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PERSPECTIVES ON HEALTHY LIVING

LEARNING BY DOING..THE DOS AND DON'T OF CREATING WATER PONDS

A garden is a delight to the eye,
and a solace to the soul;
it soothes angry passions,
and produces that pleasure
which is a foretaste of paradise.

-Sa'di

Water ponds are fast becoming the latest trend in gardening. I was not aware of this until my spouse and I moved out to the country and decided to establish tranquil water setting in our back yard. We discovered that much of the information out there only took us to the first stage. Deciding on a location, digging the pond and laying the liner are only the beginning. During our first foray into the world of water gardening we decided to use an old ceramic bathtub for a pond. That choice was our proud beginning and it fueled our desire to establish a wildlife sanctuary. The first thing the reader should know is that you need to be in relatively good physical condition to get your pond into the ground. If not, find someone who is! The process involves digging, digging and digging some more. The area has to be deep and wide-not an easy process for those with weak backs.

Initially the tub was in place and to our dismay it looked rather unsightly-just a white bathtub sitting in the ground. Attempting to change the appearance is not a simple task. If you do decide to use an old tub, here are some of the dos and don't. Do not attempt to change the appearance by painting it. We could not find anything on the market that will adhere to the ceramic base once the pond is filled with water. That lesson was learned the hard way after spraying the surface with fleck tone paint in an earthen color. It held around the edges, but did not adhere to the inside. Consequently we were unable to put any live plants or fish into our pond.' The next problem we had to confront was how to fill the holes where the taps and plug were. My partner, David got a metal plate and used a silicone sealant to cover the holes and put a rubber bathtub plug in the bottom. The sealant did not hold, and the pond could only be filled part way. We learned afterward that it would have been better to put rubber underneath and around the plate before sealing it. The other error we made was filling the bottom with limestone and bricks. Evidently it can leach into the water and be unhealthy for plants, fish, snails, etc. After many trials and tribulations we ended up using a small circulating pump to keep the water from becoming a mosquito pond. At the end of the season,

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