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.
JUNE 2020: June, moon, spoon...map. Nope, doesn't rhyme. But no matter, June is a good time for maps, pond maps in particular. A pond map of surface dimensions and depths will help you calculate water volume and therefore a proper aeration system design, and determine fish stocking amounts. Mapping water volume can help determine how much irrigation water will put a dent in pond levels or calculate water loss due to leakage or supply and drought issues, and thus extra water needed to refill. Mapping can tell you how much depth and volume you've lost to sediment accumulation. Mapping now gives you a head start on the summer season, and time to cut off water quality and capacity problems.Like other aspects of your pond (history, inflow and outflow systems, piping, water quality, etc.) mapping helps give you a good understanding of your pond, and therefore a basis for doing maintenance and making improvements. For more information about pond mapping, click here.
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.