Slap! Another mosquito has managed to take another bite from you. Not only did it get a bite, but it left a fantastic little bump on your skin that now itches. You installed a bug zapper, you used mosquito candles to keep them, you even made sure to clean up the children’s blow up pool that you got to save money instead of installing that garden pond you were thinking about. No matter what you do, the mosquitoes keep coming. They swarm over your yard and patio, making your backyard an unpleasant place to be. Fear not, there are ways to battle mosquitoes, one way being to install the water garden pond you originally wanted.

Granted, this seems like flawed logic. You’ve always heard that mosquitoes adore water and will lay their eggs all over it, making it more of a breeding ground then anything else. Although this can be true with some types of water and ponds, it is not true with garden ponds and waterscapes. Ponds and waterscapes naturally attract more then just mosquitoes; they also attract dragonflies and damselflies.

Dragonflies and damselflies are also known as mosquito hawks. If you know anything about hawks, you know that they are predators that aggressively hunt for food. Dragonflies and damselflies have the same aggressive nature and will roam over and around ponds, eating those pesky mosquitoes like potato chips at a Super Bowl party. Not only do dragonflies and damselflies eat the mosquitoes that would try to surround your garden pond but their larva eat mosquito larva, basically putting a stop in the chain of life for the mosquitoes.

Unlike your children’s blow up pool, you can fill your garden pond with fish. Fish are great predators against mosquitoes. If the mosquitoes happen to sit on the surface of the pond, the fish will pop up and eat them. Although it seems unlikely that the mosquito will take a break on the surface of your garden pond, think about this: mosquitoes lay their eggs on the surface of water. So while the mosquito is trying to continue its family line, not only will your fish eat the mosquito, your fish will also eat the eggs they lay.

If you don’t have enough faith in letting nature’s helpers like the fish, dragonflies and damselflies take care of your mosquito problem, there are plenty of natural biological treatments you can use that will help eliminate mosquitoes. Unfortunately, you can’t use biological chemical treatments on ponds that contain fish but if you should happen to have any waterfalls, fountains without fish, birdbaths, or even low areas that collect standing water, these chemicals can be a useful extra addition in your fight.

Mosquitoes can ruin anyone’s outdoor haven. Of course, there are plenty of methods you can use like mosquito candles, sprays, etc that will help you kill them but they don’t provide the same kind of peace and soothing calm that a pond can provide. Instead of denying yourself the garden pond or waterscape you’ve always wanted, consider it to be one of the most proactive steps you can take against fighting mosquitoes. Between the fish and the dragonflies, your yard will be mosquito free in no time.

Sometimes a garden pond is all you need. In today’s economy, we’re surrounded by stress. Whether you go to the super market for groceries or even to get a massage at a day spa, the negativity about today’s economy will follow you there. With all this negativity following you around, it’s hard to see how you can avoid it; it’s not like you can just stay home with the television off for the rest of your life. Thankfully, places like California Waterscapes exist, providing beautiful garden ponds to bring a calm Zen directly to your home.

Granted, in today’s economy waterfalls or ponds may not seem to be a good investment but it really is. Instead of spending your hard earned money making day spa appointments, going to a therapist to talk each week, or even buying a ton of ambiance CDs with water sounds, you can put that money into a onetime investment and have your own Zen area. Instead of renting a boat to go out fishing or just to sit in nature, you can have beautiful Koi fish in your garden pond that you watch for as long or as little time as you want to, with the freedom to step back inside your air-conditioned home.

One of the first things you might think of that makes ponds and waterfalls sound less appealing is the maintenance. Although maintenance used to be a large factor in ponds and waterfalls many years ago, new technology has eliminated this hassle. Instead of using a swimming pool style filtration system, ponds are built with biological filters. This means that the pond, instead of needing a heavy swimming pool filtration system, uses a natural method of filtration just like in nature. The biological filter removes nutrients in the water that algae feed off of, starving the algae and essentially destroying its habitat. This kind of natural filtration is what Mother Nature herself uses.

