March book review

I’m quite pre-occupied with my pond make-over project at the moment so I’ve been perusing “pond” books at the book store and have even bought a few. Most have been fairly useful, in one way or another, but none has actually motivated me to make the changes to the pond I know are necessary. Until I walked past a second-hand book shop and decided to look in and see what gardening books they have.

I stumbled on and old book by Peter Robinson entitled Pond Basics, paged through it and was sold. It’s a real little treasure for anyone who is completely new to pond maintenance or has decided to build a pond feature and has no experience. It’s really basic which is exactly what I need at this stage.

I’ve found the book very useful. Having read this book and used it as a starting point, I have now managed to plan what I want to do with the pond and have broken in down into a step by step list that I’m tackling one task at a time. So we now have actual “Project Pond” Progress! The book is divided into 9 sections and covers Planning; Excavation and Installation; Moving Water Features; Decorative Features; Wildlife; Planting; Plants; Troubleshooting and lastly, The Pond Year.

I have to admit that the reason this book helped me so much is that it had plenty of examples of water features that have similarity with mine, in terms of size, position and shape. I was able to start visualising what my Pond or Water Feature really could look like using the examples and combining ideas (coupled with suggestions I’ve been given by gardening friends – Amongst others, Alocasias and Cannas are on my shopping list!).

The section on plants and ‘how tos’ (where, when and how) has also helped me to create a plan for my ponds planting and how I am going to tackle it all. Well written in a get to-the-point, simple way I appreciated the troubleshooting section and the pond year which gives guidelines on how to manage the pond and what to expect in all the seasons. All this information made me realise that I can do all this by myself (mostly, might need help erecting the trellises), but it’s now a project I am capable of doing myself and I think may look quite nice once I’ve finished.

[one_half]Pond Basics Contents[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Introduction to Pond Basics[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Nicely illustrated with photographs[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Planning tips & requirements[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Many different types of ponds[/one_half]

[one_half_last]And examples of ponds I liked[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Different plants types[/one_half]

[one_half_last]And a trouble shooting section[/one_half_last]

My copy of the book is a hard cover version, published in 2004 by Bounty Books. I’ve checked Amazon and it’s available at Pond Basics by Peter Robinson on Amazon.co.za as a paperback.

I recommend this book to new gardeners who have little or no experience with a pond or water feature and are interested in adding one to their garden.

What gardening books have you read lately? Join Holley and friends the March Garden Book Review meme and share one of your gardening books with us!

Happy gardening!
xxx

PS: In my next post I’ll be showing a short video of the Starlings enjoying my pond!

About the Garden Bloggers Book Review Meme

Garden Bloggers Book Review is a monthly meme hosted by Roses and Other Gardening Joys (20th day of the month). Whether its vegetable gardening, flower gardening, specialized gardening, design, landscape, or even fiction (that includes a garden, such as ‘The Secret Garden’), Holley invites you to share your take on the garden books you have read.  “Each of our gardens are different, and each of our tastes in garden books will probably be different – but I think if we tell what we like (or not) about each book, we can get a good sense of the books we might want to add to our collection”.  Join Holley on the 20th of the month and share one of your books with us all.