What is a garden pond or a koi pond?

A garden pond or a koi pond? 

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There are some vital differences between a ‘garden pond’ and a ‘koi pond’. It is important to understand these distinctions before we look more closely at how to build a koi pond.

What is a garden pond ? Click Here!

 A garden pond is literally a water feature that enhances the appearance of a garden and supports a wide range of plants and wildlife that share the watery environment. When you create a garden pond you can choose from a host of aquatic plants to soften the edges of the construction and provide colour and interest the whole year through. Around the perimeter of the pond you can feature moisture-loving plants, such as hostas and primulas, that will thrive in constantly damp soil. In the shallow water over a planting shelf or lapping onto a ‘beach’, you can grow a huge selection of marginal plants, from the bright yellow blooms of spring-flowering Caltha to the elegant spikes of irises and tall stems of reeds and rushes that continue their display into the autumn months. And in the deepest parts of the pond, you can enjoy the elegance of water lilies, surely the most magnificent of aquatic plants.

Into this ‘jungle’ of plants and water, you can introduce goldfish and other hardy pond fish. These will thrive and survive throughout the year and be joined by native creatures, such as frogs, toads, newts, water beetles and dragonflies, that will make themselves at home in your pond environment. And the added bonus is that you can create this diverse and successful habitat without worrying too much about a minimum overall size or water depth, and without too much in the way of complicated life-support systems. Yes, you will need a filter and a water pump if you want to sustain quite a few fish or build a waterfall and fountain, but to a large extent a well set up garden pond is a self-sustaining system.

What is a koi pond ?

Like a garden pond, a koi pond is also a hole in the ground filled with water, but there the resemblance ends. A koi pond has a single purpose: to provide a suitable environment for keeping koi. And because koi are fast-growing fish that produce a great deal of waste, the main aim is to create and maintain a large volume of clean, well-oxygenated water in which they can flourish and show off their colours. A koi pond should be at least 1.5m (oft) deep and to keep

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Planning A Water Fountain Garden

Planning A Water Fountain Garden   by Elizabeth Jean

A water-fountain garden will go anywhere in the yard, on the patio, on a balcony, or a porch and even indoors. But certain water features are better suited than others to certain sights (and to certain gardeners, for that matter).

What is Feasible for Installing a Water-Fountain Garden?

This should be your first question, and to find out which water-fountain garden best suits you, your resources, and your space, you’ll need to educate yourself. Be a “know it all” before you start, and you will be well prepared to begin your water garden.

Check out prices and calculate what your budget can tolerate. Call garden suppliers that handle water fountains and ask questions about their products. Also, visit local water fountains. Talk with the owners or those who care for them. Visit local clubs-many communities have organizations that sponsor tours. If you’re well informed, you’ll make better plans, find installation easier, and prevent frustrations down the road.

Size and Site for Planning a Water Fountain Garden

First, check out your site. A large water-fountain garden with a spectacular waterfall will overwhelm a small lot. It also might overwork your budget, your time, and your back. A small garden pool, on the other hand, could get lost in an expansive landscape.

If you’re planning anything more involved than a pre-made fountain or container water-fountain garden, you’ll also need to check with city or county offices to find out if there are any ordinances that apply to the installation of water-fountain gardens. Get more ideas on water fountains by visiting http://skylandgardening.com/category/water-feature/

Be Calculating When Planning Your Water Fountain Garden

Figure all costs in advance. Small gardens are inexpensive, but large gardens can cost thousands of dollars. You don’t want to find yourself in the position of the would-be water gardener who dug a large hole one spring weekend only to fill it in again because the liner was too expensive and didn’t fit in the budget.

You may need to contract a large project (or parts of it) to a professional. Pouring concrete, installing electric lines, bricklaying, and excavation can be extensive (and expensive) and are jobs best left to the pros. Most water fountains can be bought in easy to install kits.

Assess your time and strength. A tub garden will take an hour or two to put together, but a large water fountain garden may take weeks to dig and build. It will also require a good back and strong arms and legs. An 18-inch-deep, 6-foot by 4-foot hole may not sound like a big job, but it would probably take a middle-aged man of average strength a half day to dig. For large projects, you can rent a backhoe.

