Last Sunday was the day I was supposed to install the new waterfall. Well, you know how that goes ... life gets in the way when you're busy making plans ... and it didn't get done - again!
There were other pond maintenance tasks to be done first and by the time that was over, I was hot, bothered, semi-wet and didn't feel like getting into the whole waterfall thing. So until next weekend ...
First off, the bottom of the pond was covered with "muck" again. Muck is the term coined to describe the various dirt, plant and fish waste that accumulates on the bottom of a backyard pond. I had successfully vacuumed the bottom of the pond about 2 1/2 weeks ago, and it was definitely time to do it again. Nothing is every an easy fix ... and I guess I'll be vacuuming the pond for the rest of the summer.
The Muck-Vac (www.muckvacdirect.com), however, makes this task is tolerable as possible. It does a great job, I didn't get nearly as soaked this time and even the fish are starting to get used to the plastic stranger in their pondIn order to properly vacuum the bottom, it's best to remove the plants. The bottom of my pond is home to a few waterlillies that are having an excellent blooming season. So I thought I'd take a shot of how the waterlilly plant looks outside its natural habitat. Pretty big huh?
Anyway, it doesn't hurt the plant to remove it temporarily, just don't let it dry out. This is also a great opportunity to trim back the leaves, lest they overtake your pond. The waterlilly pads provide shade, which in turn, lowers the temp in your pond, and is also an excellent place for your fish to hide from any predators (like herrings, for instance). It also provides a place for them to hide from you, so that's why I periodically trim them back. I like to see the fish occasionally, no matter how much they don't like being watched.
Lillypads also help keep algae from overtaking your pond, because they don't let as much sunlight in. If you don't have any waterlillies, you might want to invest. I know I got some of mine at Lowe's for as little as $5. They can winter-over in your pond from year to year and don't require a lot of care.
Another good plant that I use in the pond is the water hyacinth, pictured here. They can be bought at a pond store for as little as 3 for $10. Believe me, ONE is all you'll need. This plant is very invasive, and is actually outlawed in natural ponds in many states. A floating plant that rests on top of the water, if left on its own, will continually reproduce and take over the entire surface of a pond, choking out all plant, as well, as fish life. It does have a beautiful bloom though. A large lavendar bloom composed of many smaller flowers, resembling the bloom of a hyacinth, hence the name. However, the bloom only lasts one day, so enjoy it while you can. Once it blooms, the hyacinth plant can be thrown away, as one bloom is all it gets. Yes, it makes me feel bad to just throw away any plant, but at least every two weeks, I have to toss a bunch of these plants, or the pond would be doomed.
Another great pond plant I love is the Canna. I'm sure you've seen Canna before, they are large tropical and subtropical perennial herbs with a rhizomatous rootstock. The broad, flat, alternate leaves, that are such a feature of this plant, grow out of a stem in a long narrow roll and then unfurl. The leaves are typically solid green but some cultivars have brownish, maroon, or even variegated leaves.
The flowers are typically red, orange, or yellow or any combination of those colours. Although gardeners enjoy these odd flowers, nature really intended them to attract bees and hummingbirds for pollination (Wikipedia also states that they can attract bats, thank goodness I haven't noticed that in my garden).
Canna grow from swollen underground stems, correctly known as rhizomes, which store starch, and this is the main attraction of the plant to agriculture, having the largest starch particles of all plant life. Canna are not zoned for our area, so if you want to keep them as a perennial, they can to be dug up (or in my case removed from the pond) and stored indoors in a cool, dry place (the basement is good) until the following spring.
But check out this bloom ... that makes all the trouble worth it.

Recently neighbors of mine went on vacation and asked me to feed their tropical fish and water plants in their garden in case there wasn't any rain. Their home is currently on the market, so they wanted to make sure the yard was looking its best for prospective buyers.

While their tropical aquarium is nothing short of fabulous, their backyard is outstanding! Since they're moving, I decided to take some pictures on my last day caring for the property. Talk about a backyard oasis, they were happy to let me share the snapshots with you.

When you first step through the sliders off the dining room onto their covered deck (with skylights, of course), you can't help but be taken with the whole scene, but first let's start with the patio off the deck to the left ...
A chimnea sets the focal point in the corner surrounded by various ground covers and a bird bath. Just past is a hand-crafted pergola complete with Wisteria vine framing an alcove planted with irises, lillies and two clematis. Follow the path to the right up to the quaint gardening shed, surrounded by hostas.

Beyond that in the far corner sits another hand-crafted item - an exquisite suspended swing offset by more hostas and yet another pergola atop the back gate. (There's one more pergola on the other side of the front-facing part of the also hand-crafted privacy fence, complete with another Wisteria vine. It doesn't get more fabulous than this folks!)
All the plantings are just so ... the complete opposite of my garden. I tend to over think and over plant, as everything at my neighbors' seems to have been put just in the right place, with just the right amount of statuary for accent. There's also hand-crafted bird feeders and houses (have I written "hand-crafted" enough?) Yes, they're also very handy with power tools and wood work.
So if there's something they think would be perfect in a certain spot, unlike me who will search the net for it, they'll just make it themselves!

