All about building garden fish ponds
This web page is the introduction from the ebook "The Complete Pond Solver" by Tony Roocroft
Introduction ... Peter Waddington, the man who pioneered koi keeping in the UK and who is probably the best known koi keeper in the English speaking world says it well in his book Koi Kitchi:
The cheapest way to build a koi pond is to build it once, but build it properly.
This is what this book is about building you garden pond properly. However the book is not dedicated to the keeping of koi. This book is primarily aimed at the gardener who wants a small to medium sized pond in which to keep a few fish and plants.
*****The building and keeping of koi ponds can be a fascinating and complex subject and hobby on which many thousands of $ can easily be spent. If you really want to go big into koi by all means treat this book as a good primer but do nothing until you have read Peter Waddingtons Koi Kitchi. In my experience of the water gardening industry and based upon my technical background as a chemical engineer who spent many years in bio industry there is no other book which can come close to Koi Kitchi
About This Book
It is one of a complete series that together form the Pondsolver Series of pond care books written by Tony Roocroft
My pond is dirty! I cant see my fish!
How do I get my pond to become clear?
My pond has gone green, what can I do?
My pump is not strong enough, is there anything I can do to improve the water flow?
Do you think I must fill my pond in because I am sick of the cleaning and hassles I get and my husband seems to have lost interest?
Do you recognise any of these questions? If so this book series is just what you are looking for.
*****These and many other questions like them have been posed to us time and time again over the last 10 years or so. In most of the cases we have been able to answer the questions using simple and understandable language and our customers have all profited from the advice given.
The result has always been the same. The garden pond and the enjoyment of sitting around it became the pleasure it was always designed to be instead of the hassle, or time-wasting and repetitive expensive chore it had become.
There was a recurring theme to the questions asked of us.
It appeared there was a difficulty for the average person in the street to get simple, straightforward, honest and useful advice to solve common pond and water feature problems. Resulting from this need it was decided to publish The Pondsolver book series and make them available on the net at a low cost to anyone who wanted to read and profit from them.
Each book in the Pondsolver series is designed to be a simply written stand-alone really useful aid to selecting and operating the correct equipment or product for your chosen pond project. Each book has the objective of providing the reader with an in-depth understanding of what needs to be done to achieve the vision of a crystal clear, pure and healthy pond - always. The books are also meant to be more than selection aids. They have an aim to give the consumer people like you and me some power in dealing with organizations who want to sell something to us and particularly products like pond pumps which seem to have an air of mystery about them.
Each of the books is extremely comprehensive and will answer all the important questions around that particular subject. Saving you money is a common objective but not at the expense of the desire to create a pond that works.
The subject of water gardening can be as big as you want to make it. If the advice and ideas are followed you can be sure that you will create a wonderful addition to your garden that will not be a chore to maintain and will be a pleasure all year round. You will also understand how to interpret your observations and take the necessary corrective action.
Greater understanding of pond keeping is a hallmark of this book series. This approach to a jargon-less easy to understand approach to what can be complex chemical, physical and biochemical phenomena is covered in a way that any average person will be able to fully understand and take advantage of. Greater enjoyment of the fascinating hobby of pond keeping will result.
Most important of all your fish and plants will live a wonderful life and you will notice this and enjoy it.
Much of what is written has been learned from experience by selling the best equipment we were able to find (and at times some poor products or perhaps good products from poor suppliers which we dropped quickly).
We also learned from holding long discussions with water gardening experts we had the privilege of hosting in South Africa in the late 1990s.
Peter J. May the Gold Award winner at Chelsea Flower Show and author of The Perfect Pond Recipe Book, Peter Waddington and Nigel Caddock both of whom are world-class koi keepers and authors on koi keeping are amongst these experts. All three have conducted seminars in South Africa on our behalf.
In addition since I started publishing my web sites and The Water Gardens Gazette I have had hundreds of questions and comments and I have incorporated much of this advice/learning into the latest editions.
As you go through this book remember it is concerning itself mainly with the average garden pond and not specific koi ponds designed to hold large volumes of water and grow large koi. However even the better koi keepers can learn a great deal from this book based upon my observations of the hobby in my own country, South Africa.
Remember also that humans and animals cannot thrive without water. Water is more than this lifeblood however and is the reason why every garden should have water in it. Water in the garden adds another dimension to our daily life. Being so close to water allows you to dream that little bit longer. It allows you to escape the humdrum, or pressures of the moment. For this reason alone every garden should have water in it, dont you agree?
We hope you enjoy reading the book.
This web page is an extract from Tony Roocroft's "The Complete Pond Solver" ... you can read more about it at http://www.really-useful-books.com