Country Escape's 2nd pond - Goldfish only

[gardengirl]

Hey sissy, happy early birthday! in case I get too busy this weekend!

 

[callingcolleen1]

Yes have a very Happy Birthday and a good 4th of July to all of my garden pond friend too!!

CE love LOVE those lights! They look great, and love the old hoe to, what a great deal! Just keep those bugs down south... I got the Asiatic lilys too, but never saw them worm bugs here, they sure are eating up your pretty lillys!

 

[CountryEscape]

I found out the little infant bag worm looking things are in fact ... baby bag worms. I sprayed them just once with Sevin, and they are all dead. Going to spray them again tonight, as we had 5 days in a row of rain, but no more damage noticed, I think what are on the plants are dead ones.
Learned something, though. I have 2 cedar trees in my front flower beds, and both of them died. They each have a bunch of bag worms on them, regular sized ones. The females are in the "bags", and the males breed them, then the females die. The babies emerge in the spring. So, if I had dug out those darn trees and burned them, I would not be having these problems now. I have now passed the word on to others. I always figured the bag worm things died in the winter, and if they looked like they were still on the trees, they were dead, but evidently not! Learning as I go ...
In case you didn't see the windmill on my other thread, here is the concrete pad I poured yesterday, and the tower that I spray painted fresh few days ago. Have to let the concrete cure for 5 days, so by then I hope to have the fin for the windmill made by then and can put it all in place.
Before painting pics:

Then after new spray paint:

Here's the pad and tower in back yard and view I will have of it from back deck.

And, pretty proud of myself and my first solo concrete mixing/pouring project! It's even level N to S and only 1/2" off E to W, but it needs fall for water to drain off, so I'm good with that! I can shim the tower if necessary!

 

[gardengirl]

Wow! That is tall!!! You did great on it. Cant wait to see it finished. The pad looks great. Do you have to anchor the legs down in case of strong winds? I found my next project yesterday. Found it for $30. I think it is cast iron. Going to become a spitter if someone can help me thru the steps.Lol[attachment=56973:2013-07-04 005.JPG

 

[CountryEscape]

I caved at Wal-Mart yesterday. Hadn't stopped at the fish tanks lately, so took a peek. Found several tri-colored baby fantails that I decided to get 5 of them. Put them in the pond yesterday afternoon, and this morning I saw at least 4 of them, swimming under the lily pads, munching away on the undersides of the leaves, probably chewing on the algae! Yippee!

And, my pet store guy says a plecostomus CAN survive in the wintertime here, as long as it has plenty of time to acclimate to the temperature changes. In other words, time to get used to warm, then stay in the pond while it cools off for winter. I'm going to find out! Not that I'll ever see this guy again, against the black liner that's going to be a chore, but once the lilies die back, I'll have a better view of the bottom.

 

[j.w]

Nice job on the cement and painting the windmill CE! I would have grabbed up those pretty little fish also. I'm thinking your pet store guy is wrong about that pleco. I don't have 1st hand info on this tho. They can't survive in cold water according to what I have read even if they go slowly into the cold changes. If he does tho I will be very surprised and happy!

 

[CountryEscape]

GG, does the fish have a hole in it anywhere besides the mouth? If not, might have to drill one, and if it's cast iron, good luck! If you don't have the tools, take it to someone who does. It's an awesome find!!
Yes, I have to anchor the legs, with the winds that I get, nothing stops the wind so EVERYTHING has to be achored down. LOL I got the bolts at the hardware store to put into the concrete, but the bag on the concrete said it has to cure for 5 days, so I will have to wait until Tues. In the meantime, hope to get a new "tail" made for it this weekend, and get the top put on, just so I can see it spin!!! I had a cheaper windmill about 7 years ago, didn't weight it down, kept falling over, messing up the windmill. Finally anchored it with landscape stones, but then the nuts would vibrate off the bolts, and it was a mess trying to keep the silly thing put together! Found out too late it DOES need to be anchored, and all the nuts should have been replaced with locking washer/nuts. It was ruined, so gave it to a friend who fixed it up, even offered it back, but I told him he could keep it for his trouble. This one will hopefully stay put. What they had it anchored with looks like exactly what I'm going to anchor it with, 3/8" anchor bolts, and they said it had never fallen over. This one is welded, not simply screwed together at the seams, so it's been made to last for a lifetime. No way could I have climbed up on the other one I had, which was maybe 8' tall. I'm really pleased with it!

