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It is rare that any of us are asked to build a swimming pond for horses. But why not? They are admittedly much bigger than Koi and certainly larger than humans, yet I am assured they are considerably cleaner than dogs and genuinely do benefit from the leg-relieving buoyancy that comes with immersion in water. The first pond I built for equestrian swimmers came along in the late 1970s - just after I'd completed several large gravel-filtration ponds for trout: It seemed at the time that the same principles that worked so well for
I'm not crabby by nature - just the opposite, in fact - and I don't want anyone to think that I go out of my way to find and critique flawed ponds. Thing is, I'm a reputable pond designer and installer and have made a point through the years of meeting with garden clubs and other groups that are interested in what pond-making is all about. After these events, it hasn't been uncommon for owners of ponds installed by others to call me over for a visit and ask me what I think needs to be done to address what they see as worrisome
This project came my way as a lot of them have through the years: A landscape contractor had been tasked with organizing things on a large estate property and called me in to work with the homeowners on the pond they wanted. During our first meeting on site, I took an immediate liking to the couple, and she in particular had bountiful ideas about what she wanted. As we walked the estate together that day, she pointed toward the boggy depression at the edge of the property where we'd be placing the pond - quite close to a community bridle path - and said she wanted
In the last video I shared with you, I relayed information about upgrading a do-it-yourself pond into a watergarden that exemplifies the value of an informed, professional touch. This time, a pond we updated was large enough that I know it was installed by a professional - but one who at the time seems to have been a bit lacking in insight and imagination. There's only a brief glimpse of
There's little in life as soul-satisfying as working in a good cause. As pond professionals, of course, we get lots of opportunities to do nice things for our clients - by beautifying their backyards, bringing fish and aquatic plants into their lives and creating sources of soothing serenity they can enjoy each and every day. That's great, but in the project described in this article, the level of service reached a much higher plane. One of the cool things about
Atlantic Water Gardens (Mantua, OH) has reconfigured its matched-component pond kits to include upgraded equipment…
Where I work in southern California, we're accustomed to seeing changes in water level in our ponds: The air is dry and the winds blow briskly, so evaporation is invariably a factor. Before long, it becomes a familiar pattern, and we know that the pond owner or the auto-fill system will be replacing an inch or so of water every week. But sometimes it becomes apparent that
This is another instance in pond construction in which experience is a huge advantage: When it's time to size and set things up for a long, cascading stream leading down a reasonably steep hill to a pond-free basin, there's nothing about the process that I'd like to approach without knowing
