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Pond Building Books & Guides

The best books we've found about building a pond.
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Earth Ponds: Pond Maker's Guide to Building, Maintenance and RestorationMore Information & Purchase Options
There is nothing like a pond! What else can simultaneously increase your aesthetic pleasure, offer recreational opportunities, help the environment, and increase the value of your land? This is the recognized standard on ponds, now expanded to include a comprehensive guide to living happily with your completed pond and keeping it perpetually healthy. Here is everything you need to know about planning, digging, sculpting, and maintaining your pond.

This book is a good start to building your own pond. I would suggest it as a inexpensive first step to pond building. What I learned in my experience was there is just too much to consider when you want a high quality pond. I used a professional biologist to design my pond and got terrific results. I was happy I knew the basics from this book so I could speak somewhat intelligently with the fishery biologist. After investing tens of thousands of dollars, I learned that the small amount I spent on this book and the professional advice was well worth it. I was so happy I got a nice clear fishing and swimming pond instead of a muddy mess or one that was weed infested.
Buy Earth Ponds: The Pond Maker's Guide to Building, Maintenance and Restoration

Landscaping Earth Ponds:
The Complete Guide More Information & Purchasing Options

Review "A pond adds value to a property, but many books which extol its virtues are mysteriously silent on just how to install and landscape for maximum benefit - until Landscaping Earth Ponds: The Complete Guide. Tim Matson's proven methods and designs come from his background as an aquaculture consultant: he's been designing and restoring such ponds for over twenty-five years, and his tips update his prior Earth Ponds with new details on everything from assessing and maintaining water quality to considering types of fill and handling embankments. Color photos throughout enhance the presentation." - Bookwatch, August 2006

"Tim Watson draws upon more than 25 years of experience and expertise building ponds and developing wetlands in Landscaping Earth Ponds: The Complete Guide. Here is a informative, step-by-step, profusely illustrated reference for creating a more lively and beautifying diverse landscapes and home-area garden areas with ponds. Providing "user friendly" information on how ponds work to enhance a landscape, create recreational opportunities, help the environment, and increase property values, Landscaping Earth Ponds offers a complete and readily accessible account of a variety of methods and techniques to employ in the creation of a pond. An important addition to any personal, professional, or community library reference collection, Landscaping Earth Ponds is very strongly recommended for anyone searching for an all-inclusive instructional guide to pond building and encouraging natural beauty through the development of a customized pond appropriate to the rest of the landscaping environment. - Midwest Book Review, July 2006
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Earth Ponds Sourcebook
The Pond Owner's Manual and Resource Guide, Second Edition More Information & Purchasing Options

Matson designed this book to serve as a companion to his Earth Ponds: The Country Pond Maker's Guide to Building, Maintenance and Restoration (Countryman, 1991) by exploring new topics in depth and providing additional bibliographies and lists of suppliers. Topics include pond building and maintenance, activities and uses (including ice skating, fishing, beach building, hydro power, and pond-side structures), ways to attract wildlife and control pests, and small water-lily or goldfish ponds. Resource lists provide addresses and phone numbers, with occasional annotations. Matson balances his enthusiasm for ponds with frequent warnings about legal, structural, and ecological pitfalls?information that may well save readers from costly mistakes.

"Tim Watson draws upon more than 25 years of experience and expertise building ponds and developing wetlands in Landscaping Earth Ponds: The Complete Guide. Here is a informative, step-by-step, profusely illustrated reference for creating a more lively and beautifying diverse landscapes and home-area garden areas with ponds. Providing "user friendly" information on how ponds work to enhance a landscape, create recreational opportunities, help the environment, and increase property values, Landscaping Earth Ponds offers a complete and readily accessible account of a variety of methods and techniques to employ in the creation of a pond. An important addition to any personal, professional, or community library reference collection, Landscaping Earth Ponds is very strongly recommended for anyone searching for an all-inclusive instructional guide to pond building and encouraging natural beauty through the development of a customized pond appropriate to the rest of the landscaping environment. - Midwest Book Review, July 2006
Buy Earth Ponds Sourcebook: The Pond Owner's Manual and Resource Guide, Second Edition

Earth Ponds A to Z
An Illustrated Encyclopedia More Information & Purchasing Options

From the author of Earth Ponds, the definitive reference guide to constructed earth ponds. This A-Z guide provides pond owners and builders with an at-a-glance reference to answer any question. From Acid Rain to Zooplankton, pond guru Tim

Matson defines and explains more than two hundred terms associated with pond building and maintenance, both familiar and obscure. Here the reader will find descriptions and definitions of all significant pond elements, including:
• structural features
• construction materials
• water conditions and treatments
• aquacultural topics and crops
• environmental concerns
• government support and regulatory agencies
• landscaping

More than two hundred illustrated entries distill the latest information on ponds into a unique and definitive companion for pond owners and builders.
Buy Earth Ponds A to Z: An Illustrated Encyclopedia

Lake and Pond Management Guidebook More Information and Purchase Options

The Lake and Pond Management Guidebook is the successor to the bestselling Lake Smarts: The First Lake Maintenance Handbook, the "bible" for small-scale lake and pond improvements, published by the Terrene Institute in 1993. Completely revised and updated, now published by Lewis Publishers, this guidebook contains over 300 ideas and projects including step-by-step practical, low-cost solutions to a wide range of problems that lake management professionals face everyday. Coverage includes shoreland buffer installation, fisheries management, reducing nuisance algal growth, controlling exotic aquatic plants, lakeside wastewater treatment systems, small scale dredging, and more.

Absolutely the last word in pond or small lake creation and maintenance. For both the amateur and professional.
Well worth the steep price.

Lake and Pond Management by Steve McComas is an excellent reference for cooperative extension advisors, soil and water conservation district staff, lake association representatives, and other watershed managers. Licensed commercial pesticide applicators who are considering broadening their credentials to the aquatic pest control category would also find this Guidebook a valuable addition to their reference libraries. As a retired university farm advisor and riverfront landowner, I found this book highly educational - and well worth the price.
Buy Lake and Pond Management Guidebook

Natural Swimming Pools:
Inspiration For Harmony With Nature (Schiffer Design Book) More Information & Purchasing Options

Natural swimming pools rely on the correct balance of living plants and micro-organisms to clean and purify the water. They are easy and less costly to maintain than chemical pools. Chlorine and other common pool chemicals that are hazardous to human health are not used. Natural pools are safe places for children to play and birds to drink, and are a dramatic example of ecological design, combining the natural and man-made worlds while creating beauty. These pools offer enjoyment not only in the warm months, but during winter, when they can be used for ice skating.

Often the focal point of a garden, a natural swimming pool blends into the environment, flowing into the surroundings with plants and rocks. It reflects the changing seasons and enhances the environment naturally. This book is a necessary resource for people who consider a natural swimming pool.

It shows how the natural system works to provide environmental, health, and safety benefits. Drawings, diagrams, and charts help explain their planning, design, biology, materials, construction, planting, and maintenance. Over 300 beautiful color photographs of natural pools will inspire your own water garden, where you can swim in harmony with nature.
Buy Natural Swimming Pools