 

[CountryEscape]

I agree with you, JW. The one I put in 2 years ago, I removed after at the most 3 months, and he had gone from maybe 4-5" to 12" long in that short time period. If this one comes to the shelf, begging to be removed, I'll bring him out. If he stays on the bottom, he's going to stay put and we shall see!!! I thought they could not live in water under 55 degrees, so this will be an interesting experiment. Not that I want to intentionally kill the poor guy, but if they CAN survive, I would much prefer to have one or two of them in each pond rather than a catfish.
JW, about how many hours of sunlight do you have on your pond? My sister that is moving to WI is going to put her new pond directly under the outer branches of a huge tree! I have tried my best to convince her NOT to do that, but in her mind, it's the "perfect" place, since it will be right off the edge of the patio. I want to give her a few lilies, but wondering if they will even bloom, if she only has a couple of hours of sunlight on them. I know my ponds are in full sun until after 5 in the evening, and after 6 for the goldfish pond. Hate to get her hopes up if they will only make leaves, never bloom.

 

[j.w]

He's in there now so just keep a good watch out for him like you said and if you see him when it starts to get cooler and he's acting funny you can pull him out pretty easy cuz he will be moving really slow. They get so big so don't know where you could plan on keeping him through the winter. Good luck and let us know how he does.

I have my pond right out front of my house in full sun facing south. I have a few bushes on the south side of the pond that shade it somewhat in early Spring and winter but not much in the Summer w/ the sun so high in the sky. I would not think the lilies would bloom very well for your sis if they are going to be shaded for too long. If she can get maybe 6 hours of sunlight they might do ok but if only a couple not too promising. If she does it she will be an experiment also and might show us all that it can be done. Maybe just give her a couple to start with and see how they do.

 

[CountryEscape]

That's what I thought, too, JW. I guess your cooler temps are what are keeping your lilies from blooming much yet. Soon! Here are a few more pics of the lilies in the goldfish pond this morning, along with the Water fringe (smaller yellow flowers) and parrots feather. I love this "angle", taken from pond level! The close up is the second Georgia Peach lily which had fallen off of the shelf. I put it back up on the shelf on Thursday, and was pretty sure the bud looked like a GA Peach. The bud on these is much larger than most of my other lilies (the deep fuscia is also very large), so was happy to see it blooming this morning in it's glory!

 

[addy1]

Mine are sun from dawn to dusk, they all do great. Lilies need sun, like most perennials.

 

[pond maven]

Yea, I didn't have much sun in Maryland and my lilies never bloomed. Hopefully this pond will do better. The day lilies I transplanted from the shade are blooming so that is good. Goodness Chris, your fish must be extremely happy, reproducing like crazy it looks like Have been hit and miss here on GPF but is that your new baby Chris? What a cutie! Windmill looks really cool CE. We had family in OK that had an old wooden one that still pumped water. I wish I had it.

 

[CountryEscape]

Pond Maven, before I moved to my house 4 years ago, I finally went to an old farm house, pit bulls tied outside and all, and knocked on the door, wanted to see if they would sell me the old AeroMotor windmill that was in the middle of the field behind the house. No one home, so I left a note. Didn't figure to ever hear from anyone, but the guy called me the following day. This windmill would have been a bugger to get out, in between crops, but it would have been worth it! He said it was on his family's property as long as he could remember, and he inherited the property. There is a tree growing right up the middle of it, and he SAID he climbed up there every year to trim the branches so the windmill could continue to turn. Well, I saw it few months ago, and could not even see the windmill, so I suspect the branches have taken it over. Really sad, as that thing will just rust away if it can't turn, and those things are worth a lot of money! People will pay to buy them tower and all, and this one must have been a really good one to be still spinning like it was. It was the kind to pump water in the old days, I suspect it had the pump on it still! Oh well, I'll settle for my $40 - 10' windmill. Just hoping the winds around my place won't lift it right up and off the pole in the spring and fall winds!

 

[sissy]

thank you gardengirl and been a long day today so far weeding and trimming .Love that metal fish and you got it that cheap wow .I goo on auction zip.com to look for local auctions ,they show pics of some of the stuff being auctioned off .Great job ce love the fish in the third pic .Gotta love those butt wigglers

 

[CountryEscape]

Can you see the 4 buds that are deep fuscia? Those are the solid fuscia colored lilies, and I sure was hoping they would have opened up today. Now I'll have to wait until next Saturday to see them. Hoping they will still be magnificent ... we shall see.

Not positive, but I think the pink lilies in this next pic are all on the same plant. Pretty productive, huh? White lily not nearly as productive, but the flower is larger and more beautiful in my opinion.

Addy, the star grass you gave me is sprouting new growth. This is just part of it, I've put it in different areas of the bogs and in this pot in the stream.

Speaking of stream ... can you see it? Or the waterfall? Yep, the stream is there in the first pic and waterfall in the second, but the parrots feather and ludwigia have taken over. I don't mind, as those plants are great filtering plants, and die completely back in winter time.

And, yesterday I posted a pic of one GA Peach next to the pale pink lily. Today there are 2 GA Peach lilies open. Can you tell why this is my favorite lily on my ponds? Once they get going, there are anywhere from 3-6 open at the same time. Must remember to fertilize them next time I'm in the ponds!