Tips on Bog Ponds

A bog pond is a ‘tiny’ body of water in your garden or in your landscape that creates a space that will draw wildlife to your area. All animals need water and when you create a bog pond that keeps water available to them in times of drought or even in high heat, you will create a spot that you can enjoy watching the animals come and play.

You most likely already have a place picked out for your bog pond, but to make sure, you should not pick an area that is in full shade because you can have mold and bacteria growing in water that does not get any sunlight at all. You will want at least partial sun during the day to keep molds and bacteria at bay. You also might want to consider keeping our bog pond away from the near tree line because trees right on top of the pond will make a pile of leaves in your water when the fall months come.

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Pricing out a Water Garden

There are many sizes and types of water gardens that you can choose to create in your landscape that it is important that you set a budget and decide exactly how much you are going to spend on your garden before ever digging the hole for the water garden.

Your water garden is going to be a relaxing and an enjoyable addition to your landscape. So if you find that your available budget is not going to cover the size and type of garden that you want most, you should put off your water garden construction until next spring or summer when you really do have all of your budget in line so you can create the water garden that you are going to love for years to come.

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Indoor Water Gardens

You can take a bit of summer indoors and create a water garden area that will help you relax and enjoy your space indoors. There are many types of water gardens that you can enjoy indoors and a few of these include water falls, water gardening in containers, and the use of larger aquariums to create the entire water garden that you want.

There are waterfalls, water rock gardens and so much more where you can use your imagination and enjoy the sounds of water in the home.

One of the most exciting things about water gardening is the continued life that is found in the water garden. Even the continuous flow of water is a constant reminder of life in your own world.

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General or Mixed Pond

When you are first building a pond in your backyard you need to decide what kind of pond it will be. Will it be a general pond that just has some plants or a mixed pond that contains both plants and fish? Both types can spice up the yard.

The advantages to having a mix garden may out weigh the disadvantages. An advantage would be that you are able to have a wide range of fish and plants. A mixed garden is usually smaller and takes up less time to build. It does not take a lot of care or money when you are dealing with a mixed pond. A disadvantage is the extensive researching that you would have to do so that your fish and plant are compatible for each other. The freedom and amount of choices that you have are endless. This can lead to overstocking or cluttering the pond with plants.

General ponds are an excellent choice to take up space. Usually They do not need to be that big, but they take up more room than a mixed pond. When it comes to a general pond, the water is usually not that deep, around two feet. Sunlight is incredibly important for the plant life.

To sum general and mixed ponds; both are just as good as the other is. It depends on the personal preference of the owner. If you research and you may find that mixed ponds are what you want. Fish add a flare to a backyard pond. The area in which the pond is placed accounts for most of your decision. If it has too much sunlight than a general pond is best. Either one can be small or big. It all depends on your setting and your preferences.

taken from PondSupply.com

Fish Ponds

You can create a pond, small or large, in your garden that will focus on the life of a fish instead of the life of your plants. The use of water in your garden, with a focus on fish instead of on plants will bring a whole new outlook to your garden treasures and the path of life in your gardens.

Creating a water pond for fish is not as difficult as you might think. If you are building a water pond for fish, you can still use plants or you can keep the pond just for fish. After the initial expense of building a fishpond, your expenses are very minimal. The bugs and creatures that crawl in your gardens actually feed the fish and you don’t have to buy fish food at all.

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Choosing a Water Garden Style

Before you begin choosing the plants that you want to use in your water garden, you need to figure out what kind of atmosphere and the style of water garden you want to create.

There are many choices out there for a water garden, two of then are Japanese or Oriental flavor. These are popular with koi-keepers. Not only because koi are associated with Japan, but also because they architectural. A subtle setting will enhance rather than distract the from their shape and color. It is a structured, but informal style. This is idea for small gardens or a secluded corner of a larger area. Japanese gardens are a peaceful retreat from the stress and hubbub of everyday life. The gentle feeling of harmony that it creates with foliage rather that bright flowers, and a pattern of greens and grays relying on leaf shape and size for variety.

