Welcome to Michael's Watergarden

Several years ago we attended a nature seminar while camping at Potato Creek State Park in north central Indiana. The topic of the seminar was attracting wildlife to your backyard, and how running water could work wonders.

On the drive home from the campground Sunday morning, I told my wife I should put a watergarden in our backyard. She likes birds, so I thought it was a great idea. But she didn't agree. All I can say is, after we arrived home and unpacked from our camping trip, she went shopping. She left me at home alone with my shovel.

(I suspect you have a good idea where this story is going).

To make a long story short, I grabbed my shovel, picked a perfect spot in our backyard next to my deck, and began to dig. I dug and I dug and I dug some more. I dug more than I ever will do again in my life.

After 3 years of digging, we had two watergardens connected by a creek. Sandy now agrees that it was perfect for our backyard. She has planted many varieties of flowers and bushes around the watergarden including varieties toattract hummingbirds and butterflies.

Did the watergardens attract wildlife? Absolutely! Many of Sandy's favorite birds frequent the creek to take a bath or to get a drink. One day we discovered a new friend - a turtle. I made him a nice piece of wood to sun on. He seemed to like it, until we had alot of people over one night and the next morning he was gone. Now we have a home for many types of frogs and toads. 'Eat them bugs' I say! In the first few years in the spring we had pairs of Mallard ducks make their home at our watergarden. However, their visits were short-lived, as our Basset Hound chased them away. Sandy was surpised one morning to see a Blue Heron eyeing our fish for breakfast!

The two ponds are attached by a creek that flows under a bridge connecting our deck from our backyard. I constructed two waterfalls in the upper pond that are fed from a pump located in the lower pond. Water from the upper pond falls down to waterfalls into the pond which feeds a creek to the lower pond. A second pump in the upper pond feeds a fountain in the center of the upper pond.

I have been collecting lilly pads and other aquatic plants for beauty and filtration. They have grown over the years to fill the upper watergarden with beautiful lilly flowers and cattails.

We enjoy watching the fish when we throw some food in the pond. The Koi jump out of the water fighting to get their food during the summer. We're tickled by their inability in the early spring to move quickly enough to grab their food. They are so cold their bodies just can't move. But they try and try until they push the food to the edge of the watergarden where they can trap it on the edge and eat it. In the summertime, they want food all the time and seem to compete to see who can get the most.

Nighttime does not diminish the beauty of the watergarden, as we have added landscaping lights and an underwater spotlight to make the whole upper pond glow.

Good weather is always welcome because we like to sit on the bridge after we eat lunch to get back to nature. Both Sandy and I get to come home for lunch each day and if it is nice out, we go out and sit on the bridge until we have to leave for work. It amazes me how the pond can relax you and make you forget about all the troubles you dealt with in the morning.

The summer of '99 was a great year for my understanding of how to control the algee problems that have plagued me since I started our watergarden. I finally broke down and dropped the money to purchase a ultraviolet filter. If you want clear water, which we all do, then this is the way to go. When I bought the filter, you couldn't see more than 2 inches into the water due to the bright green algee. Within 2 weeks, the filter had killed enough algee to clear the water enough to see the fish 2 feet below the surface of the water. Since the algee wasn't consuming the nitrogen the water lillies and my other plants grew like never before! For the first time, my water lillies filled the entire water surface and the other plants went crazy too.

Now the watergarden has been clean and maintenance free for many seasons. If you have a watergarden and you are having problems with algee, I strongly recommend buying an ultraviolet filter. It kills the algee and leaves beneficial nutrients for your water plants to thrive in.

What visitors have we had over the past few years? Well so far we have had a pair of mallard ducks, a turtle, and many diffent kinds of frogs which spend their time in the creek and behind the waterfalls.

accesses since December 24, 1996

More pictures of our watergarden...

This is the fountain in an early phase of ice formation that will continue to grow until it eventually completely encloses the water you see flowing

Some not so quite good views of the fish (they are hard to photograph)

An overview of the view from the rear of the house which includes the deck, bridge, and watergardens.

Upper Pond
Volume	2500 US Gallons
Surface Dimensions	13 ft. x 12 ft.
Surface Area	166 sq. ft.
Depth	3 1/2 ft.
Construction	60-mil rubber liner
Water Temp. Extremes	85 F. high / 32 F. low

Lower Pond
Volume	55 US Gallons
Surface Dimensions	4 ft. x 2 ft.
Surface Area	8 sq. ft.
Depth	1.5 ft.
Construction	Kidney shaped hard liner
Water Temp. Extremes	85 F. high / 32 F. low

Stream
Length	12 ft.
Width	1 ft.
Flow Rate	1200Gal/Hour
Construction	20-mil liner

Circulation
Pump 1	5-MSPR-WG Little Giant
Pump 2	2E-38N-WG Little Giant with below-surface filter (300Gal/Hr)
Outlets	Biofilter and UV Filter Fountain 4 Waterfalls
Filter Types	UV and biological filters

Inhabitants
Koi	3 all about 15 inches in length
Komets	4 all about 8 inches in length
Goldfish	6-10 from 6-9 inches in length
Waterlilies	6 hardy (specific species unknown)
Other Plants	Cattails, assorted submerged, etc.

Links to other Pond Related Information

Clubs

Associated KOI Clubs of America
Victoria Waterlily Web Page
Internet Pond Society

1991 Construction photos

Last updated November 11, 2005