Garden Head!!!!

[Opsa]

Awesome, BC!!! I can't wait to see more.

Are you doing a naturalistic thing? Almost looks like a streambed-to-pond thing. I like it.

[Bruder Cuzzen]

Hello Opsansus!, Thanks yee kindly and YES ,that's EXACTLY! what it is !

The original " plan " was to simply divert the rainwater from both my neighbors and my own house into an aquifer of crushed stones.
  Ever since the downspouts were disconnected from the grid water  floods the other  patios down the hill.

But I always wanting a little place by the water so I'm doing just that and recycling rainwater as well .

I'd originally hoped for a waterway of captured rain water to traverse the perimeter of the yard and have a moat that critters and beasties could use. I wanted a bridge as well , I'm hoping to find a justification for it .

The layout in the top pic' has been altered three times since it was taken three weeks ago . The original solution worked wonderfully and the  mature plants  looked great in their new home . But I couldn't find
a place to put my chairs and table ,  so the stream narrowed and was cut short , losing 50% of original capacity.

The second pic is of the Moat by garage that was a consolation  but again not enough area for furniture , so I placed drain "tile" in the garage side of the moat and covered it with crushed limestone .
The idea was to cover this  with red slate or more likely a sandstone slab...what ever's cheapest , the runoff from the garage would be filtered before entering the moat , fish could swim freely in rainy season but stuck in the moat the rest of the time.

However the water is presently alkaline , I can't imagine anything surviving long in there ...which is a good thing , no m' squiters but the water does look murky though the cloud settled down to the bottom of the moat .
Now , the plan is to flood the 10' x 15' membrane and have pirate regattas using RC models.

I wonder how long , if ever , it takes for acidic rain to neutralize the alkaline water?

[Aggie]

Hmm...  Bro, limestone will neutralize any acidic conditions on contact.  That being said, we have championship trout out of the Bow River, and it's coming straight out of limestone (Rockies), so you'll just need to find some high-pH tolerant critters.  A few good rainfalls should help flush things out, too.

[Black Bart]

It's been a damp start to the summer here in good ol Blighty.  The slug battle is intensifying!  I read recently that placing a grapefruit half in the garden will distract the evil critters from your veg.

[Opsa]

I hear you, Bart. The buggers are making swiss cheese out of my variegated hosta!

BC: there are fairly inexpensive test kits available http://www.google.com/products?q=+water+alkalinity+test+kit&hl=en&um=1&sa=X&oi=froogle&ct=title that give simple instructions on how to neutralize your water chemicals.

Here's one for ponds: http://www.petblvd.com/cgi-bin/pb/TTR16611.html?mv_pc=froogle

[Bruder Cuzzen]

Ths Sibling Opsanus !

[Opsa]

You are most welcome, BC. I imagine you can find something like those at some of the better pet stores that sell koi and other pond fish.

[Bruder Cuzzen]

 Hi Sibs !

I have 7 koi in total now , at least i think so , I rarely see them all at one time and three are almost invisible if they remain motionless above the pea gravel in the pond.
My youngest sibling brought over the first three koi which were about 3" in length for $5 , one was floating after 3 days .
The rest cost $5 a piece , one of that lot floated after 2 days  ( both floaters were primarily orange in color , I wonder if the orange colored fish disagree with the living arrangement ) .
The pond has now been moved closer to the house , has been dig to 1 meter at the deepest part of the pond to a few inches at the pebbly end and is about 2m by 5m .
Since I'm now on a tighter budget , I'm in no hurry to spend any money on the thing and am content to reuse any materials I can get for free , at the moment I'm still waiting for flagstones my brother offered me last year .
One of these years he might actually bring them over .
My neighbor ( Valiant Knight here in the forum , he doesn't pop in much ) has a case of affluenza , I think he's projecting his tastes and sensibilities upon me . He wants to see this ongoing project come to an end and finished off with all the plants , lights etc. etc. that them rich folks have in their ponds and gardens .
He is threatening to buy me more pond plants , colored gravel , lighting etc. etc.
He already gave me a watertight halogen light fixture with colored filters that clips onto my telescoping fountain , I adjusted the height and nozzle attachment so it appears that a large globe is rising from the water, the light makes the globe and pond sureface glow green (or five other colors , but I prefer green ) .
I still have to finish off the decks , I'm thinking of shorting the 8' by 10' upper deck to 5' by 10' . Before I put the deck  in I used to get the reflection of sunlight cast upon my dining room ceiling , the length of decking has cut it off and I miss watching the light dance around supper time .
I'm almost finished planting around the pond , I find the lily family the easiest to have around the water's edge since they drop very little foliage or other plant bits into the water .
The water hyacinth was a great disappointment , they all disintegrated , and they cost $4.50 each ! Lilly is doing fine in there and has doubled its foliage in only a month . As soon as I figure out how to reload or reset the damn digital camera I can send some pics .

