The Fish Pond
I have a small pond that got a makeover this spring. I finally put cement and bricks around it after more than 15 years past installing it. Sometimes it takes me a while but I've never gotten tired of this pond and I clean it out every spring because I love the sound of trickling water and watching little goldfish swimming in my garden. I have had goldfish for several years and they do winter over in the bottom of the pond in some sort of stasis. I keep the pump running year round too.
It helps if I cover the pond with thick plastic and make a little hole in the top for gases to escape. It gives them a greenhouse type environment where the sun makes the pond a little warmer for the winter months and lets the vegetation live a little longer for their food resource. I sink the few plants I have to the bottom of the pond as a shelter for them and the goldfish. They live because they are below the frost line where the water never freezes. The pump keeps the water moving so the surface doesn't freeze over.
This spring one of my three fish got washed overboard from the heavy rains, but the planets must have come into alignment and the two that were left were a boy and a girl. How do I know this? Because they had babies! Baby goldfish in my little pond for the first time ever. I have counted at least 4 babies but there may be more.
And finally - my yellow waterlily bloomed! The pink one bloomed earlier but I wasn't quick enough to get a picture of it. They usually don't last more than a day after they open up.
The pond has been a challenge for me this year. I went through 2 pumps and got control over the algae. Last year the string algae about drove me nuts. It's all about prevention. Now I use an algae control liquid every 3 - 5 days. I also use sludge tablets that have live bacteria to keep the yuk down. I can say now that I finally have it set up right again, it's been mostly trouble free this summer and my fish are happy, happy! And for the first year ever... we have baby goldfish! I hope they make it through the winter.
It helps if I cover the pond with thick plastic and make a little hole in the top for gases to escape. It gives them a greenhouse type environment where the sun makes the pond a little warmer for the winter months and lets the vegetation live a little longer for their food resource. I sink the few plants I have to the bottom of the pond as a shelter for them and the goldfish. They live because they are below the frost line where the water never freezes. The pump keeps the water moving so the surface doesn't freeze over.
This spring one of my three fish got washed overboard from the heavy rains, but the planets must have come into alignment and the two that were left were a boy and a girl. How do I know this? Because they had babies! Baby goldfish in my little pond for the first time ever. I have counted at least 4 babies but there may be more.
And finally - my yellow waterlily bloomed! The pink one bloomed earlier but I wasn't quick enough to get a picture of it. They usually don't last more than a day after they open up.
The pond has been a challenge for me this year. I went through 2 pumps and got control over the algae. Last year the string algae about drove me nuts. It's all about prevention. Now I use an algae control liquid every 3 - 5 days. I also use sludge tablets that have live bacteria to keep the yuk down. I can say now that I finally have it set up right again, it's been mostly trouble free this summer and my fish are happy, happy! And for the first year ever... we have baby goldfish! I hope they make it through the winter.
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