Archive for the ‘Garden Pond Articles’ Category

Maintaining your pond or backyard water garden is the least favorite of all water gardening activities. Thankfully, it rarely takes a long time, and except for ending up wet and dirty, is not difficult to do. If you keep your pond balanced ecologically, water garden maintenance is easy and rare. A eco-balanced pond has one bunch of submerged vegetation per square foot of pond surface, has at least 50% of the surface covered by floating plants for shade, has no more than one linear foot of fish per 25 square feet of pond surface area, only goldfish. And most important, you do not feed your fish Once you have gotten your pond balanced, maintenance is easy.

There are some tasks that must be done regularly to keep your balanced pond balanced. Most of the time water garden maintenance is a matter of removing aquatic plants rather than adding to them. Aquatic plants are weeds occurring in swamps and will take over the pond if given a chance. So in doing your water garden monthly maintenance, remove all dead or dying plant material. If left to decompose, it can foul your water and kill your fish.

If you have water lilies, fertilize them monthly during the summer months. Use one fertilizer tab per gallon of pot. Often water lilies are planted in shallow and wide pots. Give them two tabs monthly from the time the pads reach the water in the spring until the lily begins to go dormant in the fall. You can tell when the dormancy begins. The pads will get smaller and the lily will bloom less often.

Each month remove all debris from the bottom of the pond. Use a fish net or pond vacuum cleaner. Usually a fish net is that is needed unless the pond is under trees.

Clean a filter monthly unless you have a biofilter which needs to have a thriving bacterial community growing in it. Just rinse out the biofilter and replace it. With a mechanical filter, usually a block of foam rubber in a box, remove it, rinse it until the water runs clear and replace it. Do not wring it out like a dishcloth or it will deteriorate quickly and you will need a new one.

Remove any hoses from the pump and using your garden hose with a powerful nozzle, clean out the pump hoses. Usually much algae will come out of the hoses. Your fish will eat it and love it.

Using that same garden hose, blast any debris or algae growth off your surrounding rocks and waterfall. Your fish will eat this as well.

Top off the pond if any water has evaporated. If you add more than 10& water by volume, don’t forget to add a dechlorinator. That will dissipate any chlorine and heavy metals found in most city water.

Check all hose connections, check your waterfall to make sure all water is falling back in the pond and not leaking off the side of the falls.

Monthly water garden maintenance is easy and takes just a few minutes. Your pond will stay clean and continue to give you hours of pleasure.

Wendy Pan is an accomplished niche website developer and author. To learn more about water garden maintenance [http://maintainingmyhomeandgardentoday.info/water-garden-maintenance-how-to-water-your-garden], please visit Maintaining my Home and Garden [http://maintainingmyhomeandgardentoday.info] Today for current articles and discussions.

Author: Wendy Pan
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Water gardening is becoming much more popular then it once was. It may be a bit more expensive to do a water garden but in the end it may be well worth it as they tend to be breath taking to look at. Water gardens tend to attract more birds and butterflies to them, than do other types of gardens. Some water gardens have small fountains, while others have quite large ponds. Depending on how much you are willing to spend on your oasis you can create an affordable garden. Small fountains can be cheaper and may provide you with the sights and sounds that you are seeking out.

The first thing you need to do when planning your water garden is to estimate roughly how much area you have to designate to your garden. The next thing you may want to plan is how much you are willing to spend on the project. If you are deciding on using a pond or a water fall this will probably be the most pricey part of your endeavor. If you are planning to put stones around your pond it may help your budget if you look for stones in nature to use. Make sure you are taking them for a place you are allowed to take them. Sometimes people create ponds that they can put live fish in. This can make the pond more colorful, and fish can help keep your pond clean. Depending on whether or not you want certain fish you may need to plan your pond ahead. Certain types of fish need bigger ponds. You will also need to make sure you are buying the right type of fish for your climate. You may need a different type of filtration system when introducing fish to your pond.

When deciding on what type of aquatic plants to put around your pond you will want to think of the type of look you want around the pond. Some of the plants are very colorful while others may just be green. You may be aiming for a green foliage. The water lily is the most popular plant to use. They come in a different colors, sizes, and scents. The water hyacinth is another common choice of plant among gardeners. The water hyacinth is a free floating plant. They grow very aggressively and must be closely maintained so that they do not cover the entire pond. If this happens the water will not be oxygenated and therefore may cause fish death. The lotus plant can be quite a magnificent water garden plant. It is one of the most colorful plants to use in a pond. However it can scare many gardeners away as it can be very hard to manage. You need to take proper care of the plant in order for it to bloom. If the plant doesn’t get enough sun light and if the tray it is planted in is not the right size or is not at the right depth it will not bloom properly. This intimidates many people away from the plant, but if you have enough time to devote to the garden this plant may be well worth the trouble.

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Author: Alexis Quinones
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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