[Opsa]

Wow, I can't wait- that sounds fantastic!!!!

My new raised "four winds" beds are looking volumptuous now and have yeilded bib lettuce, zucchini and basil, and are now ripening green pepper, tomatos, and cucumbers. I've also had some nice zinnias, four o'clocks and nicotania alata blooming in there. Very pretty!

[Opsa]

Hey, Garden Heads in the US-

There's a plant study that needs your input! They are trying to record changes in plant habits due to climate change.

[Bruder Cuzzen]

*sniff*

By being lazy and a bit wimpy to go out in the cold and supply my koi oxygen I killed them all *sniff* .

They where supposed to dormant !

But we had a thaw , the liddle guys become active and starved for oxygen because of the sheet of ice over the pond, this was in early Dec. and I am still reeling from the loss .

[Opsa]

Aw, poor sweetie. This happens to my Mom's pond every so often. Usually they are fine down in the leaves and crud at the bottom. We think it just freezes all the way through them, sometimes.

May flights of angelfish swim them to their rest.

All you can do is start over.

[Bruder Cuzzen]

I'm re-doing the pond layout for the 15th and final time ( I think ) .
The previous configuration was too deep and dangerous , with slippery slopes .I'm going to glue together the smaller pieces of PVC sheets to the butyl rubber membrane for a larger sized pond but not so deep ( it was waist deep , now i'm aiming at knee depth.
I was watching a program about the worlds treasures and the presenter was in Japan sitting next to this extraordinary koi pond .
Now i want my pond to look similar , problem is , I need  another half acre of land .
At the moment the pond liner has been moved as I do the landscaping and rock moving , the rocks have me concerned for when wee ones or drunken friends visit .
I'm letting the spring rains fill up what i have dug so far in the hopes that I can see what the pond perimeter will look like before i put down the liner again .
I also hope to divide all my bulbs so plants surround the pond completely , i figure i'll be done in two more years , at the moment the interior is still sucking bank account dry .
I'm patient enough to wait for free materials to finish the exterior .
My plan is to move the rocks toward the deeper end , away from potential slips by the water edge where a table and/or chairs will be , make and arbor for the grape vine , build a mud room for the back entrance to save a bit a winter heating , and place raised planters for veg ( so the cats don't use the soil as a privy .

Anyone that wishes to physically help with the project is welcome to come on over  .

[Darlica]

I would love to, but unfortunately I'm on the wrong continent and with a very limited travelling account.

I've done some digging in my mother's garden by my little house the past few days, I want a little water mirror but the plot I chosen is a slope with a lot of stone just beneath the surface so I need to dig up a lot more than just for the mini pond.

Mum says I'm turning in to a manic   and she would know, she's exactly the same.


Just a question because I know nothing about fish-ponds... Will the Koi's be comfortable in a pond that's only knee deep? As I understand it shallow ponds can get really hot in summer, too hot for some fishes but I don't know about kois.

[Bruder Cuzzen]

The koi will be okay in knee depth water , however if there are a lot of hungry big birds around they might end up as lunch , it isn't a problem where i am .
A problem with the water being to shallow for me is the raccoons , but I didn't have any trouble with them before when the water was originally about 1/2 meter in depth .

edit : I just got back from some landscraping , I'm hoping for a deluge to fill up what I've dug thus far , I'm planning on isolating the morning glorys to another part of the garden since they are so invasive .
One of my rhododendrens dosn't like the winter , so it's going to a more sheltered area .
I've started green beans and tomatoes from seeds my father saved , I hope they are viable after 9 years , he also saved some cilantro seeds that I plan to grow in containers .
I was given four asters which I must find a home for , but I don't know if they are still alive , I'll wait and see .