Near end of summer?
At M y nudist club. Weekend of runs, hikes, swim, tennis. But lotsa gardening! Stopped at nursery and everything 40% to 80% off. End of summer sale! Yikes! So, got ferns and hostas for my shade/Japanese rock garden. Will plant new day Lillies and some empress hosta roots/tubers too. Anyone else have fallish nude garden plans?
In the late fall before the first frostI empty my water features and place the water plants in the larger pond for wintering over. I turn all the ceramic water feature pots upside down so they cannot fill with water and inadvertently freeze and crack. I leave the leaves on the ground until spring to act as a mulch and insulation. I cover up the gunnera with cut leaves laying over the roots and any other organic insulating material. I turn the pond pumps off for the winter. That's pretty well how I prepare my gardens for winter.
Hawaii is great! Lived in Singapore many years. Understand joy of no winter. And also love the quiet of winter and the rush of spring! All good! Naturelover, thanks for the description. I don't have any water features in the garden. Would love onE. What do you have? Care? Had great day in garden! More planting tomorrow! Best to you both!! Thanks for the notes!
Hawaii is great! Lived in Singapore many years. Understand joy of no winter. And also love the quiet of winter and the rush of spring! All good! Naturelover, thanks for the description. I don't have any water features in the garden. Would love onE. What do you have? Care? Had great day in garden! More planting tomorrow! Best to you both!! Thanks for the notes!
Water features are easy and the simplest water plant to start off with is are water irises. Start off with a ceramic pot, seal the holes on the bottom or buy one without holes. Use a good exterior sealant or silicon. If the holes are large I make a plug out of thick plastic or a broken ceramic pot and even small pieces of glass. Take the water irises, you could dig one up if you are near a lake or marsh or pond or buy one from a nursery and it's tuber root and lay it on top of some soil in a smaller plastic planting pot that fits inside the ceramic pot. Place overtop the soil fine gravel or small stones to keep the soil from floating out of the pot. Fill the ceramic conmtainer up to the top, then place the plastic plat pot with irise slowly into the ceramic pot. If it floats then ad some larger rocks for weight. Voila you have a water feature. From there they can be more involved.
I have the following,two satellite dish ponds, the smallest above the largest with spillways cut into the upper. The water from the larger dish has a pond pump and filter which pumps the water into the upper dish into the ''marsh''. The marsh has bulrushes growing in it now. They have been there for so many years they no longer are in the pot I originally placed them. Koi live in the larger lower dish.
I also have an old lift tub from the seniors home I used to work. It has two levels. The tub is buried on three sides in the side of a steep small hill. The front is camouflaged by plywood covering the end with a rock wall covering that. Buried in the ground is a water pipe to the hidden upper reservoir. The entire area above the tub is covered with very small river pebbles. Sitting in the middle is a round granete ''millers'' wheel which has a hole through the middle. Under it is the hidden reservoir. The water is pumped from the tub up through the granete wheel and it bubbles out the top and over the edge disappearing into the pebbles.From the reservoir through a return pipe the water drops back into the tub. Those are my most complicated water features. As they are deep I don't have to do anything to them for the winter.
Another simple water feature also nothing I have to do for the winter is an old bath tub sunken into the ground.
Behind the house I have a small pond with a pond liner. It also requires nothing to prepare for winter. All of these ''ponds'' have a variety of water plants including water lilies.
I have an old wooden barrow which has seen better days. At first, being made of oak it was great on it's own sitting by our front door filled with water and plants. In time it started leaking so I put inside a plastic water feature pot you can buy at nurseries. Because of it's location the plants I show off in it are very interesting shaped or flower.
Last but not least are my four ceramic water features I do have to winterize.
To my wife's horror I have two more large water features to make. One is a very large in four pieces a metal satellite dish. That's going to take a lot of work. The other is an old Jacuzzi tub my neighbour gave to me when he was moving into town. Being fiberglass that will be easier to patch and change into a large water garden. I suspect the metal dish will have to be winterized but the Jacuzzi tub will not being so deep. The tub already has the hole started where I will place it into the ground. The metal dish has to be reassembled then sealed. These projects keep me busy.
I hope that wasn't too much information for you. I find making the water features so much fun and there is always a challenge with some aspect of figuring out how to go about it.
If you want a water feature, start out small with one ceramic pot. Soon you might also have the bug.
You're amazing, Naturelover!!! Thank you, thank you!!! Great info and so fun to read such a well-written response. Wow! Ok! I'm going to start! The irises, I've always admired them along the Potomac on Roosevelt Island! I'll find some for my garden. Quick question. If I don't have fish in the feature (raccoons), issue with mosquito larvae? Thanks!!! Will post pix!!
Still gardening here in So. Missouri. The tomatoes are finally slowing down and peppers are in full swing. The okra has just started producing in quantity and the cucs are cucing. We made more salsa this past weekend and the cupboard is now full to overflowing. The wife's friends at work are enjoying the abundance. I imagine we will still be eating a little from the garden into October when we can finally shut it down. Looking forward to it. This may be the last garden at this location as we are hoping to move even further out in the country soon. Then we can start all over from scratch. Yeah!
ArcheryBuff. Quick question. How difficult is okra grow and prepare? And is it deer proof? I love it, but am worlds worst cook. If I can't micro wave it, I starve! Thanks!! (PS. Was 99 here this weekend. 105 heat index. I gardened, but drank beer and water and coconut water constantly. Beer worked great! Anyone else with heat tricks for gardeners?)
You're amazing, Naturelover!!! Thank you, thank you!!! Great info and so fun to read such a well-written response. Wow! Ok! I'm going to start! The irises, I've always admired them along the Potomac on Roosevelt Island! I'll find some for my garden. Quick question. If I don't have fish in the feature (raccoons), issue with mosquito larvae? Thanks!!! Will post pix!!
you can buy mosquitoes larvae pucks. They float on the surface and the larvae eat them which kills them. If you have pets don't let them drink the water until the larvae season is over.
ArcheryBuff. Quick question. How difficult is okra grow and prepare? And is it deer proof? I love it, but am worlds worst cook. If I can't micro wave it, I starve! Thanks!! (PS. Was 99 here this weekend. 105 heat index. I gardened, but drank beer and water and coconut water constantly. Beer worked great! Anyone else with heat tricks for gardeners?)
Okra is easy to grow, if you wait long enough in the spring and don't put it out too early. It does not like cold. If you are like me, you plant entirely too much and have it running out your ears. I have 30 ft rows in my garden and I planted 1 1/2 rows this year. The first picking I filled two gallon bags. To store it for later use, I cut it up in slices about 1/2 inch long and shake it in flour in a gallon bag and throw it in the freezer. It last at least a year. I take out as much as I want and fry it in oil through the year. There are plenty of good okra recipe online, I am sure, but a microwave may not be involved. Basically, when okra gets wet, it gets slimy - fast. Hence gumbo. It also itches when you get the plants on your skin, so naked okra picking is an irritation. I eat mine raw out of the garden as a gardening snack also. This would meet with your culinary skills. Just pick it when the pod is less than 5 inches long and you will be okay. it can get tough and stringy and inedible if it gets too big. Let a few pods get really big, remove the seeds, let them dry and you are set for next year.
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