Pond Snails in Your Pond
Few issues divide the ranks of pond-keepers quite so readily as the topic of pond snails. To some they are nothing more than an aquatic [...]
Floating Plants for Your Pond – Find the best pond plants that thrive on the water surface
Although they have a tendency to get a little over-looked at times, floating plants can have an important role to play in your pond, providing useful [...]
Choosing Rock, Stone and Gravel for Your Pond
Picking the right type of rock for your pond – and then using it imaginatively once you’ve made your selection – can make such a difference [...]
A Beginner’s Guide to Keeping Koi
Few cold water fish can compete with Koi, whether that’s in terms of their variety of patterns and colours, their long history and cultural traditions, or [...]
Creating a Pond Waterfall Feature
Few sounds are as relaxing as the gentle splash of running water – and for many of us the thought of being able to enjoy [...]
Green Pond Water – Easy steps to get your pond water clear from algae again!
There are few things more disappointing for the water gardener than to see the water of your lovingly built pond turn soupy green. In the past, [...]
Ditch It! Ornamental & Flood Prevention Feature for Your Garden
Fifty years ago, ditches were a feature of everyday life; few roadsides were without them, and they formed an essential means of land drainage across Britain, [...]
Your Top Pond Questions Answered
We love all the comments you pond lovers add to our articles. Many of the comments address the same kinds of issue (but do keep sending [...]
Favourite Bog Plants – A big list
Bog gardens are wonderful places – a no-man’s-land where the watery world of the pond meets the rest of the garden – and picking the right [...]
Dealing With Pond Pests and Predators
Pests are a feature of the pond just as much as they are in the rest of the garden, but keeping them under control calls for [...]
Invasive Pond Plants to Avoid – Which plants can’t you have in ponds?
We all want our plants to thrive and grow in and around our ponds, but there are some kinds which do so rather too well, and [...]
How We Dealt With a Hungry Heron: Case Study
No matter how much you welcome visiting wildlife to your garden, there are times when you can have rather too much of a good thing – [...]
Planning the Pond for All Ability Access
Everyone likes a pond, but unfortunately when it comes to many traditional approaches to water garden design, not everybody finds it just so easy to enjoy [...]
A Beginner’s Guide to Fish Breeding
If you’re a fish-fan, then sooner or later the prospect of breeding your own is almost certainly going to appeal – always assuming your fish haven’t [...]
FAQ: Pond Water Quality
Although we instinctively tend to think of water as ‘bad’ when it’s green and slimy and ‘good’ if it’s crystal clear, the reality is that when [...]
Building a Wheel Chair Friendly Pond: A Case Study
Pam Bickley didn’t set out to have an unofficial second career as a water garden designer. In her own words, “It just sort of happened” – [...]
Making a DIY Bubble Fountain: A Case Study
“When the kids were little, we wanted the sound of running water in the garden, but neither of us really felt comfortable with the idea of [...]
Five Great Gadgets for Your Pond
There’s certainly no shortage of ingeniously effective gadgets available to help you get the most out of your pond – whether you’re looking for something just [...]
Are You a Water Plant Expert?
Good planting can make or break a pond, so if you know your plants, you should always be assured of a really great looking water garden. [...]
Marginal Pond Plants – Making the Most of Marginals
Wisely used marginal plants can play a major role in both making the most of the look of your pond and improving the overall quality [...]
Picking the Right Pump
Nothing livens up the pond – or the whole garden, for that matter – quite so much as a little moving water. Whether you are planning [...]
Fast Facts About Ponds
Ponds have a unique fascination all of their own – but then you knew that already. Why else would you be looking at this site? That [...]
Fast Facts About Water
You obviously can’t have a pond without water, but there’s a lot more to the wet stuff than simply filling our liners and providing a home [...]
Solar Powered Water Features
There’s an obvious fit between all kinds of gardening and the environment – and nowhere is this potential more apparent than when it comes to ponds. [...]
How Well Do You Know the World’s Famous Water Features?
On a planet more than 70 per cent covered in water, it’s hardly surprising that there are more than a few famous water features dotted across [...]
Pond Edge Plants – Perfect Plants for around the edges
Planting makes any pond come alive and nowhere is a good scheme more effective than around the edge, to help blur the transition from water [...]
