 pond water actually holds less oxygen at higher pond temperatures. So if it's still hot in your part ofrepparttar 116246 country, keep those waterfalls and fountains running! This will keep your pond water full of oxygen, and reduce stress on your fish. If you see your goldfish or KOI gasping atrepparttar 116247 surface, it's a good sign that you don't have enough dissolved oxygen inrepparttar 116248 water, and this can be dangerous. Especially if you have a lot of green water algae inrepparttar 116249 pond. This algae can absorb much ofrepparttar 116250 oxygen inrepparttar 116251 pond water at night and cause very low dissolved oxygen levels duringrepparttar 116252 day - which can be deadly to fish!

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