Supporting the biological filter, rocks and gravel are used on the bottom of garden ponds, providing a place for the beneficial bacteria to grow (the kind of bacteria that starves the algae). Not only does this help with the filtration, but it also provides a beautiful accent to your pond. The final piece of the puzzle that helps keep your pond beautiful and soothing is a skimmer, which only needs to be cleaned every once in awhile. It helps to protect the water pumps so you don’t need to worry about anything getting stuck in them which can result in a backup of muck into your garden pond.

Lately, finding a place where you can truly relax can be a real hassle. The negativity and stress can follow you wherever you go, be it lounging out on a public beach or going to a day spa for a massage. Even if you are able to successfully avoid the negativity on your way to these destinations, the price of return visits can add up quickly, putting a real damper on the experience. By installing a garden pond in your yard, not only do you avoid the hassle of going out and paying repeatedly for R&R, you have a permanent Zen area to call your own.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in again. Now, before you breathe out, try to imagine what it would be like if after you breathed out, there was no more air to breathe in. If you don’t feel some kind of panic building up inside you, you must be crazy. Whether we like it or not, all living things require oxygen to survive. From animals to humans to plants to ponds, we all need to breathe. Oxygen plays a crucial part in not just your life, but the success of your garden pond.

In order for ponds or waterscapes to be successful, you need to make sure there is proper aeration. What exactly is aeration? Aeration is the process where air is moved through, mixed and/or dissolved in liquids. To sum this up, it’s basically the process of how oxygen gets into your garden pond. Just like most living things, there is a certain amount of oxygen that ponds need. That amount is .5 parts per million—anything lower then that will lead to issues.

What kind of issues will occur if you don’t have enough oxygen in your garden pond? If there isn’t enough oxygen, odors will start coming from that garden pond, unpleasant scents at that. This occurs when the breakdown of organic waste is slowed due to a slower anaerobic process. The odor that is created is caused by hydrogen sulfide, which is what builds up when the anaerobic process has slowed. Besides the horrible odor, Hydrogen Sulfide is very toxic and poisons the nervous system. Not only is it harmful to your plants and other aquatic life, it’s also very harmful to you as well.

Besides slowing the anaerobic process, low oxygen can also cause other problems like Fish Kill. Fish Kill is a term that’s used when massive amounts of fish are killed off in any area of water, whether it’s in backyard ponds or even something as large as the ocean. When oxygen reaches a critical low, this causes a huge imbalance in the aquatic environment, causing fish to die. Most if not all the fish can and will die within 24 hours. Unfortunately, once this cycle begins, there is no way to stop it. The ponds environment has become too unstable and there is no way to turn it back around in time.

Thankfully, just like there are ways for us to avoid using up all the oxygen, there are ways to avoid slowing anaerobic processes and Fish Kill. By purchasing the proper aeration system, you can avoid this problem easily. In order to purchase the right system, you will need to consider how deep the pond you have is. If your garden pond is deeper than 6 feet, you will need to use an underwater system. Any ponds that are shallower than that can get by using a surface unit.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in again. Oxygen is one of the many crucial requirements for our existence. With each breath, remember how you live in an environment that has its own built in aeration system. Just as Mother Nature has taken care of you, you must take care of your garden pond. Make sure to get the proper aeration system for ponds the size of yours. If you’re not sure what kind to get, don’t be afraid to talk with a professional. After all, nothing is more important than the very air we breathe.

There are a lot of various things to consider when you think about adding a garden pond to your backyard in order to flesh out your landscaping designs. From the addition of fish to reviewing varieties of plants, there are numerous creative elements to choose from in order to put the finest personal touch on your new garden pond. If you haven't properly planned out how to execute the install and maintenance of your backyard pond, you could wind up shooting yourself in the foot before you're done. Careful planning is required on any project, no matter how small.

