The Pond Doctor: Planning & Maintaining A Healthy Water Garden [Paperback]

Helen Nash (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 31, 1995

“Everything one needs to know about a water garden is here: selecting a site, construction, building a waterfall, safety and water-quality tips, pumps and filtration, prevention of algae, and cleaning and maintaining a pond. This practical guide is illustrated throughout with color photographs.”—Booklist. “Chock-full of information... an extremely useful and highly recommended resource.” —American Horticulturist.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This volume by an experienced water gardener focuses strictly on maintaining a garden pond by troubleshooting or preventing problems that may occur to the structure, plants, or fish. Although it is meant to prevent problems for the novice pond builder, a beginner would also need to use a general work on garden pools such as Ken Druse's Burpee Water Gardening (Prentice Hall, 1993) since Nash's work offers no general overview of pond building. Instead, it plunges in on page one with specifics on possible siting problems and continues with chapters of advice on pumps, water quality and filtration, how to maintain water plants and fish, and how to deal with unwanted pests. A list of suppliers for the specialized equipment and plants would have been helpful. For larger collections.
Molly Newling, Piscataway P.L., N.J.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Everything one needs to know about a water garden is here: selecting a site, construction, building a waterfall, safety and water-quality tips, pumps and filtration, and prevention of algae. There is advice on caring for water plants and fish, a list of recommended water depths for hardy water lilies, and a fish-care calendar for temperate climates. There is a chapter on insects and crustaceans and one on such pests as ducks and geese, beavers, muskrats, voles, opossums, raccoons, turtles, crayfish, frogs, and toads. There's also advice on cleaning and maintaining a pond. This practical guide is illustrated throughout with color photographs. George Cohen --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Sterling (December 31, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806906871
• ISBN-13: 978-0806906874
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,299,373 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for all pond owners!, January 21, 2001

By 

queenieking "queenieking" (North Olmsted, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Pond Doctor: Planning & Maintaining A Healthy Water Garden (Paperback)

Even though the title has "planning" in it, the focus of the book deals with maintenance issues. Ms. Nash not only discusses water quality, algae issues, plant propogation, and plant and fish disease, but also how to prevent problems, and how to repair the problem once detected. There are also great photos that illustrate some of the more common pond problems.

I have read better books on pond planning (her other book,"The Complete Pond Planner" and the Ortho series books are great), but I have found none that address the above issues as well as this one. A must read for all pond owners!

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most informative and easy to understand, September 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Pond Doctor: Planning & Maintaining A Healthy Water Garden (Paperback)

I bought the book for my sister, but after previewing it had to keep it for myself. It is a wonderful reference book, tells me more than I thought it would in a "basic" book, but is also simple to understand as well as comprehensive in its delivery. Starting a pond or having one, this is a definite staple!

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you have or want a pond/water garden, read this book!, August 11, 1995

By A Customer

This review is from: The Pond Doctor: Planning and Maintaining a Healthy Water Garden (Hardcover)

A thorough and well-presented book thattakes you from pond siting and constructionthrough fish and plant selection to control of pests and maintenance. Nash is refreshingly honest about the pros and cons of various choices, and lets you know when a suggested plant or fish is appropriate for your climate. The many full-color pictures are very helpful, especially in identiying insect pests. Includes photos of some very interesting designs, including one with a piano theme! Deserving of all the raves from reviews by AHS and others.