A pond plan is a drawing that shows the various phases and elements of your pond building project. The plan could be anywhere from a single page to a dozen or more pages depending on how ambitious your pond ideas are. You could also choose not to draw up a pond plan, but you’d be missing out on a few things. For example, in the course of creating a pond plan, you’ll often discover flaws in your design. It also allows you to make changes and improve your pond without spending a single cent.

Many backyard ponds are built solely for the purpose of raising fish. It’s one of the most popular reasons why hobbyists choose to build a pond in the first place.
Now a pond is neither an aquarium nor a fish farm. Aquariums are aesthetic, a place to display ornamental fish. Fish farms are practical, a place for breeding fish. A backyard pond is a happy medium. It’s a place to show off your fish but at the same time allow them to live and breed in a natural setting.
Why Build a …

Pond building is a difficult but rewarding task that has found a place in the hearts of many home gardeners. There is a unique joy that can only be found when creating and cultivating a balanced ecosystem of plants and aquatic life in the comfort of your own backyard.
Most water gardeners have an average home pond with plants, a few fish and a proper filtration system. It’s rare to find a pond builder who wants nothing more than a simple, easily maintained pond. In fact, without the fish, most ponds …

Numerous things can be done to attract hummingbirds to your garden. Some easy adjustments can be made to make your garden hummingbird friendly, so that you are rewarded with the presence of feeding and nesting hummingbirds alongwith their young ones.

Purple Martins are the largest swallows in all of North America, measuring in at seven and a half inches long with the male of the species featuring stunning, iridescent purple colored feathers. Today, the subspecies of these songbirds are completely dependent upon human intervention east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States to ensure they aren’t in danger of becoming extinct. For this reason, many gardeners and homeowners work diligently at being conscientious landlords, providing the ideal nesting boxes for the Purple Martin to breed.

East of the Rocky Mountains, Purple Martins almost exclusively nest in birdhouses provided by humans. This bond between man and bird did not always exist, of course. It evolved over centuries naturally and likely by accident. Now that Purple Martins are so dependent upon us for their housing, it becomes incumbent upon us to foster this uniquely beautiful relationship. Let us briefly explore how this bond became so strong, and examine the opportunity it gives us to step into our roles as stewards and caretakers – rather than ravagers – of the natural world.