Maintenance of Your Water-Fountain Garden

Remember to calculate maintenance time, too. A tub garden with a water lily takes just a few minutes a week. So does a freestanding or a wall water fountain garden. Add plants and fish and you add more time. A garden just a few feet across with a few plants and fish will need your attention for an hour or less each week. Larger gardens can demand two or three hours a week. For more wall fountain ideas check out http://skylandgardening.com/category/water-feature/

SHOULD you HIRE IT OUT? A SKILLS RANKING.

* Working with medium-sized boulders and rocks 1 to 3 feet in diameter * Building a wood-sided water garden

CHALLENGING

* Installing a wall fountain * Installing a bridge * Working with large boulders and rocks more than 3 feet in diameter

FOR PROFESSIONALS (OR HIGHLY SKILLED AMATEURS)

* Wiring and other electrical work * Operating a backhoe * Laying brick and concrete block * Installing 1-foot or higher stone walls * Pouring concrete

EASY ENOUGH FOR BEGINNERS

* Sealing and installing a pump in a container * Digging a hole a few feet across * Laying flagstone or stacking concrete paving blocks * Installing narrow widths of flexible or preformed liner * Creating a bog garden * Working with sand, gravel, and boulders less than 1 foot in diameter

INTERMEDIATE SKILLS

* Installing a freestanding fountain * Building a stream or waterfall * Laying a brick patio * Laying small amounts of tile

About the Author

Elizabeth Jean is the author of this article written , a premier Internet resource for wall fountains and garden fountains.

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How To Improve Your Flower Garden

How To Improve Your Flower Garden

by Amy Hughes

Knowing how to care for your flower garden can make a big difference in the look and over-all health of your plants. Here are some simple hints to make your garden bloom with health.

1. The Essentials Must Always Be Given Major Consideration.

Your flower garden must have an adequate supply of water, sunlight, and fertile soil. Any lack of these basic necessities will greatly affect the health of plants. Water the flower garden more frequently during dry spells.

When planting bulbs, make sure they go at the correct depth. When planting out shrubs and perennials, make sure that you don’t heap soil or mulch up around the stem. If you do, water will drain off instead of sinking in, and the stem could develop rot through overheating.

2. Mix And Match Perennials With Annuals.

Perennial flower bulbs need not to be replanted since they grow and bloom for several years while annuals grow and bloom for only one season. Mixing a few perennials with annuals ensures that you will always have blooms coming on.

3. Deadhead To Encourage More Blossoms.

Deadheading is simply snipping off the flower head after it wilts. This will make the plant produce more flowers. Just make sure that you don’t discard the deadhead on the garden or mildew and other plant disease will attack your plants.

4. Know The Good From The Bad Bugs.

Most garden insects do more good than harm. Butterflies, beetles and bees are known pollinators. They fertilize plants through unintentional transfer of pollen from one plant to another. 80% of flowering plants rely on insects for survival.

Sowbugs and dung beetles together with fungi, bacteria and other microorganisms are necessary to help in the decomposition of dead plant material, thus enriching the soil and making more nutrients available to growing plants.

Other insects like lacewings and dragonflies are natural predators of those insects that do the real damage, like aphis.

An occasional application of liquid fertilizer when plants are flowering will keep them blooming for longer.

Always prune any dead or damaged branches. Fuchsias are particularly prone to snapping when you brush against them. The broken branch can be potted up to give you a new plant, so it won’t be wasted.

About the Author

Amy Hughes writes for http://www.flowershopsus.com - an online directory of local and regional florists assisting its visitors in finding the outstanding flower shops in their desired area.

