Hello Pond Forum.

[Frog8Bugg]

Well to begin with, as my wife would say I am garden obsessed. We moved into this house about ten years ago, and for the last six I've been slowly trying to turn my back yard into small park. I've thrown myself headlong into several different aspects of gardening including roses ,ferns, carnivorous plants, and even bonsai with moderate success and of course some catastrophic failures.

Last spring I was given a small (very small) preformed pond. I already had an old fountain statue that I just couldn't seem to find the right place in the garden for, so I combined the two, got a few plant from the nice lady who runs our local garden club,(thanks Evelyn) and Voila a new obsession is born.

This little water garden is about forty gallons and is filtered by one of those shoebox bio filters from Home Depot. It is inhabited by a dozen minnows, unknown number of baby trapdoor snails and a couple of northern leopard frogs who just showed up one day and refuse to be photographed.

I'm already planning and gathering materials for a larger pond that hopefully I can begin next year. It will be about 9 x14 with a waterfall and probably a bog filter. A skimmer is also a must as I have large pine trees that bury the entire yard in needles in the fall. I plan to have some fish but mostly it will be about lots of aquatic plants.

I've learned a great deal from reading this forum over the past couple of months and I'm looking forward to picking the brains of the many knowledgeable people here.

 

[peter hillman]

Good for you, beautiful images!

 

[addy1]

Beautiful! Welcome to our group!

 

[Lisak1]

Welcome! Beautiful little pond!

 

[MitchM]

Welcome!
What part of the USA do you live in?

 

[sissy]

Welcome and love your yarden park idea .We love to help no matter what you have in mind ask and we will guide you along the path to happy ponding .

 

[Big Lou]

Very nice and serene. Welcome you to the ponding addiction. LOL. Pine trees! From the south possibly?

 

[Frog8Bugg]

Welcome!
What part of the USA do you live in?

Illinois, just outside of St. Louis.

 

[sissy]

Hopefully this is not your first winter with your little pond because winters can be hard on smaller ponds .Even around here ponds do not fair well with 2 foot depth or less and summer they are almost impossible to keep .My first was a preformed until the front porch was built that was all I could handle safely .You may have to think about the roots of your plants freezing .I have taken the safety route every winter and put stock tanks in the basement with my plants in them .I lost to many plants the first winter the bigger pond was done as a matter of fact almost all of them died .Not sure why since my winters are milder than most people have on here and there plants made it .I tried 2 winters and gave up and brought them in .

 

[Frog8Bugg]

Hopefully this is not your first winter with your little pond because winters can be hard on smaller ponds .Even around here ponds do not fair well with 2 foot depth or less and summer they are almost impossible to keep .My first was a preformed until the front porch was built that was all I could handle safely .You may have to think about the roots of your plants freezing .I have taken the safety route every winter and put stock tanks in the basement with my plants in them .I lost to many plants the first winter the bigger pond was done as a matter of fact almost all of them died .Not sure why since my winters are milder than most people have on here and there plants made it .I tried 2 winters and gave up and brought them in .

Yes it is the first winter . I have some 55 gal barrels that I was planning to put the plants in and keep them in the garage. hopefully in there it will stay cold enough to keep them dormant, but not cold enough to freeze to the bottom. I keep my carnivorous plants in there and they make it though the winter with no problems.

 

[sissy]

We don't usually get that cold here but after loosing so many plants i won't take the chance any more so glad you have thought of that ,I would not want you to loose your plants .

 

[Frog8Bugg]

We don't usually get that cold here but after loosing so many plants i won't take the chance any more so glad you have thought of that ,I would not want you to loose your plants .

Winter here can go either way. Some years they're pretty mild, some years we have month long stretches of temps below zero. being an el nino year this coming winter will probably be pretty harsh.

 

[sissy]

We have swings but usually temps do not get to zero .I live only 15 minutes from the NC border and I have seen christmas here in the 70's and sure a lot better than when I lived in NJ .We usually get winter in Jan. and Feb. and snow lasts a day or 2 and then it is gone .They call this area part of the Piedmont .I am hoping for a mild winter I hate cold but don't want to go farther south .Here it is cheaper to live .Taxes and car insurance is way cheaper here .Taxes now at under 800 dollars a year and car insurance is less than 500 dollars a year and my son is on my insurance .Houses are cheaper also .No jobs but great for retirees that don't want a lot of crime or to much heat all year round .

 

[Frog8Bugg]

We have swings but usually temps do not get to zero .I live only 15 minutes from the NC border and I have seen christmas here in the 70's and sure a lot better than when I lived in NJ .We usually get winter in Jan. and Feb. and snow lasts a day or 2 and then it is gone .They call this area part of the Piedmont .I am hoping for a mild winter I hate cold but don't want to go farther south .Here it is cheaper to live .Taxes and car insurance is way cheaper here .Taxes now at under 800 dollars a year and car insurance is less than 500 dollars a year and my son is on my insurance .Houses are cheaper also .No jobs but great for retirees that don't want a lot of crime or to much heat all year round .

Sounds nice. I live in Illinois and work in Missouri so I have two high tax states digging in my pocket every year.

 

[sissy]

I did not want to leave NJ but 11 thousand a year in land taxes on my house were way out of the ball park after i retired and a year before i had already bought 3 lots here .Some family is here so it was better for me .Sad to say but they tax everyone to death .I hear people complain here but they have no clue how bad it can be .