Hi Pat,

Your mom is one lucky lady! There are some very experienced ponders on here that have forgotten more than I will ever know. But I will share some of the things I've picked up from them and from my own small garden.

First and foremost, you might think small is great, but then you get hooked and it must grow. So in your mind's eye and your plan, leave room for future growth.

This is our small pond in the very beginning. Not much larger than the kit you are looking at. We could not use a premade because of the oak roots, sewer pipe and other house utilities we had to work around.

{{gwi:191626}}

A few months later the pond grew to this.

{{gwi:191627}}

Here it is now, and this winter we will be adding on the other side of the sidewalk.

{{gwi:191628}}

Most water lilies will need more room than you will have. Look specifically for hardy lilies classed as suitable for very small containers/ponds. Or, try water poppy.

{{gwi:191629}}

Pictured is hardy lily, Yellow Pygmy "Nymphaea "Yellow Pygmy". Hardy from zone 4-11. Plant Size: Small. Bred by Latour Maliac 1879, flower is a soft yellow, 2"-3" across. Has a spread of 1.5�-3�, marliac root system. Leaves are slightly mottled Will grow in 6" to 1.5� of water. Best to grow in 10" of water. You can use a 1 to 2 gallon container to grow this one. Great miniature for a small pond or patio container. Extremely good bloomer flower. This is one of the oldest hybrids known in the water lily world. Full sun"

If you build it, they will come. You will have wildlife. Plan a no spray/chemical zone. Expect frogs, dragonflies, snakes, etc .... etc.

Fish are fun, in addition to eating mosquito larvae, they are a hoot to watch. Plan a spot right beside the pond for a spot for your mom to sit and watch the pond. And a place to sit a glass. I love to sit out in the morning with my coffee and watch the life around the pond. Feeder goldfish and feeder rosy red minnows are good choices for small ponds. They will reproduce, so not many fish. And once the pond is established the fish don't need to be feed.

I have struggled keeping floating and oxygenator plants growing inside my small pond. The fish and the tadpoles decimate them. That said, if they can be contained in a floating corral type of thing they would do better. See the floating plant ring post in this forum for some ideas. I usually get my oxygenators at Petsmart in the fish dept. Also, mondo grass and society garlic work really well.

What I evolved to is a 'bog garden' that is right beside and connected to my pond. I pump to a pot that serves as a filter out to the bog that then flows back into the pond. Presto beautiful spot for plants.

I started off thinking I would not need any filtration for such a small pond. If however, you want to see your fish, you will need filtration. And you will likely want it to be something easily maintained. Something else that I kind of wish we had done was to install a float valve connected to a rain barrel to automatically keep the pond topped off.

Oh, and we found this very realistic fake rock that we use to cover our electrical source, which is really just an heavy duty exterior extension cord ran in PVC pipe under the path. http://www.homedepot.com/Outdoors/h_d1/N-25ecodZ5yc1vZbx82/R-100631149/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=rock&storeId=10051

I like talking to myself, so I've kept some written notes on the progress of our pond. You can find it at the link below.

I predict your mom will love her pond, and if you plan spots for plants but leave them out, puttering around the water garden could be a lot of fun and good exercise for her.

~dianne

Here is a link that might be useful: Our small pond

Yknow... I personally think large ponds are over-rated. I had a small 125 gal thing that worked fine, and looked quite beautiful with rocks/plants around it. Now having increased to 700 the work and cost has exponentially increased. Not putting down large ponds but just saying they arent for everyone.

Does this kit have pump and filtration? Would be necessary for even small goldfish (as they eat and poop a lot). Pondmaster makes great pump/filter kits for small ponds in $100-200 range (12 years later mine is still going strong). Stock tanks or plastic liners are not expensive - that's about all you need really.
Is the pond location protected or near the house, or would you bring the fish in during hte winter? As pets you do get fond of them - I thought I would just replac emine in the spring but by fall I hated the thought of them turning into fish-sicles so Ive been bringing them in - now over 10 years old and about 10 inches long.