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Advantages of a Hydroponics Garden

Advantages of a Hydroponics Garden

Advantages of a Hydroponics Garden Just like plants grown in soil, plants grown using hydroponics need light, oxygen and nutrients. So what makes hydroponics gardening better than normal soil gardening? With hydroponics you can control all of the elements your plants need to thrive and flourish. You can make sure your garden gets everything it needs in the correct proportions. This gives your hydroponics grown garden some very important advantages over a soil garden

Gardens Grown Using Hydroponics Grow Faster As a general rule, plants grown using hydroponics mature more quickly than plants grown in soil. The reason for this is comes down to your control over the essential elements your plants need. If your hydroponics system is properly set up the plants are not spending energy looking for the food they need by growing the large and complex root system that soil grown plants need to locate and breakdown food sources. Instead your plants will grow healthy foliage quickly. Studies have shown that most plants grow 30 to 50 per cent faster when grown using hydroponics as opposed to soil grown plants.

Hydroponics Gardens Use Less Water In a hydroponics garden soil is replaced by water so at first glance it may seem odd that a hydroponics garden will use less water than a soil garden. The reason for this is that a hydroponics garden uses water much more efficiently. Water used in a traditional garden is absorbed by the soil, some is used by your plants and most of it is just gone. In a hydroponics garden the water is used over and over again. If there are no leaks in your system then the only water loss, beyond what is used by your plants, is from evaporation.

Hydroponics Gardens Use Available Space More Efficiently In a soil garden you have to give your plants sufficient room to grow the large root mass they need to find a sufficient supply of nutrients. In a hydroponics garden, where your plants can easily get all the food they need the root mass is much smaller. This means the plants in your hydroponics garden can be grown much closer together making far more efficient use of the space you have a available.

Hydroponics Gardens Provide a Larger Yield Plants grown using hydroponics not only grow more quickly but they also produce a much larger crop yield than plants grown in soil. Whether it’s lettuce leaves, tomatoes or something more exotic your bound to get much more of it by growing with hydroponics. Growing with hydroponics has many advantages. The only real downside is that setting up a system can be expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. Setting up a homemade hydroponics system is cheap and easy. You can get all the materials you need from your hardware store.

About the Author

Colleen Gray is an avid gardener who has built several homemade hydroponics systems. For tips on making your own hydroponics garden at home peruse http://www.homemadehydroponicsreview.com

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Landscape Planning

Landscape Planning & Design

Professional landscape designers begin a project, they ask about your Lifestyle and goals. What do you want to do in your garden? Do you spend a lot of time outside the house enjoying your property, or is your yard more of a back-drop for your house? Do you want your pond to beautify the view from inside the house or to dress up your entryway for the pleasure of your guests?

Your time outside is limited to sitting on the patio reading the newspaper or discussing the day’s events with your spouse, a small container garden or independent fountain may be all you need or want to deal with.

Entertainment. If a patio or deck is the focus of your outdoor life and entertainment is your game, water gardens offer great potential as both mood setters and conversation pieces. A small water feature softly bubbling in a corner may be relaxing and stimulate quiet conversa-tion, while a big splashy one may height-en excitement and joviality. Place a raised pond along one side of a deck or even in the middle of it if it won’t impede traffic, and give the pond a wide edge so that you and your friends can sit and watch the fish or admire the plants unique to a water garden. If you have a patio that looks out over a long, narrow garden, you can make the garden look even deeper if you install a long formal pool or place a pond at the far end to create a focal point. Keep the lines of a more remote water feature clean and bold so that the design can speak from a distance.

If you have young children, you may want a pond where they can explore nature for hours. Even shallow ponds pose a safety hazard for toddlers, however. Safer alternatives include a small fountain building in a shallow circle of pebbles or a waterfall that empties into a shallow stream.

Landscaping. If you enjoy puttering in your garden, you can allow a water feature to be as demanding as you like. As with any other part of your landscape, a pond offers endless possibilities for adding plants or rearranging those you already have, plus the added enticement of fish and other pond animals. Or you may make your pond secondary to all of your existing plants. For example, one gardener used a backhoe to dig a half-acre pond as the centerpiece of a collection of unusual trees and shrubs; the beautiful colors and shapes of which are now reflected in the view from his sun-room window.

                   Landscape & Gardening

Water Feature & Pond

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