The Year of the Ugly Ponds...

This is the tale of two ponds.

I bought the second stock tank, the larger one, in January after we had moved to this rental.  It holds 160 gallons.  The smaller (below) holds 100 gallons.

I keep a variety of small fish in these to eat the inevitable mosquito larvae.  In the winter, the northern native rosie minnow does just fine.  In the summer, and in the south, the mosquito fish become gambusias.   If I'm clever, I will get an indoor tank and twice a year swap out the fish as the climate demands.  So far, I've been not so clever.  I'd argue that it's difficult to juggle such fish maintenance and move at the same time - I did have a few of the rosies and one tough little gambusia in a temporary holding tank... ok, a three gallon plastic container that formerly held pretzels... and they almost lasted until the early spring warm up, but not quite. 

I really hate inadvertently killing things. 

The ponds, while they hold fish, are not primarily fish ponds.  They are intended to be oases in a dry landscape, harboring occasional flowers against their lush greenery.  They are home to my water lilies, one plant that I brought to Phoenix with me, and others that were gifted me in those first summer months I was here.   They capture the peaceful moments of water and offer them up in the desert. 

A good garden pond, once set up, requires very little maintenance.  The lilies require the fading leaves and spent flowers to be pinched and composted, the fish are happy to get a little additional food to supplement nature's offerings, the filters need to be lifted and washed every month or so.  The key to achieving this leisurely schedule is to be sure to balance the pond early in the season. 

A balanced pond is one that has more plants than fish.  A LOT more plants than fish.  I did not get this going when I set these up back in January.  I was slack enough in getting the replacement fish before the mosquito spawn started 'riggling.  I did have plenty of plants, the problem was they were all emergent types.  The only partially submerged plant was the parrot feather, and since it does most of its photosynthesis above the water line, I'm not sure it was particularly helpful.

So the ponds got a bit.. green...   in some of the wrong ways.  I had green water.  I had algae blooms all over the place, string algae, microscopic algae, algae, algae, algae... a little algae is a good thing, it gives the fish some salad to graze, it helps even out the waste load.  Algae is not inherently evil. 

But boy, can it be ugly. 

So by the time I got my act together - in JUNE - and purchased bunches and bunches of hornwort to drop into each tank, the algae had a damn good foothold. 

Here you can get a good look at what grew over the submerged parts of the parrot feather. This stuff is sort of olive toned and kind of looks and feels like wet felt.  Blech.  Not pretty at all.

This algae fascinates me.  It's just standard string algae, but it's only growing here where the bubble gives the water extra oxygen, and it stands in the moving current like a sort of green wave.  I've fought with string algae before - it was my main foe in the Michigan patio pots - but here it's behaving in a way I like. 

I'm not fighting with any of this right now, mind you.  Because in spite of all that muck and slime, these are happy ponds.  Healthy ponds.  The influx of hornwort cleared up the green water, and in the space of days I was beginning to see little fish fry all over the place.  Right now I must have hundreds of babies in the two tanks.  I like to feed them crushed goldfish flakes and watch the really little ones swim onto the partially submerged lily leaves to grab food.  SO cute!

And the plants are going gangbusters.  The lily I brought down has been flowering almost weekly - as one bloom fades and drops, the next is poking its way above the water.  The gift lilies have started blooming.

They are white and fresh and lovely. 

This little filler plant, identity unknown,  is sporting teeny little blooms - this flower is about as wide as a pencil eraser.   

A happy and healthy pond, all around. 

And one gardener resolved to get the balance right - next year. 

{added this on August 3, 2208, after I found Renegade's current post}

“Advice to those about to build a Water-garden—DON’T. Not that the Water-garden is not a joy and a glory; but that it is cruelly hard to keep in order and control unless you are master of millions. Water weeds increase and multiply at a prodigious rate; dead leaves drift thick upon it in autumn, slime and green horrors make a film across it in summer.”             

English garden writer Reginald Farrer             
Alpine and Bog Plants, 1908.

Read more on making water gardening simple: here.

And I'll leave you with this:

Seven Benefits of Gardening

• Easy Access – Everyone enjoys a hobby that gets you out of the house—how about one where you leave the house but travel no further than the yard?

