Got in the pond twice this weekend - I always want to wait as long as possible without actually dying of hypothermia. The water was cold, but not deadly so this was the time. .
Anyway, one trip in was to clean out all the lily pads and plant material that's destined to rot into the pond. Massive numbers of floating hyacinths - which FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER I was smart enough to buy only one this year - all had to be scooped out. Watercress removed from the waterfall. Bog bean, lizard tail, forget me not, you name it. When I was done it was a full 50 gallon trash can of vegetation. Sad to see it all go, but also kind of refreshing. Plus the water seems to stay warmer at the surface without all the shade - the fish spend lots of time soaking up the sun.
Day two was retrieving and repotting my one potted water lily. Well, one pot... much lily. And here's why we repot - doesn't look bad from the top, especially once it's all trimmed back:
But here's the reality of what's going on inside the pot - this was one mass of roots. I had to use a horn-hori knife to cut it into pieces. Ended up with two much smaller pans - this one was an old dishpan, which worked great, but for obvious reasons got VERY heavy and hard to manage. I managed to get some good small pieces of tuber with good growing tips, refilled with fresh kitty litter and slow release fertilizer. Should make for some great blooms next Year!
Anyway, one trip in was to clean out all the lily pads and plant material that's destined to rot into the pond. Massive numbers of floating hyacinths - which FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER I was smart enough to buy only one this year - all had to be scooped out. Watercress removed from the waterfall. Bog bean, lizard tail, forget me not, you name it. When I was done it was a full 50 gallon trash can of vegetation. Sad to see it all go, but also kind of refreshing. Plus the water seems to stay warmer at the surface without all the shade - the fish spend lots of time soaking up the sun.
Day two was retrieving and repotting my one potted water lily. Well, one pot... much lily. And here's why we repot - doesn't look bad from the top, especially once it's all trimmed back:
But here's the reality of what's going on inside the pot - this was one mass of roots. I had to use a horn-hori knife to cut it into pieces. Ended up with two much smaller pans - this one was an old dishpan, which worked great, but for obvious reasons got VERY heavy and hard to manage. I managed to get some good small pieces of tuber with good growing tips, refilled with fresh kitty litter and slow release fertilizer. Should make for some great blooms next Year!