Fast Facts About Pond Fish
For many pond owners, the chance to have a few fish swimming their way through the water-lily stems is a big part of the reason they [...]
Fish Diseases and Ailments
Just like us, fish suffer from their share of health problems and there are few things more alarming than noticing that some of your prized pond [...]
The Microbes in Your Pond
If you’ve ever looked down a microscope at a drop of pond water, you understand what people say about it teeming with life – and if [...]
Oxygenating Pond Plants – Picking Oxygenators for Your Pond
Oxygenating Plants - Learn & Grow Oxygenating plants play an important role in maintaining the health of a pond, their submerged foliage providing food and [...]
What Do You Know About Pond Water?
Water is an amazing substance. A little over 70% of our planet is covered with the stuff, it’s essential for life, of course, and you obviously [...]
FAQ: Pond Water Problems
Keeping the water in good condition is an absolutely essential part of maintaining a healthy pond, but sometimes it can seem to be one of those [...]
Deep Pond Water Plants – Ideal Plants for Deeper Water
Say “deep water plants” and most people will instantly think of water lilies, but while they may well be the undisputed stars, they certainly aren’t [...]
FAQ: Pond Plants and Planting
Nothing brings a pond alive so quickly as a few plants. Whatever you want yours to be – a true water garden, a home for fish [...]
How Wildlife Friendly is Your Pond?
Natural wetlands have been disappearing from the British countryside at an alarming rate over the last fifty years or so, which makes it hardly surprising that [...]
FAQ: Pond Fish Problems
There’s something very special, not to mention relaxing, about idling away a moment or two on a hot summer’s day watching fish languidly swimming their way [...]
Could Barley Straw be the Cause of My Red Pond?
I’m sorry that you’re having this problem with what I assume is a new pond. Obviously it’s a little difficult to be sure without knowing a [...]
Is There a Way to Deter Grass Snakes From My Pond?
What an unusual problem – and one I know a good number of reptile enthusiasts (myself included) would love to have! I’m not sure where you [...]
How to Prevent Frogs Dying in Our Pond?
Although the odd dead frog is something every pond keeper is likely to come across every now and then, four in one day is going [...]
Why Is My Pond Green and Frothy?
It’s always a bit disheartening when a crystal clear pond seems to go wrong, but don’t despair – I don’t think you’ve got too much to [...]
Pond Water Lillies – Choosing the Right Water Lily for Your Pond
There’s nothing quite like a water lily but adding one of these striking and instantly recognisable aquatic plants to a pond is not without its [...]
Pond Design: Frequently Asked Questions
With the ready – and relatively cheap – availability of modern materials and equipment, there’s never been a better time to think about building the perfect [...]
Pumps and Lighting: Frequently Asked Questions
Pumps and lighting change the whole mood and appearance of a pond, creating a powerful focal point in any garden. As even a short visit to [...]
Stocking With Fish: Frequently Asked Questions
The idea of being able to enjoy watching a few fish darting around the open water or idling around the lilies on a warm summer’s day [...]
Plant Problems
A well planted pond makes a striking centre-piece in any garden. Although in general water plants tend to be less bothered by pests and disease than [...]
Frog Spawn – FAQ and Why Does it Disappear Overnight?
How very annoying for you! Without knowing a lot more about the layout of your garden and its surroundings it’s a bit difficult to be too [...]
What Could be the Reason for all the Fish Dying?
As they say in CSI, we’re a bit short on forensics; we have the unfortunate victims and a suspect – in this case a Cotoneaster bush [...]
Planting Your Pond for Maximum Impact
Planting is the key to the whole look and feel of any garden pond. The lush foliage and interestingly shaped leaves of pond plants clothe the [...]
Pond Plant Baskets – Using Containers, Beds and Planting Baskets
Nothing brings a new pond alive so quickly as adding some plants. Once you’ve selected some good examples, all that remains to do is plant [...]
Small Pond Plants – Plants for a Small Garden Pond
There’s no escaping how attractive a well planted water feature can look, but if space is restricted, picking the best small pond plants for a small [...]
Water features for backyard gardens
It’s not only large gardens that can enjoy the benefit of water features and although those of us with more modest backyards may have to do [...]
