Plant Gardens 101

Who would have thought that a small water garden could be anything but safe? However, a couple of measures of precaution can help ensure that your magical water garden stays safe for everyone, including your goldfish! Remember, that if your water garden is deep enough for goldfish or koi, then its more than deep enough to be dangerous for toddlers.

Here are a couple of things to consider:

Depth of Your Pond: The ponds edges provide you an opportunity to increase safety around the water pond. Put a shelf or ledge around the sides of your pond that is at least 1 foot deep to provide an easier escape for a child that has fallen in. You may also want to consider placing boulders around the side, which will provide some added leverage for the child to pull themselves out.

Watch Your Children: Just like you wouldnt let your children swim without a lifeguard or adult supervision, never leave young children unattended around your water garden pond. While the fish will provide enough curiosity, remember that same curiosity may tempt them to get too close to the edge to get a closer look, raising the risk of them falling in, hitting their heads on the edge of the pond, or even drown. A child can drown in less than 6inches of water. (more…)

Like so many things in life, the location is one of the most important aspects to consider when making any changes. Here are a couple of things to consider when you build your dream water garden:

1. Call Before You Dig While this one seems obvious, its surprising the number of people who forget to call the appropriate utility companies about phone,gas and power lines, only to accidently cut them. One simple phone call avoids all sorts of problems, ensuring that you wont have to worry about delays to your project and iritate your neighbours when their phone or electricity no longer works.

2. Made In the Shade Consider the pattern of the sun and its impacts on shadows in your yard. Also, remember that the direction the sun crosses the sky will change between spring and fall. The angle of the sun will dictate what type of shade you need to create, and where to place your trees and water pond. Many plants require 6 hours of direct sunlight.

3. Regional Considerations What type of weather and soil conditions can you expect in the area you live in? You may find that the type of soil will dictate the types of plants and trees you can use to create your backyard paradise. (more…)

If you’ve seen a water garden, odds are, you’ve seen koi fish. The challenge is, how to create the perfect ecosystem for your little friends.

Koi ponds are built so that it can offer the most favorable living conditions for koi fishes. You will find them in backyards in most cases, however, they can also be placed in front yards if there is a lot of available space there. In the process of building koi ponds, the water and oxygen aeration are the biggest consideration. This will of course depend upon the size of the fishes.

Landscaping plays a major role in your Koi ponds. Fortunately, there are plenty of koi pond designs out there for you to choose from. While you may already have some preconceived ideas on how it will be designed, you have to ensure that it fits the whole water garden surrounding perfectly.      (more…)

Why do people put up backyard ponds and waterfalls? Some people would find this just a bit too wasteful of resources. Some would think that putting up a backyard pond and waterfall would be equal to showing off. However, you need to know that people who put up backyard ponds and waterfalls do so for very good reasons.

1) Relaxation – there’s something about watching the crystalline water flow from a waterfall that just outs a person’s mind at ease. People can spend hours staring at the flowing water and not even feel the time go by.

The sight of a backyard pond and waterfall would have been enough to relax any person, but the sound is just unbelievable. Although large waterfalls emit a roar of sound, backyard ponds and waterfalls actually sing. This fluid lullaby achieves the effect of coaxing the tired spirit to rest. Relaxation is a luxury oft ignored by man in his quest to succeed in life. However, you should know that the man who oft relaxes can work harder than he who does not rest at all. (more…)

So you’ve decided to get a backyard waterfall. What’s next for you? People often think that a backyard waterfall design can stand on its own. They often believe that when they get a backyard waterfall design, it would be enough to beautify their whole backyard. However, you need to know the fact that a backyard waterfall design needs to have other elements added to it in order to truly bring out its beauty.

A backyard waterfall design is beautiful. Standing alone, however, it tends to look a bit out of place. After all, waterfalls aren’t really supposed to be in one’s backyard, right? Standing alone, a backyard waterfall design might just wreck the “balanced” look of your backyard. Here are some things you might do to improve your backyard waterfall design:

1) Consider location – sometimes, it isn’t really necessary to add other elements to your backyard waterfall design. Some people find that a change in location can be very effective. Try to find a great spot for your backyard waterfall design. This will definitely help you improve the look of your backyard as a whole. Don’t put it where it would seem out of place. (more…)

With this guide, you will be prepared to winterize a water garden pond. Make sure that you follow each step to ensure the health of your plants and fish. It should be easy and quick to maintain a healthy water garden pond.

This is a guide for those with a soft pond liner. If you have a hard pond liner, you have many less steps to take, which can be found easily online. Make sure that you check which type of liner you have before you begin to winterize your pond.

Your first step is to empty half of the water from the pond. You can do this by taking the hose that is connected to your pump, and reconnecting it so that the water is pumped onto the ground. This will make it easier for you to see while you clean. (more…)

Garden waterfalls are one of the newest and most popular trends in landscaping today. Waterfalls, lovely fountains, and picturesque ponds are brought together to make a wonderful sight. You can also include some beautiful fish, lovely water plants, and even some lighting as well to complete the way it looks as a whole. Before you start building a waterfall, make sure to plan ahead, keeping the following items in mind…

There are various designs that you can pick from for your garden waterfall. If you check on the internet you will be able to find them in various sizes and shapes. Also you will find that each design has features and styles that are unique. No doubt you can use your imagination as well to create the perfect one to suite your fancy.

There are a variety of things that you should consider if you are going to build your own waterfall for your garden. (more…)

A Japanese water garden is a place of serenity. It is a place that one can go to appreciate nature, gather one’s thoughts, and relax to the humble sounds of nature. You can create this type of garden in your own back yard and enjoy it’s offerings for years to come.

Even if you live in an area that is crowded and noisy, if you have your own back yard you can design one of these gardens for your enjoyment. Using some natural sound barriers and placing the garden in the right place will be very important. You can use boulders to help create a barrier against the noise of traffic and neighbors. There are a variety of plants that can help you create a barrier as well, included various tall bushes. Unless you buy mature plants, remember that these bushes will take a few years to get big enough to provide a total barrier, but the mature plants will cost you a bit more.

If you have a larger piece of land for your garden you may not need to have a noise barrier. Unless you decide that you want to go ahead and create a barrier for your privacy, then you will not need to have one. (more…)

Backyard ponds and water gardens are great for relaxation and are attractive additions to any yard. Keeping the water clean is often done by filters, but there are natural methods you can use to make your filter more effective at keeping your pond fresh. These methods also help to improve the physical appearance of your pond.

Add Water Lilies – One thing that you can do to help keep your pond looking great without putting all the pressure on your pond filters is to add water lilies to your pond. Although water lilies are well known for being so amazingly beautiful, believe it or not, they also are great for keeping your pond clean as well. Water lilies will easily spread out across your pond, and if you keep at least half of your pond covered with water lilies, or another similar plant, it can help to get rid of that funky green water that is such an eyesore. (more…)

Water gardens are attractive and can make wonderful additions to your backyard garden. A water garden has the ability to attract wildlife as well as provide an aesthetic value to your home’s landscape. When creating a water garden there are several things to keep in mind and flush out before construction begins.

One of the first things you’ll want to think about is whether or not you want your water garden to be inhabited by fish. Many people that create water gardens stock them with Koi, a fish that’s much larger than a goldfish, but looks similar to them. If you choose to do this, be sure that your pond is prepared for them. The water must have the proper ph, between 6.5-8.4, in order for the fish to survive. The water must also have been treated for chlorine. If you’re going to leave the fish in the pond year round, be sure the depth is enough so that the water won’t freeze entirely in the winter. Fish will survive on algae and leaves that happen in their pond, but supplement this with fish food daily. (more…)