Check out this serene scene along the back fence, what bird wouldn't want to take a break and get a bite or bath in this pleasant setting? These are also the people I mentioned in a past blog entry that have taken broken lawn statues and placed them on their side in the garden, creating a natural rustic look.
And the best part about all this for you is ... it's for sale! While I'm going to miss my neighbors greatly, this oasis could be yours. I forgot to mention, there's also a pool, and if you think the yard's fabulous, just imagine the interior ... It's available via Century 21 Agent Sharon Sapp and can be found on the web thru her site www.berkshomebuying.com/ Check it out for more photos.

Coming up this week: Round 2 with the Muck-Vac (and other pond stories), Daylillies, Salvias and the Musa Basjoo (oooh what's that?). And remember, if you're planning a cookout for the 4th, cut your grass at least 24 hours ahead of time to cut down on possible allergies and green feet!

As I stated yesterday, relief not just from the heat, but from the endless filter cleaning I've been doing lately. Yes, it was a pleasure to get up this morning, open the curtains, look out at the pond and see a fully functioning waterfall! And I owe it all to the Muck-Vac (http://www.muckvacdirect.com/).

As I've stated before (just a brief history), last year our pond went from 16 fish to over 30. (It's hard to get an accurate count when they're all constantly moving around.) While we were pretty proud and flattered that our pond was comfortable enough for our fish to let nature take it's course, this has obviously more than doubled the amount of fish waste in our 240-gallon pond. Not to mention that over the winter I spotted two more wee ones swimming on the shelf.

So, this spring, needless to say, there was a lot of "muck" (the common word for pond waste) on the bottom. I've read many pamplets, websites and blogs, and they all say, once you hook up your filter, let it do its job and it will clean up the pond in a couple weeks. Well, while the water has stayed very clear, the endless amount of muck caused the filter to clog daily and I've been cleaning it every morning for about three weeks.

The expert at my local pond store laughed at me and said, didn't you vacuum your pond yet? Of course, I'd seen the vacuums they had for sale (starting at $200) and hoped I could find a cheaper way, if you know what I mean. Afterall, last year we had caught all the fish, put them in our 20-gallon pond, emptied the pond and power-washed it, using a wet-vac to suction all the debris out.

But I didn't look forward to trying to catch all the new fish (they're a bit smaller, especially the two newbies from winter). Oh yes, they swim leisurely on a daily basis, but when you're chasing them with a net, it's amazing how fast they can go. There had to be a better way.
So I Googled "pond vacuums," and came upon the very reasonable muck-vac ($69.95 plus $10 shipping). After a little research I decided to order one. And I arrived Monday, about a week after ordering.

According to www.muckvacdirect.com: "The 'MUCK VAC' is another innovative product designed to aid the back yard pond keeper as well as fountain and water feature owners. The product vacuums out dirt and debris without causing turbidity so that fish and plants do not have to be removed during cleaning. It has no moving parts and works simply by harnessing the power of ordinary garden hose pressure. "Utilizing the laws of fluid dynamics and a standard garden hose, Muck Vac Cleaning System is an easy and versatile vacuum cleaner for ponds and spas, etc. "Muck Vac Cleaning System is easy to use and assemble. Operated by the existing water pressure in most residentail faucets (50 psi is usually standard), Muck Vac can suck up most muck and waste from the bottom of any pond or spa. In fact, higher water pressure can create more vacuum power. "Muck Vac Cleaning System will not cause turbidity in pond. No need to displace fish or plants. Muck and waste is vacuumed up the telescopic pole and discharged to waste right out the end of the discharge hose. You can allow it to go into a bucket or right on the lawn, garden or a deck drain. Muck Vac does not put any water into the pond or spa, the water from the garden hose is purely for creating the suction under water. However, some water will be displaced from the pond or spa along with the muck and waste."

And I'm here to say that it actually does work! I do recommend wearing your bathing suit, however, when using it. I got soaked! Due to the water pressure, the discharge hose did not stay in the 5-gallon bucket I wanted it to empty into ... it flailed all over the patio until I shut off the valve! (That was my fault) So I just positioned it in various places in the garden and used the water/waste to fertilizer the plants.

While I'm very pleased with my first-time results, I plan to go over it again on Saturday when the sun's high and I can actually see the bottom. Because, when I first started vacuuming, all the muck on the bottom got a little churned-up and I couldn't properly see what I was doing. But I'm happy to say that I didn't suck up any fish, just some smaller stones from the bottom.

I probably worked on it about 30-45 minutes. The water was pretty cloudy afterward, but I added some Accu-Clear and the following morning, the water was crystal clear again. I could actually see the pretty malibu-gold stones on the bottom of the pond! I can also see the fish a lot better, even the all-black ones show up now against the malibu-gold. But the best part by far is that now I can get back to just cleaning the filter once a week!

Thank you Muck-Vac!!!

Up next -- just when you thought it was over -- the Fall catalogs are arriving -- aaarrrrgghh!