I'll second the Parrot Feather statement. Look online for anyone nearby on Craigslist that might be giving some away or just place an ad and ask if anyone has some. Parrot feather lives directly off the nutrients that are available in your water, and if you have that much algae, you have a lot of nutrients available for algae to grow. Parrot feather is partially submerged but grows fern above the water, much nicer to look at than algae! (google it and you will find pics of it). Also, on getting rid of the algae, if it's the stringy type of stuff and can be wrapped around a stick or something, I would suggest you get a cordless drill, put a long stick in it (or whatever you have that you can put into the chuck on the drill) - at least 2 feet long, get some of that algae started around it and turn the thing on. It will wind that junk up in a hurry.

Just thought of something- what about the ducks and geese we have each year? I guess they mostly fly in and out. But they do hang on the edges and walk up to the banks at times. They never bring their babies back here though- the bass will take them. Would an electric fence kill anything? Or hurt a great blue or other water fowl? I know the GB gets fish- along the edge. Sunnies mostly. But the blue eats what he gets and moves on. This should be another post maybe- our pond is very established- but we have some large mouth bass in there that are BIG 18"? I think some should be fished out and relocated. They eat everything. A tennis ball fell in the water once and a bass took it- let it back up in a few seconds. We once found a bass at the edge of the pond with a big sunny lodged in it's mouth. The bass was dead- the suuny lived after we freed it. Our kids scared a frog to jump into the pond one eve. Bass took it. What's anyone's opinion about getting some of those great big bass out? We never fish and eat. If anyone ever fishes here, everything gets thrown back. We would relocate them to a big lake nearby.

They don't get much larger than your hand. A 1# crappie or sunfish/bluegill is a LARGE one. With Sunfish/bluegills, I personally prefer them scaled and filleted with the skin left on. The fat under the skin is SO flavorful and it's lost when the skin is removed. Doesn't make much difference on Crappies, although I do like fish skin on panfish but it's so much easier cleaning without scaling. My dad would never filet fish. Chop the head and gut 'em. My mother would only lightly flour then fry the fish. No heavy breading on hers. And use shortening, not oil. "Golden Fluffo" when it was made! I hated fighting the bones, but the crispy tails and fins were (/are) good! A nice moderate coating of seasoned flour and into the fat and cook those babies golden brown. To quote the commercial: Good stuff Maynard!

Thank you for your comments suggestions and encouragement. I am posting a few photos this time and it will show what I have used and how I made certain things. Firstly, perhaps I should mention that what happened as I searched deeper into planting in a steep-walled pond (with no sloping, shallow end) was that I found myself reading more about hydroponics and aquaponics. Because of the methods used in these fields, I have been using the sheet polystyrene (rigid sheet foam, or what have you) as you will have noticed in my video. My latest island (oh my, doesn't that sound grand!) is a 4 ft x 8 ft x 2" thick sheet with a 3/4" PVC (schedule 40) frame. For transport reasons I had to by 4 sheets at 2' x 4' and join them to make an 4x8. Having done this I decided that a PVC frame would help keep it together and assist with anchoring/mooring it. Here are a couple of photos: I joined the sheets with Gorilla glue which works very well. I jointed all the PVC with the appropriate glue to keep it airtight because open PVC tubing will sink. I then added some 'lumps' of polystyrene glued together and hacked them about to look like rocks: I angled the edges of the island and painted the sides and top with some exterior household paint I had lying around. Then I painted the rocks with acrylic paint of various reds, blues and browns until they looked natural (!?) Here is a photo or two, what do you think? (The wire is a set of solar night lights) Given that the ground cover in the foreground should later cover the nasty brown of the surface, I think (hope) it should turn out alright. Oh; one other thing I did was to add a sheet of filter material to the underneath to encourage bacteria (I used swamp cooler pads, but in a roll). That is the reason I placed it next to the air stone column, as can be seen in the photo. I originally placed it directly over the air but found that it smothered the air column so effectively that it made the whole of the pond appear to be still, like a mill pond. Clearly I did not want this so I moored it to the side of the column. The air bubbles assist the bacteria and will therefore help clear the water. Most of what you see there, plantwise, is a ground cover but there is also mexican feather grasses and some herbs (sage, parsley, etc). BTW. The photos are in high-def so you should be able to zoom in if you wish. Other updates: The lobelia is getting towards its end but still looks OK. The goldfish continue to grow, and goodness knows how many mosquito fish are in there now. I might have to consider another fish to keep them under control as there is no sign of the goldfish doing this and I am told that they should eat the eggs or small fry. Any suggestions welcome. Overall, the water is starting to clear, possibly thanks to the addition of barley straw and pellets. Pontyrogof; Interesting idea of wattles made with stuffed stockings Victorian_bellefonte; Cork, eh? Never thought of that. It should look very natural but does it not become too waterlogged over time. How about a photo of some you are using. Nice-looking pond, too! Mary; Thanks for the nice comments. I'm hoping to put an update video soon. Donna; I have had no success with water hyacinth or water lettuce, never have; I think it might be the full sun the pond gets. Thanks for the interest and keep those ideas coming, please. Steve