Creating a Japanese Themed Garden Pond
The appeal of the Japanese garden really became established in Britain towards the end of the Nineteenth Century and with its unique blend of hard, man-made [...]
Famous Garden Ponds and Visitor Attractions
While there’s nothing quite like having your own garden pond, a visit to some of the water features to be found in various visitor attractions around [...]
Balancing Safety and Aesthetics in Your Garden Pond Design
Say the words “pond safety” and most people will instantly call to mind the likes of the awful statistics of drowned children or the dangers of [...]
Upgrading Your Water Fountain
Once they’ve been built, ponds generally tend to enjoy a fairly long life and form permanent features in the garden. Although garden fashions don’t tend to [...]
Managing Plant Overgrowth Within Your Pond
Once established, water plants usually grow very well, blooming and increasing in size with little need for much in the way of encouragement or assistance – [...]
Ponds and Electrical Safety
Everyone knows that electricity and water can make a potentially lethal combination at the best of times and only a fool would ignore the obvious need [...]
Landscaping the Pond Margins
Although the deliberate isolation of some types of water features – raised or formal ponds, for instance – is what gives them their impact, for many [...]
Building an Ornamental Canal for Your Pond
There is nothing quite like having moving water in the garden and while many pond-owners opt for fountains or waterfalls, ornamental canals offer an interesting and [...]
Building a Concrete Pond
Although concrete is now less commonly used to build ponds than it once was and certainly makes more demands on the builder than the alternatives, it [...]
Pond Life – Dragonflies and Their Relatives
A brightly coloured dragonfly zipping across the surface of a pond is one of the iconic images of a British summer - though in some parts [...]
Dealing With Silt in Your Pond
In nature, ponds are normally a temporary element of the countryside – even if they last for quite some time, they gradually silt up and eventually [...]
All About Pond Dipping
Pond dipping can provide hours of education and entertainment – offering children all the fun of rock-pooling without the need to drive to the sea-side – [...]
Pond Plants for Free
For most gardeners, there is something quite irresistible about the thought of getting plants for free, whether to increase your stock or obtain something completely new. [...]
Decking for Ponds
Although some form of paving or hard standing has long-been the traditional way to edge a pond, the use of decking has been steadily gaining in [...]
Growing Water Lilies – How to grow a water lily successfully
With their lush floating vegetation and elegantly showy flowers, water lilies are probably the best known and most instantly recognised of all aquatic plants and [...]
Miniature Ponds for Patios and Small Spaces
Often the usual route to bring the feel and – most importantly – sound of moving water into the small garden or patio is to opt [...]
Aerating Your Pond
Keeping your pond properly aerated is a key part of making sure it stays healthy particularly if it is stocked with fish. Although a certain amount [...]
Sizing Your Pond
Once you have settled on where to site your pond the only remaining thing is to decide how big to make it. While the size of [...]
Siting Your Pond
Picking the right site is probably more important for the pond than for any other feature in the garden – after all you are hardly going [...]
Summer Pond Maintenance: Keeping Your Fish Happy and Healthy
Summer is the high-point in the water-gardener’s calendar – a time when the pond should be at its best and plants fish and wildlife thrive, bloom [...]
The Benefits of Maintaining Your Pond Year-Round: Tips for Spring Success
As the pond begins to wake up after its winter sleep a few simple jobs done at this end of the year should help get things [...]
Repairing Your Pond
There are few things guaranteed to make the pond-keeper feel sick quite so quickly as the sight of the water level suddenly starting to drop for [...]
Ultra Violet Clarifiers
The scourge of green water – a bloom of single-celled algae suspended in the water – is one of the most common problems to plague pond-keepers [...]
Pond Water Quality
Water quality is the single most important factor in ensuring a healthy pond – particularly if it is stocked with fish – but quality is not [...]
Filtering Your Pond
If you want to keep any more than one or two fish in your pond you are almost certainly going to need to filter it. In [...]
Preventing and Treating Plant Eating Insects and Other Pests
Water gardens like all gardens; suffer from the attentions of plant eating insects and other pests. Although the closed nature of the pond environment imposes its [...]
