What does the dedicated gardener do on cold Canadian winter days?
Read gardening books and day dream, of course!
Santa brought me
“Building Natural Ponds”(ISBN 978-0-86571-845-6) by Robert
Pavlis. Mr. Pavlis is an experienced Master Gardener. He owns and
developed an extensive botanical garden. He is a speaker, teacher,
writer and blogger.
We have two ponds
on our large rural property. Both are natural ponds. The previous
books that I have read about creating and maintaining gardening ponds
usually talk about pumps, filters and chemicals. They talk about the
need to clean your pond regularly, what to plant and how to care for
your fish. All of this requires lots of effort….seems like not
much time to enjoy your pond when coupled with all of the other usual
garden chores.
“Building
Natural Ponds”, although a small book, takes the reader from the
pond ecosystem and environmental benefits, through planning, pond
design and building to fish, plants and maintenance. There is even a
short chapter on “pools, bogs and rain gardens”. I was able to
easily follow the pond building process and with the diagrams and
photos included in the book, I could picture each step. I could also
imagine how the information can be applied to our current ponds. For
example, Mr. Pavlis talks about algae. He eloquently explains the
science around the balance needed to ensure that algae growth is
controlled. The book is also indexed and includes a list of helpful
references.
My only very
small criticism would be that not all the pictures are in colour.
The colour pictures that are included, are lovely and do contribute
to successful day dreaming!
I would recommend
“Building Natural Ponds” by Robert Pavlis to anyone considering a
future pond build, to anyone who would like to learn more about their
current pond or just to anyone who likes to learn and dream
gardening!
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