Peter May's secret to the perfect pond maintenance

Garden water plants

The perfect pond maintenance manual By Peter J. May ... When I first started landscaping, having worked my way up through the echelons of the world of estate garden maintenance, my first major project was to design a series of demonstration water gardens for a tiny family business that was called Blagdon Water Gardens

Introduction to the perfect water gardening guide ... It may be a stylistic addition to a garden design, adding the sight and sound of moving water in a private Paradise. Here it is even more important to know how to deal with it.

What to do when your water pond is exposed to algae ... Even if there was just water there, no plants, nothing, the basic forms of plant life, collectively classified as algae, would begin to arrive in 3 or 4 days

Another question of balance in pond life ... Assuming that the pool has been planted with the right number of just the sort of plants that wont get out of control in less than 12 weeks what next? Time for the fish?

The balancing act with plants ... In a flowerbed you are at liberty to plant what you want where you want, any number of plants. There would be a preferred spacing of plants

Planting lilies in a pond with soil in the bottom ... In a situation where you are starting off with an empty pool and you want to establish plants either on the bottom of the pond or in permanent containers on the bottom:

Having problems with plant problems of specific plants ... Crown Rot - Covers a number of fungal and bacterial diseases, like for instance Root Rot, this particularly affects the mottle leafed and yellow varieties of lily like Nymphaea moorei and Nymphaea chromatella.

Established ponds and general pond water plants ... Aquatic plants, either deep water or marginals need splitting up every 3-5years, depending on the size of the pond.

Solving pond plant problems with newly established ponds ... Depending when and where you have created your water garden it may seem that many plants take a long time to get established

The best way to propagate and divide water lilies ... Like all perennial plants, once every three to five years, lilies need to be lifted and divided in order that the soil in their immediate vicinity can be revitalised.

Floating water pond plants ... These float on the surface of the pool throughout the summer helping control algae by depriving them of light and using up their mineral resources.

Introduction the essential ingredients and types of plants that live in pond water ... There are a several sorts of ingredients or types of plant that are happiest at different levels inside the pool

Propagating and dividing marginal plants ... If you have ever divided up herbaceous plants on dry land then you will be familiar with the operation of dividing up the mass of rhizomes, tubers or stolons with two garden forks back to back.

Choosing the right position of planting marginal plants ... Your choice of plants will naturally depend upon the style of planting you have chosen.

Replanting water garden plants ... Professional growers tie them together with strips of lead wire but you can just push them together into a basket of none limey gravel.

Deep water and water lily planting tips and placing water lilies ... The large and average sized lilies need to be planted into large aquatic baskets in a heavy clay loam, but only at half their final depth to begin with.

Replanting water plants. Propagating and planting oxygenators ... All oxygenating weed gets straggly and out of hand. Just cutting the weed back encourages the plants to shoot from bare stems near the point of anchorage or rooting.

Getting to grips with the basics of garden ponds ... The pool should be in full sun. Nearly all plants associated with water need direct sunlight to flower, especially lilies.

A perfect way of establishing your pond ... If you have a new pond or recently cleaned and refurbished, your aim is to establish all the necessary ingredients for the complete cycle of life in your pond so that it all adds up to being a self sufficient little world.

Maintaining overgrown garden ponds and plants ... Eventually all these plants you have added to the pool link up and hold vegetative hands and you have a pool that although is home to some specialised species of flora and fauna, it is probably time to do something about it.