Country Escape's 2nd pond - Goldfish only

[j.w]

Very well done CE! You explained it all so precisely too and you did it all yourself! Now lets hope our trees survive and grow to be bigger and beautiful for both of us and for others after us to enjoy :blueflower:

 

[Fishylove]

Yay!! You go CE! If I only had a tractor!! Muuuwahaaa! The things I could do!!

Here is the Sweetbay I have:


The water iris has gotten a lot bigger-


And as you can see, lol, the water parsley went crazy! Gonna have to pot it up I think


The smaller Taro is the Mojito' it's so pretty, I would like to try one in the bog this spring, but not sure how they do.... Anyone have a Taro in their bog?


I got this at Lowes on the ' left for dead ' cart and babied it, and now it's Blooming!!

 

[Fishylove]

If you look at the first pic up close, on the bottom is a start! Now I know for sure that one is not at weed. :cheerful:
So that ones got your name on it! Lol second time is the charm!

 

[callingcolleen1]

Good job people, nice pond plants and kitty Fishy Love!
CE, you sure can get a lot done with that big tractor! You remind me of Dorothy on the Wizard of Oz, your a hard working farm girl who lives by a sunny windy corn field!

 

[CountryEscape]

Haha, Colleen, yes I guess I do live by a windy corn field. That's for sure! Come fall, when the winds start whipping up, my house can really "talk" with the force of the winds. I don't care for that too much, but have no choice!
Fishy, yes, that does look like a baby Sweet Bay for sure! Nothing like what I have, so I will pull what I have planted ... or wait until spring and see if it comes back. My variegated iris is about the same size as when you gave it to me, but next year it will have a better chance, not that the penny wart has been pulled from surrounding it and hogging all the sunlight! It's very healthy, just didn't get much of a chance to grow.
I have the Mojito elephant ear/taro. Bought a pot of them, very similar to yours, plopped it right into my stream, about half of the pot under water. It grew great!!! So, it will be fine in a bog. Looks like you have several plants/bulbs so try it in several places next year. I also have 2 black taros in my koi bog. One is it's 3rd year, and can't remember if that is the taller one, or the tiny one is the same little bitty one. I have a feeling the plant I got from Larkin is the tall one. both will be brought back inside and stored or kept in the basement for winter.
I would love to have that baby Sweet Bay Magnolia, Fishy!!! Thanks. And, as promised, you can have all the penny wart and water clover you want next year, but be careful about how much you request! I see the water parsley is growing well; however, wait til next year. What I learned is the first year, it grows, the second year it THRIVES!! It will get 12-18" tall and take over an area, so just be careful.

 

[Fishylove]

Omg! It will get taller!?!? Well I better get it under control huh?!

 

[Fishylove]

Thank you Colleen! That kitty name is Tinker.... And boy is he a Stinker!!

 

[CountryEscape]

Fishy, can you see the parsley on the left side of the bog, behind that branch? This was taken in May, so keep in mind now it's more like 12" tall! Yep, it will grow and spread. I just looked, was going to take an updated pic, but the PW and WC have drowned it out. Good part, it's easy to pull. Bad thing, it can pull other delicate plants out along with it! I checked the green/white iris, and it's doing just fine. Probably very glad it no longer is under the shade of the penny wart. The PW, water clover, and parsley are all GREAT for the bog, don't get me wrong. All those roots are doing a fantastic job at filtering the goldfish pond water, which remains so clear I could count pieces of rock on the bottom. However, I want a "showy" bog for the one across from the koi pond, which is more visible from the deck off of my house.

 

[CountryEscape]

I planted the area around the well housing yesterday and Sat. Yesterday was sunny and mild wind, beautiful day. Sat ... not so nice, very windy and cloudy/chilly. But, I got it pretty much done. Just need landscape stones to go around the edges to keep the mulch in, then spread the mulch out to the edges.

I thought of Colleen when I did this little path to the door of the well housing. I used old bricks I dug up when I was transplanting hostas around my old elm trees. They were 6-8" down, under the dirt, so must have been a walkway or maybe lined a flower bed between the trees at one time many years ago. Then I used pea gravel in between them. This is my best effort at "cobbling", Miss Colleen!!!

Mulched the large oak tree I moved about a month ago. The leaves have all turned colors, and now are brown with the hard frosts we have had. I sure hope it's not dead, but won't give up on it until next summer, if it doesn't leaf out, I will know then. Hoping I got enough of the root system for it to grow, though. And, have been deep watering it, too. Once a week now with the deep water, was doing it every other day first week, every 3 days 2nd week, last week twice, this week once and once a week from here until end of November, I figure.

And, I saw a tiny frog and small bullfrog over the weekend. Guess they have not all gone into hibernation yet. This butterfly and honey bee were enjoying the sunshine yesterday, too!

 

[sissy]

I need mulch to finish planting my tulips but only one that has mulch again is over 25 minutes away and they do not give you much for 16 dollars .The others give you a big scoop these guys give you enough for 2 lawnmower carts of mulch and they are not even full .Other guy I get it from fills my truck with the bed extender in it and it is only 18 dollars but he has none :sad:

 

[callingcolleen1]

Your yard should be beautiful with all those tulips come Spring Sissy!

CE I love the brick cobbing to the little shed, and the tree should be nice come spring too!!

 

[CountryEscape]

Wow, Sissy, the mulch I get is expensive. I get what they call a yard and it takes 2 yards to pretty much fill my pickup's 6 1/2' bed. And, it's more like $40/yd, too! The black is the cheapest, red which I have in some beds is more expensive. My landscape place is closed now for the winter, too, but I can buy it in the bags all year long at Menards, if I need just a little more. I put lots of extra up against the wall of the well housing so when I get the landscape stones for the perimeter, I can pull it out to the edges. Need to remember to drive the truck and get the stones tomorrow. Can't decide if I should use the large stones, or the bullets this time ... used the large stones in front of the brick path in front of the door, but that was because I had them as extras, and needed something to hold back the pea gravel. Guess I'll see which is cheapest, as I have both styles in my landscaping.

 

[haver79]

CE quite an undertaking moving that big tree. Hope it survives for you.


Sissy hope you share some photos in the spring of all these tulips you have been planting. Should be quite a show.

 

[CountryEscape]

Netted my goldfish pond this afternoon. Not that many leaves in there, but did get about 4 nets full of leaves and stuff from the bottom. Found one trapdoor snail in the gunk, was careful to check it all out as I dumped the net into the wheelbarrow. Cleaned out the stream, so free flowing water again, not so much parrots feather in there, hoping no blockage this winter when it ices over. Last winter, no problem with the water flowing all winter, so going to raise the edges and make sure it's all good to go again this year.

 

[CountryEscape]

Got all of my "yard art" (metal art, solar lights, shepherd hooks, hanging pots, etc.) put away for the winter, so now I can finally say I'm done my gardens and ponds until spring. The pumps are still running in the ponds, for now, but eventually when it gets really cold and ice forms, I'll be running bubblers and shutting most everything else off. Will leave the goldfish bob running, though, as no threat to overflow from ice, and since it's pulling water from mid column, and putting it through the bottom of the bog which is 12" below ground level, pretty sure that would not be cooling the pond. Rethinking the koi pond, though. May leave the bog running as long as possible, as long as water doesn't freeze in front of the skimmer. Then would have to shut that off. Waterfall will get shut off eventually when ice gets thick, so as not to cool the water more than necessary. Hoping for another mild winter, though. :blueflower: That would make 3 in a row, and I just feel like we are not going to get lucky again like that, but we shall see ....