Hello from a scared new pond owner

[Fishylove]

Welcome to our forum!

 

[Lisaebetten]

Hello! I am so happy to have come to this forum and will be reading every last posting I possibly can! I have been an avid gardener for about 20 years now- as in dirt!! I wanted to try my hand at a SMALL water feature on our patio this summer. I am known for researching everything to death before attempting anything, but after visiting someone's amazing hard with nd, my husband decided to "dig first , ask questions later!!" I literally woke up one Saturday morning to half of my small city backyard being excavated!! I now have a 15'x15', still under construction pond underway in my yard!! Everything has been done backwards- we have purchased plants that are now sitting in buckets of water waiting to go in to the pond... The electrician isn't even coming to install an outdoor plug on the house until July 1st!

In the past 48 hours we've had torrential downpours. Our pond is now full of muddy looking water! When I saw that this morning I knew that if I didn't get some information soon I was going to just give up! I have so many questions and the people in the garden store where we bought everything are mostly teenagers.

I feel completely overwhelmed at this point... What is supposed to be a relaxing feature in my yard is causing me significant stress. I just hope I can figure out what we're supposed to be doing before the summer is over.

We live in NY and hope to attract more birds to our yard. We live in the city and have been unsuccessful drawing hummingbirds to our yard. We used to have them at our old house in the suburbs and greatly miss them! Maybe now we'll have a shot with the right plantings?

Anyway, so glad to be here and learn from everyone!

I'm in the same boat but I am very close to being up and running. I have pumped so much rain water out of my pond!!! Definitely get a sump pump, look on craigs list or harbor freight for on the cheap. I got 1 at a garage sale for $5. I work hard one day and then don't want to look at it for 3!!!! I am both physically and mentally exhausted and often wonder if I will enjoy this project when its done or will I quiver with bad memories? I'm also afraid of all the horror stories I hear about green icky water!!! I have accepted that it may take all summer to finish as I am the only worker! Well hubby did wire me 8 plugs as does several supply runs for me, and advice, but no digging or rock stuff at all! I'm tired a lot and cringe about working like a dog all summer and not enjoying it. I'm not afraid of hard work and know I need to work to keep it clean. Ahhhh, I wish I could just pay someone!!

We Can Do This. My next pond in my next house will be dug by someone else for sure.

 

[CometKeith]

Welcome JVRiveras. Owning a pond is an empirical science. Most of us have learned as we go so do not expect it to be perfect and this will relieve some of your stress. Last time I checked there were only a few people with perfect ponds on gpf! I don't need to name them because you know who you are!! You already have received some great advice. I am going to list a few beginners mistakes so you can try to avoid them. 1) Just start with a few small fish until your pond has cycled. Don't be tempted to get a lot of fish right away. If you don't know what cycling a pond is then you can research it on threads on this forum. 2) Algae is fine. Don't worry about it. When your pond cycles most of it will go away. 3) Don't worry about how the water looks for the first couple months. Having it healthy for your fish is more important than anything. ie don't worry about algae or green water. 4) Maybe too late in some ways but look at the topography of your yard and proximity to shrubs or trees. How does your yard look after a heavy rain and where does the water go? Where do leaves fall in the autumn? What will shade your pond or will it get full sun? One thing you can do now is berm up the sides of your pond so water runoff does not go in your pond. This can cause a lot of problems later. If you take into account suggestions 1-3 do not plan that great party to show off your pond right away because if you do things right you will have just a few small fish swimming around in green water for the next few months! Well good luck and there are a lot of nice people here willing to help!

 

[Becky]

Hello and welcome! Lots to learn here

 

[Tula]

Welcome - lots of advice on our friendly forum. Could you post some pics? I ask, because maybe one or two of us will see something and be able to offer some helpful advice