Need tips on starting a shaded natural pond

[JinWI]

I just moved into a new (to me) house last fall in southern Wisconsin (zone5). At the back of the property it has a shaded small pond, my guess would be several thousand gallons to maybe 5 thousand gallons.

Right now it is slightly mucky, shallow at maximum depth of about 16" with small clumps of green algae. I would like to plant some plants in it that would help clean the water, and look good. It looks to me like this pond will retain water throughout the summer as it is fed by seepage from a small river 50 yds or so away. My backyard slopes down about 6 feet into the pond with a moss covered bank and a small mudflat at the waters edge.

I am hoping I can keep this low maintenance, and use mainly perennials that will remain viable over the winter. The pond gets very little sunlight, maybe some indirect sunlight in the mornings.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can get started? I will see what I can do to post some pictures of the pond in its current state.

 

[DrDave]

So I'm guessing that since this is a natural pond it has a mud bottom and no pumps, filters or fish.

Can you post some photos?

 

[JinWI]

Yes that would be correct. And actually I should mention that the pond does get some direct sunlight in the afternoon. Also I am not planning on adding fish, unless maybe I can find something for mosquito control, we'll have to see how bad they get.

I can add pictures at a later date, I dont have acces to my camera at the moment.

 

[DrDave]

Well here in San Diego County they provide Mosquito fish free. These fish are very good at controling these insects. I had over 1800 in my pond after seeding it with 12 a few years before.

I had to erradicate them in order to spawn Koi successfully.

 

[cokeisit]

With your yard sloping into the pond, be careful of not over-fertilizing your lawn. The way it sounds like your pond is positioned, you could experience algae problems caused by fertilizer run-off. Having plants around the edge of the pond or even a ridge or barrier could help with that. You might also look at adding some aeration or a fountain of some kind to both add aesthetics and oxygenate.