Welcome to earthponds
A resource for pond builders, pond lovers, and home owners.
Why earthponds?
Experience and Knowledge
Tim Matson is an award winning author about ponds, pond design, and pond building. If you are into pond building, planning to build a pond, or repairing an existing pond, you have come to the right place. Tim consults with scores of property owners each year, providing advice and counsel at reasonable rates. Photo by Joe Mehling.
Monthly Pondology Essays
Each month, Tim writes an original essay about pond maintenance; the latest trends in design; ecological concerns; and wetlands regulations. NEWS FROM THE WATERFRONT can be delivered directly to you via email. Use the contact form to sign up for the pondology, or contact Tim about your pond project.
MARCH 2021: Springtime is the traditional season for pond keepers to attend to pond maintenance chores, consider improvements to undertake in the new pond year, and for those considering building a new pond, time for site selection and initiating construction.
Spring is a good time to look for possible pond damage wrought by snowmelt and watershed runoff, and high volume stream inflows into the pond. It's a good time to confirm that piping systems are intact and there is no damage to the dam. You may be tempted to leap into pond repairs and construction projects, but keep in mind that the shore land soil is likely to be saturated and vulnerable to damage from heavy machinery, so consider holding off work until the soil stabilizes.
All work and no play makes for dull pond ownership, so don't forget the pleasures of spring: fish stocking and angling, first boating excursions and swims, bird and wildlife observation, and more.
For more thoughts on the rites of pond spring, click here.
Tim matson'S photography website
Another Side of Tim Matson
Before his work in pond design, Tim Matson was an award-winning photographer and story teller. His new website offers a look at early work, much of it never seen. Now you can.
"Matson has the eye of a cinematographer,"
The Harvard Crimson
CLICK HERE to visit the new site.
Featured book
Earth Ponds A-Z Encyclopedia
"Aside from some particularly thoughtful frogs and phragmites, no one on earth knows more about ponds than Tim Matson. His books have counseled and consoled me through the digging of two ponds, making a daunting process far more interesting and pleasurable than it deserved to be. His... A to Z Encyclopedia is the ultimate pond-owner's companion, brimming with sound advice, smart suggestions, and answers to ancient riddles. But this book doesn't only instruct -- there's delight here too." Michael Pollan,
author of the Botany of Desire, Cooked, How to Change Your Mind, and more.