All of the decisions that are necessary to install a fruitful garden pond can be a little overwhelming to someone who has little experience in such a project. Whether you turn to friends for assistance, the library, or a professional contractor you'll need to make sure you're well equipped both mentally and physically for the task and that you have everything planned out ahead of time for your garden pond. There are some things you just can't go back and add later. Here are a few things to consider when you begin planning your pond.

• I want underwater lighting?
Lighting not only ads ambiance within the water, but it can be extremely calming and create a tranquil mood when viewing your garden pond at night. If installed properly, the lights can be hidden within the rocks to create a strange "natural" glow in the water of your garden pond.

• What kind of plants do I want in my pond?
Aquatic plants play a large part in the ecosystem of your garden pond. Not only are they a biological filter to help keep your water clean but they naturally aerate the water by supplying fresh oxygen to lower levels within the water. Aquatic plants are a natural way to keep your garden pond looking fresh at all times.

• If I add plants, how many should I add?
It's easy to go overboard when it comes to decorative plants around a garden pond. The best way to keep your design simple and avoid choking off the pond's surface entirely is to keep the number of plants at about 30% surface coverage, but not exceeding 50%. Keep a variety of plants by mixing marginal's, oxygenators and other small species like lilies.

• Do I want to add Koi fish to my pond?
It's never mandatory to stock fish, but anyone with a garden pond will tell you that it's quite the fancy and a joy to watch. Not only do they add to the color in the rippling waters of backyard ponds, but also they help maintain a balanced ecosystem.

This should give you some general insight and a few things to think about as you move toward installing a wondrous new garden pond to call your own. If you have any issues with preparing for your install, you can always contact a local contractor near you.

Building a habitat for wildlife around your garden pond ads a great deal of interest to your property. To the members of the natural world around you, you're considered a hero. Out here on the west coast, fresh water that is clean is something of a scarce commodity. It's more of a miracle to wildlife. The moment you fill your garden pond with water, the natural world will begin flocking to your property – no pun intended. Insects will be the first to show, particularly the colorful kind like dragonflies.

Birds have an innate ability to locate water, especially if they have a good vantage point high in the air. This means they'll quickly spot your garden pond and will be swooping down in no time. Locating your little pond is short work for birds that spend their days hunting for small sources of food and water in the Sierra forests. Birds of all breeds love water, and by building habitat ponds, you provide them with plants to nest around, water to drink and insects to feast on.

If your goal for developing a garden pond is to attract wildlife and other birds then you need to consider the size and contours. If you have Koi in your garden pond, then tadpoles that spawn in the shallows of the water are considered food. You can't expect natural cycles and the food chain to stop just because it's your pond. This means constructing your garden pond so that your habitats are protected from one another. Unless of course you want nature to run its course naturally – no pun intended. Well maybe a little. If that's the case, then by all means mix and mingle species.

If you are developing a garden pond habitat specifically for birds, your pond will feature contours with wide shallows and easy slopes for the birds to easily enter the water and bathe, eat and drink. Take the time to survey your yard for the ideal location where birds seem to congregate. Providing them a bathing spot where they already gather is like opening up a chocolate egg to find more chocolate inside. It's a double bonus and they'll love it. Keep your garden pond away from heavy plant cover and bushes though. While the décor might be pleasant to look at, it's an easy place for other predators (like neighborhood cats) to hide and spring an attack on your birds.

You may want to try to control the bug population, as you notice that having a garden pond means insects. A pest-free garden is not a bird habitat. Putting down pesticides and insect poison is a quick way to kill off local birds and poison your own water supply. If you stock fish in your garden pond, you might as well dump poison directly into the water if you try to chemically control the pest population.

The best natural habitat ponds are the ones that are left to grow naturally. Save for maintaining a good Ph balance in the water, you should let nature takes it course. It won't take long for mother nature and all her little creatures to move into your back yard garden pond and call it home.