Planting some new ideas around the pond

Written on 29 April 2010.

Annette Jackson informed and entertained TAWGS members about plants to use in and around the pond at the April meeting. Annette is a horticulturist and, with her husband Dave, owns Jackson's Greenhouse.

Starting with aquatic plants, Annette showed an idea of floating a peace lily in a barley bale, which has a hole in the center for that purpose. She also talked about a lady that had thrown an elephant ear bulb in her pond and it grew very nicely. (I have had an elephant ear cutting planted in pea gravel in our pond for several years.)

Gravel bog filters & plants = a clean pond

Written on 28 March 2010.

bogfilter We all like to sit by our water garden and enjoy it with our friends and family, Deb Spencer from Waters Edge in Lawrence said at the March meeting.

But sometimes our beautiful pond becomes an ugly nightmare. The water turns green and we can't even see our fish, let alone the bottom of the pond. Algae grows and almost takes over the pond. Yikes!

There are several things that contribute to algae: fish overload, feeding fish too much food, too much sunlight and too much debris in the pond. The nitrogen cycle -food & waste equals ammonia, which turns into nitrites and then into nitrates. The key is to get rid of the nitrates.

What a winter!

Written on 01 February 2010.

gruverpond Boy, the Gruvers picked a good winter to stay in Kansas, didn't they? We've seen more snow this winter already than we usually see the whole season.

Ahh, Spring can't get here too soon!

Planting some new ideas around the pond

Gravel bog filters & plants = a clean pond

What a winter!

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