Let’s talk about why in the hell anyone would want to add a pond to an edible landscape, permaculture garden, food forest, or any landscape set-up to grow plants in the first place.

Fish emulsion, know more disgustingly as, fish poop, is an excellent fertilizer. Indeed, excrement of all sorts are excellent fertilizers and help to put some pep in the growth of the majority of plants, aquatic or otherwise. Also, when compared to the costs and labor of buying and hauling in composts, fertilizers, and wood chips, setting up a fish pond, which, when done well and well-cared for, is far less labor and money.

Imagine setting up your fish pond and being able to collect water to give your plants an organic and chemical-free fertilizer anytime you want without having to go to your local home and garden supply store. I’m sure you can already imagine being barefoot in your edible landscape, singing with the birds, and watering your peach trees with your oversized, fancy watering can.

The first thing that you need to consider about your pond setup is whether you would like it to be an in the ground Pond or a raised pond because depending on what you are going for the costs of setup and labor involved will be different.

For my own setup, I decided to go with raised ponds which have been mulched heavily around nearly to the point where the ponds can no longer be seen.

I started adding plants and bulbs around the pond into the mulch, in the no-dig fashion. As the plants grow in, they will hide the edge of the pool completely, giving it the appearance of being in ground without any of the digging. Though it must be said, that mulching is a high labor job, and it’s not necessary in order to do your own raised pond.

As you are about to do a lot of hard work in order to avoid more hard work and save a lot of money in the longer I, you need to think carefully about where exactly you would like to place your fish pond. Would you like it to be placed aesthetically pleasing way that complements the layout of your garden? Do you want to put it someplace where you can catch the most amount of rain water and then fertilize the plants around it when it overflows?

Do you have any experience with keeping fish? This is a real question. For many people, keeping a goldfish alive was a challenge, especially growing up as children and not quite understanding why goldfish were so boring.

We’re older, and hopefully, better now and has filed a higher purpose for the keeping and raising of fish. We need these fish to fertilize our beloved plants and to save us time, energy, and money oh, so now we are invested in keeping them alive.

For the new fish keeper, I recommend stocking your first pond with goldfish from any pet supply store, because they are inexpensive oh, and it will not require spending a lot of money to be able to study the fish, and stabilize your new pond.

As much as I hate to say it, but just because we are grown now, doesn’t mean that we’re incapable of killing fish because, like any living organism, they have specific needs that must be met in order for them to not only survive, but thrive in your system cuz that they can give you the maximum amount of fish emulsion to fertilize your edible landscape.