• Stress Reduction – Gardeners cite stress reduction and overall infusion of serenity as the prime benefits they gain from gardening. Few hobbies introduce adherents to such a complete communion with nature. Hiking, sure, you’re walking through nature; gardening, you’re creating the vista, then walking through it.

• Increase in Home Value – Money spent on landscaping (particularly the addition of lower-maintenance trees and shrubs) brings a return of between fifty to one hundred percent. A finished, enticing landscape also helps a home sell faster.

• Environmental Stewardship –Taking a patch of extraneous lawn and planting trees, shrubs, and perennials is a great gift to the planet. Plants help clean the air of pollution, and provide habitat for wildlife.

• New Friends – Gardeners are an easy-going, social lot, and as you join their ranks you’ll undoubtedly make new friends. Beginning to garden is a great way to meet the neighbors.

• Improved Self-Confidence – Any good hobby affords opportunity to improve your skills, and that’s what gardening is all about. After five years you’ll be surprised by how much you’ve learned; you’ll notice a change in your overall self-confidence and wellbeing.

• Exercise – Gardening is good exercise, and when you garden you’ll be exercising your entire body, at your pace, and to the level you choose.

Source:  The Renegade Gardener

Comments

[Victoria]

Ugly? I think they're wonderful! The only thing I've seen like that in the UK is black plastic circular ones. I would love a couple... And you've filled them with gorgeous plants too. Definitely the Year of the Beautiful Ponds. I have string algae too (we call it blanketweed here). It's a pain, but it does have one great benefit: wildlife like frogs can use it like a platform to sit on, or to help them get in and out of straightsided ponds like these.

[MrBrownThumb]

Very nice.

I like the idea of the fry swimming around the tank

[Jenn]

Thank you, Victoria!

Those tubs are stock waterers - the low one is for sheep, and the tall for cattle and horses. You may be able to find similar out in the farmlands of the UK. Give it a look! I bought mine from a feed store. Phoenix is interesting in that it mingles the horse properties right in the fabric of the neighborhoods, so feed stores like this are local.

And I do think that the wild and wooly is beautiful, too. I was just thinking more of an estate pond and less of Walden when I was dreaming these up.

Every day brings adjustments to the gardener, no?

[Victoria]

Thank you so much for the kind comments over on my blog:D
I've just had a trawl through the strange world of British agricultural accoutrements, and I can't find anything as nice as your stock tanks. I have a 'proper' raised pond, but I love the idea of having more little ponds dotted around the garden. However, the UV bulb went on my pond clarifier yesterday, and managed to blow the circuits for the whole house, so I think I may just stick to admiring yours for now ...

[Lucy Corrander]

Just seen your comment about starlings on Victoria's blog.

Not sure if you would like them if a flock invaded your garden and set about tearing the leaves off everything, tossing them about, apparently for the fun of it.

Extraordinary!

But maybe they don't go about in gangs where you are? Admittedly, close up, their colours are stunning - like puddles of oil.

Lucy

PICTURES JUST PICTURES

P.S. I expect flock is the wrong word and there's a special word . . . like a flurry or something. In fact, come to think of it, I know there is . . . just can't remember . . . !

[Jenn]

Hey Victoria. I'm sorry you don't seem to have these tanks over there.

Before I had these, I had half whisky barrels with a plastic insert for the ponds. Those worked well, where just big enough for a betta fish, and held some nice plants. Little small for water lilies, but lots of other plants would work.

Not sure if these would work with your jungle modern aesthetic. They worked really well with my 'patio' (otherwise known as a concrete driveway) and fine, modern in 1973 doublewide mobile home. (er... you call them caravans? Or are those motor homes?)

[Jenn]

Hi Lucy!

Yes, starlings flock around here, too, in large family groups, and then at change of season, huge migratory flocks.

In Michigan the birds that loved to rip apart the beds where the little native song and chipping sparrows. Beautiful nuisances.

In Arizona, it's the curve billed thrashers, and true to their name, they thrash stuff all over the place... not quite threshers, but close...