Welcome to Pondforum. I was dismayed to learn of a recent article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal that was critical of water gardens and water gardening. The article was written in a breathless, full-of-hype tabloid style that was less than authoritative. However, reading between the lines, a truth did emerge: a significant number of people are feeling frustrated with their ponds.

As the article says, prices for liners and other materials have come down, fueling a boom in the US water gardening industry in the last ten years. There are now millions more people with ponds. Yes, some dishonest landscapers are cashing in and building poor water features, and yes, some retailers are hawking pond gizmos that even I have never heard of. But I think the fundamental issue behind articles like this one in the Journal is that many people with ponds didn't realize at the outset that there is a science to this wonderful art—a science that, while simple, requires some education and experience to master.

There are many schools of thought with regard to how a water garden should be built and maintained. PondForum's information sections offer a view that we believe is commercially unbiased and based on success—between us we've built many ponds and read many books on the subject. But the article in the Journal, coupled with the emails we receive from ponders in distress has prompted me to write here my personal two-step rule for pond success.

1) Think of your water garden as a pond, and not as a fishtank. When I finish building a pond, I fill it with hose water and turn on the waterfall or fountain. I go to a local pond or swamp and get a bucket of muck from the bottom, like mud with some leaves and twigs, and I dump this into the pond. I then do my planting, and add things like snails and insects. I let it sit for a week before adding just a few tiny fish.

Ponds are like wine and cheese, they get better with age. While it is wise to keep too much organic matter from sinking to the bottom of the pond, people who regularly, even annually, drain and sterilize their ponds are doing themselves a disservice. 99% of the life forms that keep a pond healthy live in the mud on the bottom and in the water itself. Therefore, a healthy pond is always a little murky, which means time and money spent in putting rocks or gravel on the pond bottom is wasted, because if you did it right, you'll never see your investment.

2) Plants, plants, plants—not fish! The vast majority of garden ponds will need 50-70% plant surface coverage. As a rule, the smaller the pond, the closer coverage should be to 70%. Water lilies are the most beautiful aspect of a water garden, so don't skimp on them when you're ready to plant. Lots of plants will pull algae-causing nitrogen out of the water, and they will block algae-causing sunlight from entering the water. This is REALLY important.

If you're not a major fish enthusiast, skip them altogether or just add a few tiny ones, and never feed them. Fish grow at an amazing rate in ponds, even without being fed. And fish urine and feces are full of algae-causing nitrogen. If you are a fish enthusiast, you'll almost certainly need a filtration system, with or without a UV device, to pick up the slack from your plants, and be prepared for more work, and more troubleshooting.

That's it! If you find yourself at wit's end, clutching a bottle of some kind of last-ditch chemical pond treatment, it's probably time to get back to basics. I have always had success using the above rules, but please see our information sections for more specific information, lots of how-to tips, and more.

We hope that you find PondForum to be a useful resource and great place for savings on quality pond products—our mission is to show you that water gardening IS easy and affordable when you know who and what you're dealing with.

Thanks again for making Pondforum a success, and happy water gardening!

All the best,

Rob Sheldon, Principal Manager, Pondforum.com