I hope the new guy in our area is able to keep afloat. (Sorry for the really bad pun.) He has had the kind of plants I think of as water garden or koi pond plants that I haven't been able to find short of driving 60 miles or more. I just found out he babysits them through the winter too. The big box stores either eliminated or drastically cut back on aquatic plants in the last three years. One large local nursery had just started selling aquatics and bog plants and I hope they still have a market for their third year. I don't know how many ponders there are in the area to support sales for what is essentially a niche market. It strikes me as strange that there are lots of contractors around but not a lot of day laborers. I really don't want or need the services of a contractor but I could use someone to get stone and cement from the front yard to the back where I can use it. It is annoying. The guy who gets rid of the leaves obviously wants to be my year round yard guy but he wants to do it his way, not mine. He doesn't understand that I have spent the past 8 years putting the wooded front quarter back to the way it was landscaped when the house was built for a local architect. If he was willing to cut up and collect the leaves as he cut the grass and put them in the wooded area I would hire him in a minute but all he wants to do is blow them into the street for the city to pick up. It's the same way some grocers are marketing frozen veggies now. Rather than stocking packages of one or maybe up to three veggies that go together well so you can use as much as you need for as many people as you have, they are stocking single use packaging with combinations I don't care for in amounts that are too much for my husband and me and seasoning them in ways I dislike and DH won't eat. He also hates leftovers and so too much goes to waste. What is wrong with letting me season my own food? I have stopped making favorite recipes because it requires an extra trip to the store to get fresh veggies instead of using what is in the fridge. I really don't want to go to the expense and trouble of cutting down a couple of trees in order to have some sunlight and then the additional work of prepping a garden, just to grow my own veggies and then finding a way to keep it for later use. I am worried there will be more lay-offs coming soon. I'm not working except for volunteer work but I can see friends and acquaintances who are worried. Local government has finally stopped crowing over the 100 or so jobs they manage to get to relocate to the area while soft-pedaling the major job loses as the larger manufacturers close their doors. If I do spend on the pond I may be redirecting my usual allotment to more permanent things rather than a lot of ephemerals like annuals. As long as I can continue to bring in the tropicals for the winter I will keep those going but I wonder if I will be able to add to them. Sandy

It will clear up. You can buy flocculant aids to add to the pond to help or you can wait. One thing...if he used mud from around your yard it may have had earth worms in it. I found out the hard way that Koi can smell earth worms VERY WELL and will do quite a bit to get to them. Turned my pond to a muddy mess in about 15 minutes after I put the repotted water lilies back in place. Since then I try to use subsoil and fertilizer tabs at the very bottom of the bucket underneath the subsoil and then cover with 1"-2" cobble or rounded rocks. They tend to not bother them after an initial "check it out". As much mud as you think there is it probably isn't so bad. I'd wait for the water to clear (and it will) and see how much of the mud is really there. If you have a bottom drain you can get it out that way. ---David

The Raccoon Factor: you build the pond with straight sides (no gradual slope into the water) and NO plant shelves. Raccoons like to wade into the water. With straight sides, they can't do that. Planting tallish plants completely around the edges of the pond also helps to keep predators at bay. Adequate depth (at least 3'--4' is better) also protects the fish (somewhat) from Herons. With depth you must also factor in safety for pets and children. As to bog filtration, that is best for a water garden with goldfish (unless the pond is very large, say over 10K gallons). This is because Koi are, honestly, poop machines. They are high-metabolism creatures that grow large and eat a lot to get there. They are dirty fish that produce a LOT of waste. Serious filtration is needed if you want to have more than 1 or 2 koi healthy for the long term. On the good side, I wash all my koi poop out of my filters onto my roses, and the roses are very, very happy about it. Free organic fertilizer. As I said before, plan, plan, research, and plan again. If there is a local koi club go to some meetings and see what is involved before doing anything. A water garden with goldies is just as restful and peaceful and beautiful as a koi pond with a lot less worry and work. Goldies are much, much less work. Lastly plan at least one if not more sitting areas right from the start in your pond planning and design. Many people leave that as an afterthought--and it's the most important thing! Why have a pond if you can't luxuriate there in comfort and enjoy it?

Just leave them alone and they should come back. Ours come back every year and in my opinion are invasive. Scoop them out for the mulch pile. when you have too much. They make great free soil amendements.Kathy