I’m so glad to hear that a lot of contractors are really busy during these trying times. Who would have thought that a pandemic would cause many of you to have your busiest year yet? People are definitely more homebound right now, and there’s not many places you can safely go on vacation. What better way to spend your stimulus check or vacation budget than on your backyard? My takeaway from all this is that a lot of people have wanted a pond or water feature for a really long time. So, when they had a bit more spending money in hand, they naturally gravitated this way. You don’t just wake up one morning and decide that you want one — am I right?
Speaking of new pond owners, I was excited to hear that the one and only Shaq O’Neil had a pond installed (article link) in his front yard. We sure had fun with this article by our feature editor, Jordan Morris. Jordan was a little bummed that he didn’t get to meet Shaq to write the article, but something tells me that the NBA superstar’s pond journey is only beginning. I’m looking forward to the next chapter in this story!
But first, we’ve got a lot more to cover in this issue. Benjamin Timmermans’ article (article link) about designing and manipulating water flow is a great guide for determining when to let Mother Nature take her course, and when you, as a designer, need to intervene. I also enjoyed Mark Gibson’s rundown of koi stressors (article link), which is full of tips for keeping a happier pond environment. Finally, don’t miss Patrick Simmsgeiger’s discussion about how ducks (article link), turtles and other pond regulars can actually act as “super spreaders” from pond to pond.
Happy PONDering!
