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My First Pond
Looking Back...
SECOND YEAR-1999-This year I started out with a little more knowledge than last year. Over the winter I read some books on
ponds, search the web and found alot of information, even bought one book called The Pond Doctor- by Helen Nash . I found
out that if you don't have a pump or filter then your pond needs to be balanced, which means that you need the right amount
of plants, fish and snails. In my pond I put 1 med. water lily, 1 hyacinth, and 1 water lettuce. I also put in 2 gold fish.
I had snails from last year and the frogs always will find your pond. I have about 3 frogs. In April I put in my water lily
and gold fish. I didn't get my other plants in until May. This summer was the hottest summer we have had in a long time, so
I had to add water to the pond constantly. One of the fish died during the first month, but the other one is doing very well,
his name is Finney. I started to train Finney to eat from my hand , and in 2 weeks I had him trained. I would feed him in
the same spot every day, so he got conditioned to me and now he comes to me anytime that I come to that spot. I didn't have
a pump or a filter this year and my pond did just fine. I feel that when you first start out go small, in that way you can
see if you like ponding are not. Thats why I started with a barrel liner to see if I would enjoy it and now that I know that
I do I'm building a larger pond. I will still use the barrel liner on my patio, so no money lost. The pond did very well this
year, after the algae bloom my pond became clear. The hyacinth and the water lettuce multiplied like crazy. So if you have
a half barrel pond all you need is one floating plant. All summer I had to keep throwing out plants because they kept multiplying.
My hyacinth bloom a couple of times this year and I was very happy about that. On the other hand, my water lily didn't bloom
at all. But I will see what will happen next year. So my journey has been quite enjoyable. The only time I though my journey
would end was when a snake visited my pond. It was a small snake but to me a snake is a snake. My son was able to find the
snake a new home. SO MY JOURNEY WILL CONTINUE DESPITE THE VISITOR.
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