I've been mulling this over and thought I'd look for advice from other pond enthusiasts.
I've got a line on a teaching position in Phoenix. I presently live three hours away in a small rural town. My home has a 5,000 gallon fresh water pond complete with two waterfalls, one fountain, and two bog gardens.
The bog gardens and plant shelves are home to dwarf cattails, water chestnuts, umbrella plants, water mint, frogbits, varigated water celery, and spike rushes.
I also have 3 foot long koi, two goldfish, and innumerable mosquito fish.
If I land this job in Phoenix, I'll put my rural home up for sale. The question on my mind is this. How do I care for my pond if I'm gone at least 5 days a week?
I've come up with the following options all of which have pros and cons.
Option 1: Gardener: I currently employ a landscaping company to care for my front yard. I could employ them to take care of the back yard. They could check the water levels and feed the fish. This sort of service wouldn't take very long but since they'd have to come by every day, it could get expensive.
Option 2: Next Door Neighbors: I have some retired neighbors who enjoy gardening. I could have them take care of the pond but I'd hate to impose on them for daily care. Since they're newly retired, I worry about what might happen if they went out of town to visit relatives in Phoenix. Who would care for the pond while they were gone?
Option 3: Live-in Caretaker: I know a young woman with a 2 year old child who has been looking for a place to live. She could feed the fish and keep the water level up ... but I worry about liability since she has a young child. I specifically worry that an unsupervised child could drown in my pond. I wouldn't want to be responsible for something like this despite vows made by this single parent that she would never ever allow her child to be unsupervised in my back yard. Having worked with this woman, I know that she tends to be a bit flighty and worry that she might not be as responsible as I'd like. Even if I wasn't found legally liable for a child's drowning, I wouldn't want this on my conscience.
Both the gardening service and my neighbors would have my e-mail address and phone number so that they could call me in the event of a problem.
The most common problem I've had with the pond have been pumps that sometimes clog. The mechanical filter needs to be cleaned out from time to time and when the water starts turning green I know that I've lost a UV bulb.
Of these three options, I think I'm leaning towards a combination of options one and two. I could engage a gardening service for the week and have my neighbors take care of the pond on the weekend. If the neighbors were going to be out of town, we could have a prearrangement where they call the gardener in for weekend care.
What do you think? What do you do with your pond and fish when you go on vacation?
My father thinks I should fill in the pond. He tells me that most people don't want houses with ponds ... but since I live in a desert, I think a pond with all of the green aquatic and marginal plants is quite restful. I especially like the trickling sound of the two waterfalls that are accompanied by the pattering sound of the fountain.
Ponds aren't for everyone but if I can keep the pond maintained while I live elsewhere, I think the pond could very well be the most attractive feature of this house.
I've got a line on a teaching position in Phoenix. I presently live three hours away in a small rural town. My home has a 5,000 gallon fresh water pond complete with two waterfalls, one fountain, and two bog gardens.
The bog gardens and plant shelves are home to dwarf cattails, water chestnuts, umbrella plants, water mint, frogbits, varigated water celery, and spike rushes.
I also have 3 foot long koi, two goldfish, and innumerable mosquito fish.
If I land this job in Phoenix, I'll put my rural home up for sale. The question on my mind is this. How do I care for my pond if I'm gone at least 5 days a week?
I've come up with the following options all of which have pros and cons.
Option 1: Gardener: I currently employ a landscaping company to care for my front yard. I could employ them to take care of the back yard. They could check the water levels and feed the fish. This sort of service wouldn't take very long but since they'd have to come by every day, it could get expensive.
Option 2: Next Door Neighbors: I have some retired neighbors who enjoy gardening. I could have them take care of the pond but I'd hate to impose on them for daily care. Since they're newly retired, I worry about what might happen if they went out of town to visit relatives in Phoenix. Who would care for the pond while they were gone?
Option 3: Live-in Caretaker: I know a young woman with a 2 year old child who has been looking for a place to live. She could feed the fish and keep the water level up ... but I worry about liability since she has a young child. I specifically worry that an unsupervised child could drown in my pond. I wouldn't want to be responsible for something like this despite vows made by this single parent that she would never ever allow her child to be unsupervised in my back yard. Having worked with this woman, I know that she tends to be a bit flighty and worry that she might not be as responsible as I'd like. Even if I wasn't found legally liable for a child's drowning, I wouldn't want this on my conscience.
Both the gardening service and my neighbors would have my e-mail address and phone number so that they could call me in the event of a problem.
The most common problem I've had with the pond have been pumps that sometimes clog. The mechanical filter needs to be cleaned out from time to time and when the water starts turning green I know that I've lost a UV bulb.
Of these three options, I think I'm leaning towards a combination of options one and two. I could engage a gardening service for the week and have my neighbors take care of the pond on the weekend. If the neighbors were going to be out of town, we could have a prearrangement where they call the gardener in for weekend care.
What do you think? What do you do with your pond and fish when you go on vacation?
My father thinks I should fill in the pond. He tells me that most people don't want houses with ponds ... but since I live in a desert, I think a pond with all of the green aquatic and marginal plants is quite restful. I especially like the trickling sound of the two waterfalls that are accompanied by the pattering sound of the fountain.
Ponds aren't for everyone but if I can keep the pond maintained while I live elsewhere, I think the pond could very well be the most attractive feature of this house.
