Hello Everyone

[AnthonyRibis]

Hello I am new to the website as well as garden ponds. We moved into a new house last year and I have always wanted a garden pond. I went and bought a cheap preformed one off craigslist very late in the summer last year and had just enough time to dig a hole and put it in. Well needless to say I was unhappy with it... I got on line watched a few youtube videos brought a underlayment, liner and pump(2200gph). It is roughly 8'x9'x3', the water fall box is a #5 storage bin and the skimmer I made out of a trash can, pool skimmer basket/weir. I am going to be adding a filter between the skimmer and falls, possibly this weekend. I still have to clean up the electric and I will be adding more rock to the top of the waterfall and a few here and there in the back ground. I bought 4 small koi this weekend and they are still adjusting. They usually swim to the bottom of the pond and hide. The pond is in full sun from about 11 ish till sundown, I have 1 Lilly plant, 2 marginal and 3 small bunches of a submerged plant. I will add at least another Lilly next summer and more submerged plants. What do ya pros think? Please let me know if you see something I am missing or should change?

 

[DrCase]

Welcome to the Forum

 

[Fishylove]

WELCOME TO OUR FORUM! :wave: Looks like you've done your homework, very nice!
My suggestion would be re: algae growth. With that much direct sunlight, you will have an on going fight on your hands with algae now that you have put fish in your pond. My suggestion would be to put as many plants (ie: marginal, submersible, floating etc..) planted bare root in there as you can find. These plants will "fight" if you will, for the same neutrients as the algae, thus keeping the algae in check. Lilly's ( if you want them to bloom) you will need to plant in pots so they can be fertilized periodically, this will not help much in the way of algae control. The reason you put plants bare root is so that the water has direct contact with the roots themselves. You can just plop them right down there in the gravel. Keep up the good work!

 

[AnthonyRibis]

Fishylove - Will the submersible plants last through the winter? I plan on putting a heater in to prevent ice over. What I did for the few submersible plants I got was, my wife bought sacks of marbles for a project she was working on. I put gravel in the sack, a few plant strands and cable tied the sack closed. I stuffed them into cracks and gaps in the rocks. I just don't have many because it is the end of season, and the place didn't have many left.

 

[addy1]

Very pretty pond. If the plant is a hardy, it will survive the winter. I sink lilies deep so the tuber does not freeze.
The one problem you will have, as the koi grow they are very destructive to plants.

 

[Becky]

Welcome aboard! That's a beautiful pond you've got there :wave:

 

[AnthonyRibis]

Thank you Becky! It being the first time I have ever made one, I am very happy with how it can out. Fall is just starting to creep in, so I'm a little disappointed I won't be able to establish some good pond plants and enjoy it for too much longer. I have plans to add 2 more filters to it. 1 off to the left side drawing water from the very bottom. I like the idea of having bog plants right in the filter, so I'm kicking around a few ideas using planters. That side of the pond comes up to my deck, so I'm looking to close off that area so my kids stay out of there. As for the second I'm thinking about hiding it behind that Japanese maple, under ground so that the top of the filter is about ground level. My only fear is keeping enough water pressure for my waterfall. The pump is in the bottom of my skimmer box and it all incline up to the falls.

 

[sissy]

welcome and love that you are trying ponding but as koi get older they will root out everything and destroy plants .Plus koi get very large I found that out to late so you may end up going bigger .I guess you saw a lot of video's with rocks in the pond .They are really hard to keep clean .I see you have rose of sharons they are nice but really messy when they get big .I have about 15 of them .I planted lemon verbena and lemon grass around my pond they help with mosquito's

 

[Fishylove]

Fishylove - Will the submersible plants last through the winter? I plan on putting a heater in to prevent ice over. What I did for the few submersible plants I got was, my wife bought sacks of marbles for a project she was working on. I put gravel in the sack, a few plant strands and cable tied the sack closed. I stuffed them into cracks and gaps in the rocks. I just don't have many because it is the end of season, and the place didn't have many left.