An above-ground pond might have a benefit for someone not able to bend over to tend to the pond - some minor skimming of leaves and debris should be done regularly as well as occasional partial water changes (once every 1-2 wks) and occasional cleaning of filter (once every 1-2 months depending on how much crud gets in the pond). Small ponds areless work than large but what there is still does need to get done regularly. Have fun - what a lovely gift for your mom!

To get the most enjoyment for your Mom try to find one that has a waterfall that will attract birds. Best to put it near a bush or small tree for them to perch and fluff after the bath. I can not tell you how much extra enjoyment the birds add to my pond!

For what it is worth, here is my 160 gal pond. It is just a tough rectangular tub set in the ground. It is easy to keep up, I have a lovely water lily in it and when it had to move to a different part of the yard, it was easy to do.

{{gwi:180090}}

This is a 40 gal tub I have that worked great with a lily and a couple of small fish in it. I am now using it as a biological filter.
{{gwi:191630}}

Good luck. I'm sure your Mom will love her new pond!
Anne

Have you looked into pondless water features? Much less difficult for your situation.

Wow!

Thanks for all the tips, pics, and experience. Just what I was hoping for, info I can pour over again and again before "taking the plunge" so to speak. I guess I might still consider a "pondless" approach but being right against an alley it would have to be awfully heavy or semi-permanent. Nice neighborhood but on any given day the local newspaper is enough to scare someone. Theft is always high ranking and one next door neighbor actually screws his planter boxes in place as someone stole them a few years back. (Honestly, I did have to fight back laughter having lived in far worse places) I put four heavily weighted planters out, none stolen but within the first week a vandal shoved one in onto the porch.

Last summer Mom mentioned wanting a bird bath so I started shopping. Having worked in hundreds of lawns I know the difference between good and useless and of course the ones I liked were in the $200 range. The wheels for a pond started to spin right away. I happened to be shopping a dollar-type store and saw a pretty, colorful bowl about 16" in circumference for under $10. A few pieces of scrap flagstone and limestone to raise it high enough to fill easily and we had a "bird bath" far more secure than the cheapos. Good enough for the time being...Mom's easy to please. (Obviously knowing I can do better I intend to)

The spot where I envision the pond is a previous attempt at a flower bed done by a previous owner. Nice effort with hostas and creeping phlox that I can certainly still utilize but the hardiest of weeds still come through and by the time the phlox browns it's a gardener's nightmare. Good spot for a hole full of water!

I'll shoot some pics to show the relative size of the space, before the "real world" shopping adventure/purchase.

Again thanks for your time, tips, links and all. The knowledge gained from experienced folks is truly priceless. No DIY manual or $20 Ortho book at the box store can compare. I have alot to consider but I'm armed with far more information today than yesterday. Thanks!

had the same thing going. i really wanted the water noise, and the corner was being wasted after we learned the rats would eat the corn from the fence. I bought my kit from northern tool, pretty cool little unit with a water fall, pump, etc. only 18in deep at the deepest maybe 3x4ft.

long story shorter i ended up cutting the waterfall down to one step, and built a small spitter just for the birds and a frog spitter to move the main body of water and make some noise. its still a work in progress as im steady moving a rock somewhere, or arranging the spitters, or something. Also picked up some hyacinth and anachris to aid in the cleaning of the water, will be adding red minnows this weekend maybe.

Here is a link that might be useful: a stupid web page in progress.

Your mom is very lucky, she will love it.

Small ponds can work great from what I have heard. But some of the risks include less water means more chance of amonia spikes, water evaporation etc. Which is fine if you plan right. I would not put Koi in it, they need much more room and need to be fed, will destroy plants, are much more sensitive to water changes along with other things. I think for your mom you would want fish that are a little more low maintenence. Like mentioned about maybe a couple small comets and some minows but not very many to keep maintence down. They can survive on their own. You can also find lilies that are small.

Good luck, please post pics when you are done. We all love pictures :)