I've had the same problem. And I surely wouldn't want anyone drowning because the water is too hard to get to and out of. I ended up putting a plant (in a container) on a milk crate. The milk crates are nice because fish can hide in them. What I think is perfect is if you can put a crate, and then a potted plant, so that the top of the pot/soil of the plant is just a tad above water level. That way, they can land on the plant's soil and lean over to get a sip of water. Don't put it too close to the edge though. Actually, though, I've seen birds all summer landing on the aerials of my lotus and climbing down and just drinking water that way. So maybe just growing some reeds, etc. might be enough. At the bird store, I've seen big arched rot iron things that you could clamp onto the side of your stocktank, and then hang a birdbath saucer from that. I'm glad you're trying to keep the birdies safe from your cats. And I really like your benches!! How much fun to just sit there and enjoy your pond!

I replied to your post, cjc45, a couple of hours ago, but somehow it isn't here. Usually that means the "Submit Response" button wasn't clicked, but I'm SURE I clicked it. Oh, well. Guess I'll try again. I'm glad you have been spurred into creating a pond, cjc. Every garden deserves one! I don't know why we went five years without one at this house...oh, wait. Money and time, that's right! We were going to put a larger, in-ground pond with a stream, and it was going to be VERY labor-intensive and costly. I'm glad we decided to go this route, or we might have been another five with no pond to enjoy! I've seen two ponds close to each other, with a "bridge between them, planted so that it looked like water might be connecting them. It was very effective. You could even just put some rocks between them, with broms on them, or a waterfall into one of the ponds, and it would give the same effect, I'll bet. I have been to Biosphere lots of times and have known Jim Thomas for over 30 years, but I haven't been out there in at least a year now. I need to get back over there. It's a longish ride from Sanford, but worth it. The last time I was out, the pond area was just getting going. I'll bet it looks great now. Anna, somehow I missed your post earlier. Thank you so much for your kind comments...coming from someone with a pond as beautiful as yours, it's especially nice. You have one of the prettiest big ponds I've seen, for sure. Yes, I expect I'll be getting tadpoles and will have to try to figure out if they are good guys or not. The doves walk around the rim of the pond and bend over to drink, but the smaller birds go to my birdbaths. Not quite as frightening looking to them. Potter stands on his tippy-toes and tries to drink, but I discourage him. He has his own water dish out there and doesn't need to be drinking pond water. He has also jumped up on the edge and walked around, looking in the water. *sigh* I will be very unhappy if he messes around and falls in! My yard is starting to have a bit of color in it again, after much very hard work. We had to tear out so much dead stuff, and I basically started over. I've put in a lot more things that are cold-hardy, and some natives, like Walter's viburnum and Simpson Stopper. I don't want to go through another devastation like this winter produced. A few things came back, but most had to be removed. I think I'll try to find time tomorrow to post some before and after shots, just to reassure myself that it is getting better out there. The pond helps!! Marcia

Marcy, I bet the tanks look gorgeous painted with that hammered copper paint. I thought about painting this one, but it is in our three-year-old granddaughter's 'Peter Rabbit' garden and she wants to paint everything in it, including Peter, a really hot pink. I think hot pink looks great on a Barbie car, but not necessarily in an old-fashioned-looking garden, so I have tried to avoid painting anything until she's old enough that we can negotiate some color other than hot pink. She does understand that the picket fence we're working on will be painted white (currently the whole garden only has deer fencing, but we'll work on the white picket fence soon....just as soon as the cool-season harvest slows down a little. I have to tell you that planting the potatoes was a fun experience. I bought some kind of organic purple potato in late autumn or early winter. I believe it is Peruvian Purple. I left the potatoes in the root cellar (aka to sane people as an in-ground tornado shelter) in a brown paper grocery bag and pretty much forgot about them. In February or March, while looking for something else, I found them. Those little 3" potatoes had grown big long purple shoots right up to the top of the brown bag. So, the only place to plant them was in the tank. We put down about 8" of potting soil, set the purple potato 'trees' on top of that soil and carefully backfilled around them with more soil and then watered it well. We planted ornamental sweet potato plants and petunia plants around the rim of the stock tank later on after the weather was a bit warmer. I am pretty sure we'll get a great yield of potatoes since they're in great soil, and the darn plants are now about 3' tall above ground, and a good 18" deep down in the soil in the tank. They are monsters. That's a good thing though....I want her to have a great harvest in her first year of gardening. So far, all she's harvested are strawberries and snap peas, both of which are foods she likes to eat. She understands she's got potatoes growing in the 'swimming pool' as she calls it, and she knows french frieds are made from potatoes, but I'm not sure what she'sll think of purple potatoes. There are many "cute" plants in her garden, including Hansel eggplant and Gretel Eggplant, and Tomatoberry cherry tomatoes (because the fruit are heart-shaped), Tumbling Tom Red and Tumbling Tom Yellow container tomatoes, and lots of pink and purple flowers, among other things. I love growing in stock tanks and need to get some more. Growing in containers is so much better than the monumental amount of amending needed by our red clay soil, although I do that too. About 5 years ago, I got one of my 'old rancher' friends to try planting tomatoes in molasses tubs. As a long-time home gardener who was then in his early 80s, he didn't seem that crazy about the idea but gave it a shot. He has been very, very pleased and now that he's in his late 80s. it works out very well for him. He put his tubs up on an old table so he doesn't even have to bend over to plant them and he positioned them where they get shade during the hottest part of the day. I believe he told me a few weeks ago that the only tomatoes he planted this year were in his tubs. I like container gardening more and more and more...the more I do it, the more I like it...and I am not even close to being in my 80s yet. lol Dawn

Counterpoint :) Look up wicking garden beds. Here's an example: http://www.instructables.com/id/Wicking-Beds/ Basically, you'd turn your stock tanks into large self watering containers like Earthbox or others. You just fill up the bottom with lava rocks or gravel until it's slightly above the water spout. Add dirt and water as you normally would. Water wicks up into the garden soil and keeps it nice and moist while the drain keeps the soil from being waterlogged. But there's always an inch or so of water in the bottom available to wick up into the plants. Wicking beds are gaining in popularity since there's no wasted water. Here's my wicking bed done with a bed of lava rock and fabric bags. They never get watered from the top, only soak up water from the bottom: