Rita

So glad to see you here. I love your photos of your ponds, but I have to say, all your photos of your gardens are gorgeous.

If I had a larger property and more room I would definately have a much, much larger pond. But I don't have room for anything larger than what I have. And I don't grow water lilies in my pond as it is too shady for them. So just some water hyacinth each spring and of course some fish. But I do really love my ponds.

Yeah. there is something about the water, especially if it is running a little. Mine is all thawed out although it forms a little ice skim each night, but it is thawed by noon, at least mostly. I removed the deicers but I don't think that a few hours of ice cap will hurt them. Will start dumping the cold weather bacteria in today just to get a run on the nasty beasties.

I have a fountain thingy that I use but I take it out in the winter. But it makes the water splash and I like the way it looks.

I cleaned out my two small 35 gallon ponds already this spring. Have to bail out all the gunky water and leaves that fall in all winter and then rot. What a stinky mess each spring. I put feeder fish from the pet shop in them as can't put anything good. The racoons wade in them all summer.

But I haven't cleaned out the big pond yet this spring. I have better fish in there as the racoons can't get them. Will have to set up my filter and pump soon and scoop up as much of the much at the bottom as I can.

Glad to have found you all! I have a LOT to learn. I had two lotus seeds from a swap a couple years ago just 'burning a hole in my... seed box?' anyway, I just had to start them this year, so we did a little container watergarden. Its a little bit smaller than a 'half barrel' size container, barely 18" deep. After they sprouted I sunk them in half gallon sized nursery containers with some black stones sold as 'soil' for water gardens. They seem to be doing really well now, and the pads are starting to cover most of the surface of the container. I put half a fertilizer tab meant for lilies in each pot every few weeks to a month.

When I started them I thought we were going to a bigger in-ground pond over the summer, but now I'm not sure. DH has developed concerns about the legalities, issues with safety of having an unfenced body of water, does anyone know about that? We have fencing or natural borders around most of our backyard, but the sides of the house don't have a fence between the front and back.

Can I leave them in the small container pond over winter do you think? I'm in Zone 8a, and we typically do get some freezing over the winter, a couple of small snows that melt almost immediately. Last winter I'm not sure it froze at all, but that was unusual.

We've got 3 goldfish, 2 lotus and 3 other plants in there! I put in a bubbler sold for container gardens. I think its not really much of a filter. There's a spongy thing inside of the mechanism that I've rinsed out a few times when the water seemed to be getting mucky. (I really have no idea what I'm doing, help!)

I see a lot of you have water containers... they are just trays of water that plants are set in? Do you do something to control mosquitoes? I'm thinking I can move the plants to something like this if the lotus need more room in the short term. I also just got a Black Gamecock iris that I could put in a water container once I figure out what that is

Looks really nice Kelly, I would love to see it as it grows in more. I have several small water features but nothing that small "yet". You might need to move some plants as the Water Lotus gets bigger. How wide is your pot? I have just started collecting some different size containers to do a container water garden area. I have 2 decorative pots that are 17" deep and 22" wide. One of them has a Water Lotus in it. Haven't decided what I will do with the other pot but I have plenty of water plants just waiting for a spot. I also have a large shallow bowl that I want to turn into a small fountain to go with the grouping. I have been out looking at any kind of container that would hold water, everything from plastic totes, mixing pans ( the kind for mixing cement), and small preformed pond shells.

this is a picture of my Pools when I first set them up. I now have 2 of the middle one and am planning on getting more as all 4 are full of waterlilies that need more room
I get the middle one at Home Depot

I think its about 22-24". I didn't sink rocks down in it when I set it up (rushed and not thinking), so I had to rig some covered wire things into 'baskets' with hooks to hang the two pots from the sides. Thought for sure something like that would exist, but searched and couldn't find anything. The solution I have is really clunky and threatening to dump the pots down into the water at any moment! The floaty rings take up too much room to have more than 1 in there. It amazes me how often I have to add water to it. It takes over a gallon maybe twice a week, to keep it at its current level.

Do you all use bubblers or anything to move the water? Not sure if I need it for the plants, but thought I had to for the fish. And then, do I keep using it over the winter, or take it out at some point. SO much to learn!

In my Zone 6 anything that is not in ground gets drained. Your area would be very different.

I leave mine all year.

I have a drip going into the largest pond and then in to each of the other , plus I have blubbers in all but the smallest one.
I have goldfish and minnows in the largest 3 and just minnows in the smallest one

Ric and I worked on the new water feature tonight. Just a little thing should have it done tomorrow.

So, if I leave it all winter, which I guess I will, does the bubbler stay in/going also I guess? Its up on the deck close to the house, so probably warmer there than anywhere else.

Also, IF I manage to talk hubby into a larger, in-ground one (probably a pre-formed from Lowes, because of ease), is Fall an OK time to start it, or should we wait until spring?

I have the pre-formed ones but I did not put them in the ground. The fish and plants in my survived the winter

Well, here is the upgrade on my pond this summer. Took about a week. The first several are of the old configuration. Then starts the tear down and rebuild.

As you can see the old walls were collapsing, it was a mess. The skimmer was sticking up because the rocks around it were sinking into the ground. First order was to remove old rock, then compact the underlayment with crushed asphalt. Oh, there was also a putting green to the left that was seldom used. it was torn up and converted to a garden with lilac, spirea and apple tree. the rock was replaced with slabs straight up rather than the huge messy tone.

Continued through the beginning of the new patio where the green was:

This is the final segment:

WOW What a big job, turned out beautiful. Wonderful area. Like the way you chronicled the project.