Country Escape's 2nd pond - Goldfish only

[HTH]

I delighted in frogs and tadpoles when I was young. Now they are a nuisance. Maybe I should put up signs telling them which pond they should use..

Frogs Keep Left
No Frogs Permitted
Frog Pond 200 ft

 

[CountryEscape]

Keith, I see no ill effects with the turtle in my goldfish pond. Actually, tonight he is in the koi pond. Maybe he thinks better food there. LOL I would guess that they might eat some plants, but I've noticed nothing chewed on. I suspect he also may eat the toad taddies, but again, no loss there, there are thousands of them when they hatch. The only problem I see is what will happen to him in the winter. I suspect mine go to the other pond, or maybe burrow down in the mulch around the ponds. As long as you have a place for him to winter over, or maybe bring him in for winter, you could really enjoy them. Keep in mind, mine DID just swap ponds. So, they will get out if they can, and wander. I suspect I have a bunch of them in my farm pond. Again, too bad you're not closer! We could go turtle shopping. LOL Here is the little guy this morning getting his share of food before the koi smelled it on the lily leaves.

I may miss out on birds of all types and sizes here, but I sure have an abundance of nature as far as ponds go, I guess. having the farm pond helps as well!
I went to the local pet shop to replace my betta for the tank at work, and found this beautiful Shubunkin from the feeder fish tank! Had to beg her to leg me buy it, as she had put it in the plant tank.

Here is the Water Fringe or Floating Heart. It is overflowing from the stream into the goldfish pond in the first pic, and you can see the difference of the leaves of the Water Fringe and Lilies in the second pic. The WF leaves are on the top and right, and lily leaves are much larger, toward the bottom of the pic.

 

[capewind]

LOVE the floating hearts ... I have someone local who keeps trying to give me all I could ever want of it, but I know their pond is not healthy, so keep refusing it. It's one thing to wash plants well, but with that pond, I am a bit paranoid. No place to put any now, but if that pond was healthy, I do have spare kiddie pools til room was made. He must have a 100 sq ft area of nothing but floating hearts with easy access.

 

[CountryEscape]

Well, if you want any later this year, or next spring, just let me know!
Cattails are going nuts! I'd say at least 50% of them have "flowers" (cattails) on them! Last year I had one!!! So, maybe in the 2nd year they get the cattails. I really want to remove the ones in the koi bog, taking up more room than I have in that bog, but will let them have their glory before decide what to do with them. Nursery guy said that someone put them on the side of their big barn, where the water drained off, and they did fantastic. I would think they would dry out in the summer, if it was dry like last year.

 

[CometKeith]

CE, Thanks CE for your advice. I used to have turtles when I was a kid so it would be interesting to have them again, however logically I should leave my pond alone because it has been so easy to manage this year. You never know what small thing you change that ends up having a big impact on the water.

 

[addy1]

Capewind, get some and soak it in a mild bleach solution That will kill anything living on it, or even a soap solution. Sissy soaks hers in peroxide, not sure how much she uses.

Beautiful fish you saved CE

 

[capewind]

Well, if you want any later this year, or next spring, just let me know!

Thank you At the very least, I need to wait til hubby has the time to get more gravel into the bog so we can make more room. Most likely, I'll ask you for some next year when you are thinning the cattails again. They really need to see more gravel in the bog, as I suspect they are going to start busting out of the pots soon. Hubby has some pea gravel here left over from a jobsite, but I sure as heck cant hump it by buckets 100+ feet LOL.

 

[capewind]

Addy, what would you call a mild bleach solution? and for how long can the plants sit in it? This pond is only a few minutes away, and the plants look great, but with all the problems he has had, I really dont know if I could bring myself to even take plants from this pond. IF I took any, I would leave them in a kiddie pool for quite awhile, I really am that paranoid LOL.

 

[addy1]

5% , soak for about 10 minutes, then if you really want to treat your plant well, dip it in a dechlor water solution, like when you dechlor a water for a fish tank.

I would test some of the plant first to make sure it does ok in the soak.

 

[CountryEscape]

Cape, the water fringe/floating heart I found grows the best when tucked in between rocks on the edge of a pond, or in a stream, tucked in the edge rocks. What I took out for the others I only had to move a couple of flat rocks on the side edge, and those roots were literally holding that rock on the slant. The roots were THICK, too.
Another thing I found today, the water parsley wants to come out of the bog and grow in the ground, and some penny wart WAS growing in the ground. Not sure how that got there, the PW that is, thinking I must have pulled some out, left the pieces on the ground, and it grew. Very strange. So, beware, don't let parsley, water clover (yep, it was doing it, too) or penny wart get out of your ponds, unless you WANT them out there. I'm going to do a massive thinning out this weekend. It's just way too thick. Problem is that I have to be super careful, make sure there aren't some "good" plants in and amongst the clover and parsley. It doesn't take long to pull it, but thinking the roots are down there just going to explode again soon. We shall see ...

 

[addy1]

lol CE my land plants grow in the bog, the bog plants grow in the land. It is on my list to do a pruning job.

 

[CountryEscape]

When I was at Sheetmetalman's house this evening admiring his pond, he had parsley in his ground beds around the pond! It didn't seem near as invasive as mine is in the bog, so maybe they do ok in the ground (his area is pretty much shaded) and if in the full sun, like my place, it would need lots of water.
Anyone know what this plant is? The plant itself is very soft, not stickery like it looks. Then, what looks like tiny clover in the middle is actually part of the same plant, maybe what the "bloom" looks like. Got it from Tim (SMM), and he has lots of it, spreads slowly, very soft and ferny looking plant, maybe 12" tall. He's never seen a flower, but I think the tiny leaves are the flower! (I also got a start of his sweet flag - also in the pic - since his is reproducing and growing, and mine is still very small, has not grown at all in 2 years.)

 

[j.w]

Kinda looks like the herb Rosemary. Rub it in your fingers and see if it smells like that................otherwise have no clue.

 

[CountryEscape]

Nope, it has absolutely no smell. That's what I thought it was, too, so first thing I plucked off a top and rubbed it and smelled it. Nothing. I'm going to send a pic of this and the other flower I have to that website Addy posted, I just have to find it again, not sure which thread, maybe the Spring photos thread? Anyhow, when I see that again, I'll post pics on that and see what those gardening people say.

 

[CountryEscape]

If only I could keep them at this color pattern! This is a baby from last year, was totally black about a month ago (2 more still are black) but has started it's transformation to all orange/red. Love the tiny spots of black on the orange background!

And, here are a couple of pics from a frog's point of view.