CW's Back Yard Water Garden Begins!

[addy1]

You mean building a (potential) snake habitat?

Yep!

 

[GBBUDD]

nope chippy's.
Snakes would not do well here if they started eating the fish while MOST wildlife is welcome there is a pecking order. Fish first , after three snakes it would have been all out war .

I'm a fool I'm planning on building a 6 foot tall x 12 foot stone wall this weekend . it never ends

Got the wall ALLLLLLLLLLLLL DONE.......... AND SO AM IIIIIIIIIIIIIII ALL ONE MAN BOULDERS BUT DAMN IT WORE ME OUT... PHOTOS TOMOROW

 

[combatwombat]

Ok, some quick math tells me that over the summer I lost about 2" of water per week. The pond is in full sun with no shade and we get pretty good evening winds, so that seems reasonable.

 

[j.w]

Looks darn good @combatwombat
My hubby was born in Vancouver!

 

[combatwombat]

A million little updates. More edging complete, aeration is in, fire pit patio is done (but missing a fire pit...), plants are on the way, and bridge build has begun. Oh, and the pond is full of mud!

 

[combatwombat]

So, I let @addy1 know that I was interested in some of her winter purge plants, and the first of (I think) 3 boxes arrived yesterday. Thanks Addy!

I took everything out and soaked it in a christmas tree storage box full of pond water. A massive load of water willow, irises, and some lilies she decided she could part with. She warned me that the box would be stinky. When I opened it up, I thought, "Hmm, just smells like plants." Then I got to the lily tubers. HOLY HELL! Those things stink to high heaven.

Made a trip to wally world for a few bags of that special kitty cat litter, 5 oil pans, and a bag of granular fertilizer. Got the lilies potted up today. Ended up putting 7 lilies in 5 pans set at 2' deep (don't have a 1' shelf). Might toss a milk crate under each one until they spring up, and then set them back down.

Definitely didn't plan room for 5 lily pots and the oil pans kind of spoil the view, but I'll find a way to disguise them. Yes, I know about digging pot depressions before placing liner to disguise pots. That's a detail that got lost until it was too late. Oh well!



Everything else is getting put in tomorrow. The two lilies in nursery pots in the bog have been growing, but looking a little sad. Picked them up to move them before adding more pre gravel to the bog and noticed the root system basically bursting out of the bottom and sides of the pot. I think they want to be set free!

 

[YShahar]

Nice! But won't the fertilizer cause an algae bloom? I recently tried to get some special aquatic fertilizer tabs shipped here from Amazon, but they failed to clear customs (seems I'd need to get a special import license. Ugh!). If regular time-release stuff works just as well, that's something I can get locally.

 

[addy1]

If regular time-release stuff works just as well, that's something I can get locally.

I use osmocote, toss 1/4 cup under the litter whenever I groom them ie fall or spring. This time it will be spring. Time release. It has never caused a algae bloom. Time release works great. I have tabs, quit using them, too much work to get into the pond and stick tabs in.

I did a slam groom job, cut off leaves, put back in pond. The excess tubers in some of the pots get removed in the spring. @combatwombat got some pot jumpers, ie tubers hanging out over the edge living on the bottom of the pond. One lily I sent the deer yanked it up and out from somewhere, ate all the leaves, left the tuber laying on the ground. I stuck it back in the water, 3 inch deep water, and it started regrowing. And a few other escapees were sent.

Definitely didn't plan room for 5 lily pots and the oil pans kind of spoil the view,

When they start growing, and in your area may grow year round, you will never see the pot again.

I drilled holes in the edges of the oil pans, put floating rope in a triangle type layout so I can snag the pots with my tool and drag to the edge.

 

[cas]

I drilled holes in the edges of the oil pans, put floating rope in a triangle type layout so I can snag the pots with my tool and drag to the edge.

I wondered how you removed them! Good advice!

 

[addy1]

I wondered how you removed them! Good advice!

It was yellow, now murky brown but still works.

