Hop and Skip to a Pond Makeover

Saturday morning is usually a recovery period from the working week that's just gone past, a period when it's not always easy to make a decision on anything definite to do in the garden. Or even whether to go somewhere else instead or not unless there was something arranged beforehand.

Sometimes the best antidote to a cloudy head is an aimless walk in the garden first thing in the morning. And last Saturday I found myself wandering down towards the pond on the bottom patio.

Hmmmm....that Gunnera tinctoria is waking up nicely and looking good....

Which made me then think that it's been quite awhile since I last walked on the edge of this pond. And there are views of the garden whilst stood on it that are a treat by virtue of how infrequent I stand on it.

So a quick hop on to the pond edge was made and skip across it (which is quite a skip and a miscalculated move would find me in amongst the goldfish).

Knickers of course just had to follow...

Now my eyes wander, first this Tetrapanax papyrifer 'Rex' growing on the bed behind the pond is waking up nicely and looking good.

Then a quick look back on to the Gunnera which is now below my line of vision rather than level with it.

And then I spot the Clematis armandii vigorously growing on the pergola which was then opposite me rather than usually being underneath it. It's flowering with full might and is looking fabulous!

Then I turned my head and spotted the Staphylea holocarpa 'Rosea' covered in pink little blooms.

Then the jungle hut beyond it.

Then it was time to back, skip and hop back down then look back into the pond itself.

Not bad at all but there's a part of me that thinks we've neglected this pond a bit since the big koi pond has been up and running. This used to be a koi pond before being 'just' a goldfish pond now. Perhaps it ought to be turned back into a mixed koi and goldfish pond again like it used to? It needs a mini makeover!

Enhance the filtration and streamline it so that there won't be as many pipes and cables going across the coping stones which is a testament to all the retrofitting and afterthought that came after the completion of this pond years ago. Perhaps change the shed itself behind it as well (which houses the filtration) as it's getting on a bit? Or maybe not as it'll make the mini makeover not so mini anymore. We'll decide on that later but for sure the inside lay out will be modified.

As with any pond there is a lot to consider, but one of the key considerations is the filter to use. We have considered a number of options, taking into account the ease of use, the time needed to clean and at the same time the performance. Weighing up the options and also the space available we have decided we need a small(ish) filter with good performance but easy to clean.

So for the filtration we have decided to go with an Eazypod which is so easy to install and has a very good reputation. In terms of filtration the manufacturers state it is capable of filtering koi ponds up to 10,000 litres. As you can never over filter a pond, and its always best to take the recommended abilities with a pinch of salt I would tend to err on the side of caution and half the suggested capacity. With that in mind the pond has a capacity of about 2,800 litres so even with the planned changes that will bring this up to 4,000 litres this should be more than good enough for the job. 

We will of course set the filtration up in such a way as it will be easy to add additional components to it should we want to in future.  

Talk about impromptu decisions! Well sort of impromptu as giving this pond a makeover has always been on the backburner. Only a mini one for now though as we're busy enough already as it is this year without adding a big garden project to the mix.

The hop and skip gave me clearer head, which resulted in the start of a garden project!

Mark :-)

Posted in: Koi , koi blog , Leagrave Village , pond