Sorry I have taken so long to answer! Yes! Just be sure that the plants you have are zoned for you climate. And as the girls have mentioned above, koi can be distructive to plants. So I have learned to get creative! I tuck plants behind large rocks, buried in pea gravel and cover them with larger river rock. Now I'm not saying this works alllllll the time! Lol. You just have to play with different ways to plant them. Oh and when you sink your lilies, be sure to put a hole on the side of the container you put it in, so that you can pull it up easier in the spring

 

[sissy]

yeh those darn koi as they get bigger and older they get wiser to what you are doing ,I just went to before to check my pond and there was aggie with a lily root .Oh well .Have to finish mowing ,you think I could teach her to help .Darn koi .

 

[Fishylove]

Lol sissy! Just the other day I was fussing at them like they could answer back! Just goes to show how attached we get to the little ( or big! ) guys!
I have noticed though, as an after thought, when I put something new in the pond, they have more interest in it.

 

[AnthonyRibis]

Sissy - Thanks for the heads up on the Rosa Sharons! I was looking for something that would get tall and look nice. That direction is south so was looking to add some shade of the pond eventually. The one on the right side is set back further then it looks in the picture so that one might be ok. The one of the right might be a problem...

Thanks for the plant advise, I was hoping to make it as natural looking as possible. So not only do I have to worry about the my kids outside the pond, I have to worry about the ones in the pond too haha!

 

[sissy]

lots of plants can be used in the pond that are used in your gardens .With the mulch you have there elephant ears and cannas may work .I listened to Colleen on here about grasses in the pond they are great pond cleaners .You could plant lemon verbena or lemon grass around your pond .They help with mosquito control and lemon grass grow great in the pond .Cold hardy banana's would work also .They great thing is that in the winter when they die back you want the sun on your pond to keep it from freezing as much .Lots of herbs grow great in ponds also.Water lettuce and hycinth also for floating plants .But remember plants give out oxygen but use up lots of it at night so you don't want to deprive your fish of oxygen first thing in the morning .
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[Fishylove]

Lol yep :cheerful: But like all kids, you can always find ways to distract, or " or out of sight out of mind" I know it's the end of the season and stores have run there course for plants. Keep you eyes open on here in the spring and sometimes fall , for ponders looking to thin their plants and will trade or even give away plants to members for the price of shipping
Also, I don't know how familiar you are with gardening and plants, but there are SOME plants, sold as perennials, that will do well in the marginal areas of your pond. Creeping Jenny, Cannas and non-bearded Irises just to name a few. The creeping Jenny you could still get at Lowes and such I'm sure, and would look great planted along the edges of you pond And water fall :cheerful: (note: they like their feet (roots) wet, not the whole plant) To keep them in check (they are a ground cover) I kept them in the pots they came in and tucked them in around the margins. Never tried a Canna as a marginal, but it LOVE LOVE LOVES my bog, so you could experiment with those, they're cheep enough. And irises will grow like weeds as a marginal! ( be sure non-bearded)
Do you know what Zone you are in? 7 maybe? I would lots of research over this winter, find out what plants are hardy in your Zone and will winter in your pond, then come spring there will be LOTS of members wanting to trade. This year, I only had a few in the way of water plants because my big pond was new last year, but I have tons of " land plants" CountryEscape was willing to trade "water" for "land". It was a great trade!
Oh!! If you would like to, I could give you some Horsetail rush, very good marginal and is hardy in most Zones, as much as you want actually lol. Let me know if you want some and PM me! ANYBODY ELSE THAT WOULD WANT SOME TOO, PM ME!

OK ENOUGH OF MY LONGWINDED-NESS I could go on and on about plants

Below are some pics of the plants I mentioned. The creeping Jenny is the chartreuse plant, that one is contained in a pot. Second pic is the horsetail rush and then the canna lol. Ok. NOW..... I'm done! :cheerful:

 

[sissy]

plants also can be gotten in pet stores that are used for fish tanks .