 

[Tula]

Good idea to use the floating rope to make it easier to lift pots.

@combatwombat I'm reworking plants in my pond, since rehoming my koi. I made a really neat shelf using a thin slab of granite and putting bricks under it. I want to make more, but for now I'm using cement blocks to raise my lily pots.

 

[GBBUDD]

They sell an extension coupling for the culvert pipe you can use that to lift the pump vault along with a short piece of pipe .
Or they sell fake rocks that fit over the cap , and move the fire pit over

I also wrapped the culvert pipe with rubbe3r and put zip ties together and just pulled them tight in the lower ribs of the culvert.

Take a tree limb hollow out a channel on the under side and slip the wires for the pump vault in that they will be up out of the water and safe from little ones

as to the liner exposed in peastone why not get some clear epoxy and make a hollow tube one that has the pea stone imbedded in it

Your efforts are TRUELY showing you have made your self a unique paradise in a city lot.

I too recently started using my rhino main drain with the air bladder and it did the same it pushed everything to the outside edges. Re adjusting the return jets solved my issue . you could add those low volt mini pumps to push around or through the air

 

[combatwombat]

But won't the fertilizer cause an algae bloom?

I don't know! We'll see I guess. I have very low bio load on the pond now, so I don't think there's much risk.

When they start growing, and in your area may grow year round, you will never see the pot again.

That's true. Once the pads are in place, the pot will be invisible.

I drilled holes in the edges of the oil pans, put floating rope in a triangle type layout so I can snag the pots with my tool and drag to the edge.

Smart. Might make that modification when I get at them again.

I made a really neat shelf using a thin slab of granite and putting bricks under it. I want to make more, but for now I'm using cement blocks to raise my lily pots.

Nice. I think I actually have all the plant pockets at the depths I need for most of the planting I want to do, the lilies would just take off faster if I could temporarily put them at 1'. I have a pile of leftover reject milk crates, so I can use those as temporary shelves.

 

[combatwombat]

They sell an extension coupling for the culvert pipe you can use that to lift the pump vault along with a short piece of pipe .

Have seen those at the local logging supply store, but the 24" ones are like a foot tall. If I raised it, would just be like 3". Could cut a band off of some leftover pipe and plastic weld it. Probably won't, though, because the other half of me wishes it were actually lower so I'd have more space between the top of the vault and the bottom of whatever firepit goes over it. I want to keep the top of the fire pit below the top of the rocks in front of it. May not be possible, though.

That one spot is the culmination of 6 different elevations all influencing each other. Really happy with how it turned out, but some of the tolerances ended up pretty tight.

I also wrapped the culvert pipe with rubbe3r and put zip ties together and just pulled them tight in the lower ribs of the culvert.

I remember seeing that, but now I can't remember why...

Take a tree limb hollow out a channel on the under side and slip the wires for the pump vault in that they will be up out of the water and safe from little ones

Good idea!

as to the liner exposed in peastone why not get some clear epoxy and make a hollow tube one that has the pea stone imbedded in it

Another good idea. Definitely want to protect that edge a little more.

Your efforts are TRUELY showing you have made your self a unique paradise in a city lot.

Thanks, sir. I can see now that the edging is the last mile that really brings it all together. I'd gotten used to the 5' of extra flopping around, but as I hide more and more of it, I can't stand looking at what's left.

you could add those low volt mini pumps to push around or through the air

Will experiment with it over time. There is so little surface litter most of the year right now—and not much aquatic life currently depending on the oxygen—that I think I can just shut it off for the fall while leaves are falling and that'll mostly do the trick.

Once I have a fish load and some of my own trees growing up, that may change significantly.

 

[GBBUDD]

instead of extending it slip the rubber i know that's not what you used but find some from a roofing job or a roofer and make a cover around the snorkel go down like 6 inches and use the rubber to keep the rock from falling in if you cut the rubber in a circle a half inch smaller than the narrowest rib it should be able to stretch it that much. if not wrap around it and zip tie . warmer rubber stretches better