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Building a Concrete Waterfall

Concrete waterfalls make permanent features that have much to commend them. When used with rocks and stones, they can be the most effective and natural looking of all moving water features. When you make the concrete waterfall, the first thing that you need to do is excavate the cascade feature. Remove sufficient soil to comfortably accommodate the edging stones. If the excavation is being made on disturbed soil, this should be well compacted.

You will need to install a liner of your choice that overlaps along the sides. This will act as a waterproof membrane and prevent rapid drying out and cracking of the concrete.
You are ready to put a layer of concrete down to about two thirds of the required finished depth and place the wire mesh reinforcement over the top. Push this firmly and evenly into the concrete. Add another layer of concrete over the mesh and pack down firmly to provide and even finish. You can position your edging stones now while the concrete is still wet. You can add some decorative pebbles into the final layer of concrete. You want to take your time and place each stone so that you do not disturb the wet concrete.

You will want to cover the fresh concrete and stones with damp sacks and keep watered to prevent the concrete from drying out too quickly. If it does dry too quickly this will cause cracks to appear.

Concrete waterfalls do not have to take a traditional form, however the construction methods lend itself to a number of variations. You are now ready to install your pump and add in the water. At the bottom of your waterfall, be sure to have a pool below to catch the water. You can plant flowers there or add more decorative stones to add to the beauty of the site.

taken from PondSupply.com tips and tricks archive

Building a Pond with a Liner

A water garden is something that will require a little planning, in how you are building it, how you will care for it, and what you want to use your pond for. A water garden can be as small as a television set or it could be as large as your house or any size in between, the exciting part is that you get to determine all of it!

After you have determined the rough outline of your water garden you will need to find out how large of liner you will need. This is determined by figuring how deep the pool is and how wide the pool is so you can determine how much the liner is needed to cover the soil through out the hole for your pond. If you figure that your garden is ten by ten you need a hundred square foot, but the pond is six foot deep, so you need to add six foot by ten to cover the additional portion of the pond that is going down as well.

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Backyard Water Garden

A small backyard pond filled with pants and fish can add a wonderful and soothing touch to your yard. With a little effort, you can install your own water garden in your backyard by yourself.

Planning your water garden.

You can purchase a complete kit that will contain all the supplies you need or you can design your own. There are some important things to consider before you start digging. Make sure that you have the perfect location. The sight that you choose should get good sunlight. You may want to pick a spot away from trees for easier maintenance. Plan to build your water garden in a higher area because lower ones collect the most rain and might be hard to dig in. Stay away from areas that have utility lines when you are digging. Pick a spot that is close to water and electrical sources. You need to figure out what shape you want your garden and what decorative items to place near your garden,

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Affordable Small Water Gardens

Gardening on a budget is not as tough as you thought. If you want a water garden you can have one – you just have to be a bit creative in where you find the materials and in the planning of your water garden. Doing the project yourself is going to save so much money that you are going to be excited about what else you can do when building a water garden. Contractors are expensive, but doing the work yourself you can afford a few other accessories that you have been dreaming about.

Starting out you need to plan your water garden. You will hear this over and over again. If you start digging without planning where you are placing your water garden and the size of your water garden, your project can get out of hand with expenses and materials.

After you have planned on where you are going to put your water garden, you can think about the size. When on a strict budget, you want to get the most for your money. The smallest water garden is actually going to be less expensive using a preformed pond liner. The preformed pond liner prevents you from having to spend more on other materials year after year, such as the plastic lining, concrete repairs and a preformed pond liner is going to make your project look more professional overall.

Choose a size of a preformed liner that is going to fit your budget. If you are not planning to raise fish because you don’t want the added expense you can pick one, any size or shape that fits your budget instead of fitting the size and types of fish that you are going to raise. When you are on a budget, you won’t want to raise fish so you don’t have the added expense of having to get a filter, or other types like filtration systems.   more of this article about Affordable Small Water Gardens