my Zen Water Garden and Koi Pond

[The Grizz]

Very nice pond Kien, now I know who to talk to for pointers when my wife decides that I have to build her pond.

[fishoholic]

Cool pic.'s and interesting to know about outdoor care for them.

[ALang]

WOW. So you're good at ponds, too!
Thanks for sharing the pics and the over-wintering. Hard to imagine that the fish actually survive in our Alberta Winter!!
As I was reading, I was thinking to myself:" wonder how deep his pond would have to be for it not to freeze over?" Then I read further and was amazed that it is only two feet deep! But you do have to over-winter the lilies and pond plant indoors, right?
Great statues, too!
Lenny.

[don.ald]

very impressive! do you have critters such as raccoons to deal with?

[kien]

Originally Posted by ALang

Alberta Winter!! But you do have to over-winter the lilies and pond plant indoors, right?

Ya, it amazes me too. Like I said earlier, it is a little unnerving at times to imagine them out there when you're nice and toasty inside. As with anything in these hobbies, there are pros and cons to either approach. There are plenty of people who bring their fish inside and feed them year round. There are also lots of people who do as I do and keep them outside year round.

Water lillies are perennials and go dormant in the winter as well. In the fall you cut off their stems once they have died off and keep the root ball/rhizome damp. I used to bring the root ball/rhizome indoors and store it in the garage through the winter as I thought the pond was way too cold for it, but last year I experimented with one of them and overwintered it in the pond with the fish and it came back in the spring just as strong. Now everyone will be overwintering outside.

Originally Posted by don.ald

very impressive! do you have critters such as raccoons to deal with?

I don't have any critters attacking my pond (or at least I haven't seen any yet). I do have a a friend who has a pond that has had cranes clear out their pond

[lastlight]

Really nice man. The deck overhang is key it'd be sweet to have dinners and chill with the koi. I always fantasized about doing a pond in my last place but it was a liability due to the dayhome. Now my pond would have to be a foot across lol.

[randallino]

Very nice indeed!

[Frankly Canadian]

Nice Pond! I've been working on my backyard oasis for last couple years and I'm getting really close to completing it. Thanks for the info, I've been wondering what to do with my fish over winter and you've answered a few questions for me. I'll post my pics when I'm all finished.

[kien]

Here's an update on one of my water gardening experiements. I'm attempting to grow out a batch of Water Lotus from seed. The seeds I ordered on-line from Thailand.

Here's one of the seeds which I nicked to prepare it.



I have 4 colours, Red, Pink, Light Pink and white varieties. After nicking the seeds I then plunked them into small plastic containers with water.





I put them on a window sill and performed daily water changes.

About a week later they started to sprout.



and sprout..



and sprout..



and we have our first leaf!



If a mod happens upon this could you move this to the Freshwater forum? Please and thank you! :-D

[kien]

So this year I decided to renovate the pond a bit. Nothing too dramatic. I'm planning to just add 2 feet in length and 6" in depth and re-cut some ledges for plants.

Right now the fish are living in a trough and the pond has been prepped for the re-dig!

Weeeeeeeeeeee!!