Yes, that's right - I killed 'em. I stomped them into the mud until was nothing left but their tattered remains, and then I trampled them some more...
Oh my poor poor plants, what have I done?
Today began the rebuilding of my waterfall, and unfortunately there was just no way around it - I had to make a lot of trips back and forth, and I trampled the moneywort until you could hardly tell they were living plants. Fortunately moneywort grows fast, so maybe by the end of Summer it will be recovering. If not, it will be back in full strength next year.
So today my sister and I managed to get a lot of progress made. After draining the whole pond by several inches (which had left the fish extremely agitated today!) we pulled all the sandstone bricks from the waterfall.
Once these were out of the way, I began digging. I'd had the great idea of filling the area between the filter barrels with dirt. Unfortunately the exit spouts on the barrels are leaking, so this dirt has turned into a water-logged clay which was putting pressure against the back side of the waterfall, and slowly pushing on the barrels. All of the dirt was dug back out while standing in the pond. I gotta tell you, it was a lot of fun! :banghead3: The area has now been taken back down to nearly ground-level between the barrels.
As a measure against further pressure on the waterfall bricks (and since I have a LOT of extra), tomorrow I plan to set up a layer of bricks behind the rubber liner, then put the liner back in place, then rebuild the waterfall on the front side of the liner. This double layer of bricks should really help keep things from moving around. In addition, I will *not* be refilling the area with dirt! This time I plan on filling it about half way with large rocks, leaving me about a 1-foot depth within the basin of the waterfall... More on that later.
After all the digging was finished, I focused on the barrels. When I initially built the pond last year, the barrel on the right ended up being about 1" lower that the one on the left. "What could one inch possibly hurt???" So I left it. And its been causing problems ever since (part of my overflow problem with all the water getting between the barrels). With the additional pressure from all the mud, both barrels had been pushed outwards at the top and were leaning, so we spent the afternoon digging under the edges of the barrels and wedging extra sand and dirt back under them. Now both barrels are sitting level to the ground and to each other, which should really help with finishing off the top of the falls.
Tomorrow the goal is to get the waterfall rebuilt, using cement on the outer layer of bricks (you wouldn't believe how much muck had accumulated behind the bricks!), and get the rocks laid in behind all the bricks. Once I have this initial base down, I will drape the rubber liner between the barrels to create a small bog area. This will be about 12 inches deep, and I will drop in a U-shaped construction of 3" pipe, which will be fed from either side by one of the outlets of each barrel. That will give me a flow of water up through the gravel, providing more filtration, and the small bog area will eventually become home to some carnivorous plants (I found pitchers and sundews that will survive in my climate).
So... the carnage from my murderous rampage? Behold the agony of their helpless plant-bodies...
Yes, this spot WAS covered in healthy plants 14 hours ago...
Oh my poor poor plants, what have I done?
Today began the rebuilding of my waterfall, and unfortunately there was just no way around it - I had to make a lot of trips back and forth, and I trampled the moneywort until you could hardly tell they were living plants. Fortunately moneywort grows fast, so maybe by the end of Summer it will be recovering. If not, it will be back in full strength next year.
So today my sister and I managed to get a lot of progress made. After draining the whole pond by several inches (which had left the fish extremely agitated today!) we pulled all the sandstone bricks from the waterfall.
Once these were out of the way, I began digging. I'd had the great idea of filling the area between the filter barrels with dirt. Unfortunately the exit spouts on the barrels are leaking, so this dirt has turned into a water-logged clay which was putting pressure against the back side of the waterfall, and slowly pushing on the barrels. All of the dirt was dug back out while standing in the pond. I gotta tell you, it was a lot of fun! :banghead3: The area has now been taken back down to nearly ground-level between the barrels.
As a measure against further pressure on the waterfall bricks (and since I have a LOT of extra), tomorrow I plan to set up a layer of bricks behind the rubber liner, then put the liner back in place, then rebuild the waterfall on the front side of the liner. This double layer of bricks should really help keep things from moving around. In addition, I will *not* be refilling the area with dirt! This time I plan on filling it about half way with large rocks, leaving me about a 1-foot depth within the basin of the waterfall... More on that later.
After all the digging was finished, I focused on the barrels. When I initially built the pond last year, the barrel on the right ended up being about 1" lower that the one on the left. "What could one inch possibly hurt???" So I left it. And its been causing problems ever since (part of my overflow problem with all the water getting between the barrels). With the additional pressure from all the mud, both barrels had been pushed outwards at the top and were leaning, so we spent the afternoon digging under the edges of the barrels and wedging extra sand and dirt back under them. Now both barrels are sitting level to the ground and to each other, which should really help with finishing off the top of the falls.
Tomorrow the goal is to get the waterfall rebuilt, using cement on the outer layer of bricks (you wouldn't believe how much muck had accumulated behind the bricks!), and get the rocks laid in behind all the bricks. Once I have this initial base down, I will drape the rubber liner between the barrels to create a small bog area. This will be about 12 inches deep, and I will drop in a U-shaped construction of 3" pipe, which will be fed from either side by one of the outlets of each barrel. That will give me a flow of water up through the gravel, providing more filtration, and the small bog area will eventually become home to some carnivorous plants (I found pitchers and sundews that will survive in my climate).
So... the carnage from my murderous rampage? Behold the agony of their helpless plant-bodies...
Yes, this spot WAS covered in healthy plants 14 hours ago...
Unfortunately I don't have and pics of the inside behind the falls, however I used my extra bricks and built an inner wall, then stacked some large rocks inside. This was after the first couple hours of work building the outer wall...