Raised Ponds
Raised ponds are probably the least well known of all the many styles of water features which is a shame, since they have much to offer [...]
Pre-Formed Pond Liners
Any pond is only as good as its liner. In the end how well the pond holds water – and how long it lasts – [...]
Protecting Your Pond Life From Predators
There are probably few things quite so disheartening than having established your beautiful fish or wildlife pond only to see its inhabitants decimated at the claws, [...]
Preparing Your Pond for Winter
With autumn slipping into winter the pond enters a state of suspended animation as the water cools and the metabolism of fish and plant life slows [...]
Pumping Your Pond
Adding a pump gives the pond a heart able to drive the circulation of water through filters and UV clarifiers, fountains and waterfalls, giving the whole [...]
Pond Treatments
Pond treatments are big business – as a quick look on the shelves of most aquatic suppliers will make very clear – and although they are [...]
Pond Trees – Choosing the tree for around your pond
There are few things which look quite so magical as the reflection of trees in water – their sweeping foliage bowing down to touch the [...]
Pets and Pond Safety
Mention the words pond safety and immediately children spring to mind, but when it comes to pets, we can sometimes forget that an inquisitive puppy or [...]
Plants for Your Pond – Water Soldier Stratiotes aloides
Water Soldiers (Stratiotes aloides) are a unique and fascinating plant species that can add both beauty and ecological value to a pond. Water soldiers are perennial [...]
Fountains and Water Features
Running water adds an entirely new dimension to any garden – whether as part of a pond or as a separate stand-alone feature – bringing life [...]
Installing Fountains and Water Features
With modern liner materials and the reliability of today’s pumps it has never been easier to provide running water in the garden and the range of [...]
Making a Bog Garden
A well stocked bog garden makes a natural partner for any pond, enabling a far greater variety of plants to be grown around the water than [...]
Newts and Toads in your pond
While frogs have almost made the garden pond their own, the other British amphibians have generally fared less well faced with the rapidly dwindling availability of [...]
Fitting and Filling a Liner
Fitting the pond liner is the moment when the pond is born; before this all you really have is a hole in the ground; after it, [...]
Looking After Your Fish
Around 90 per cent of the health problems and deaths in fishponds can be put down to poor husbandry. Having taken the trouble to select your [...]
Flexible Pond Liners
Of all of the ways to build your own pond using a flexible pond liner gives you the most freedom to decide its eventual depth, shape [...]
Illuminate Your Pond: A Guide to Choosing and Installing Pond Lights
Adding lighting to a pond can transform the evening garden – particularly if there is a fountain or water fall – and instantly double its impact [...]
General Pond Safety
Although garden ponds are on the whole, safe places to be, it never does to become too complacent when it comes to possible dangers – however [...]
Fish Pond or Water Garden?
While it is probably fair to say that any pond-feature in a garden could be called a water garden, not every water garden provides a home [...]
Creating a Bog Plant Shelf in Your Pond
Bog plants and pond marginals come in a wide array of colours and shapes offering unparalleled possibilities for planting your pond. A careful selection arranged imaginatively [...]
How to edge your pond & ideas for edging your pond
With the hole dug, the pond itself installed and the bulk of the physical labour behind you, edging the pond marks the start of a [...]
Encouraging Wildlife to Your Pond
With natural lakes and wetlands disappearing from the countryside at an alarming rate – over 70 per cent of the UK’s ponds have disappeared in the [...]
From Planning to Reality: A Guide to Digging Your Dream Pond
When it comes to adding a water feature to your garden, whether you opt for a pre-formed shape or indulge your own creativity with a liner [...]
Autumn Pond Care: Protecting Your Pond and Fish for the Winter
As the days begin to shorten and summer slowly slips into autumn, just like the rest of the garden, there are a few seasonal jobs to [...]
Children and Pond Safety
While ponds and water features can add so much to the garden, they also have an enormous fascination for children and this natural inquisitiveness may be [...]
Choosing the Right Fish for Your Pond
For many people, a pond without fish is an impossible idea and choosing them can often be one of the most rewarding aspects of water gardening. [...]
Controlling Algae
Ponds and water gardens add a new visual dimension to any garden, but when the water turns green and thick strands of algae cover the surface, [...]