July14, 2010, Multiply, Its raining in the garden.

It's raining !!!! (& riders on the storm)

Jul 14, '10 8:32 PM for everyone

This is more like November than July. It has rained and rained and rained all day. And not the sultry humid sort of rain that comes in summer. No, this has been a  fill blown torrent of freezing rain accompanied by the biting,  icy wind. Horrible, just horrible, especially horrible because today was the day I had planned to go to the garden center which is usually such a pleasant experience, today it was a cold, wet and miserable experience.  I bought a couple of new fish for my pond and, some compost and a few plants.

Oh and the irony, yesterday was warm and sunny and I noticed how much the water level in my pond had gone down. I spent a while giving the pond a bit of a clean and topping it up with lots of fresh clean water. Tonight, amidst lashing rain and under torchlight, I stood in the garden scooping out bucketfuls of water from that same pond because I was so afraid it would overflow during the night and my poor little fishes would be swept out into the drains.

BUT.............they do say every cloud has a silver lining, maybe it was they weather, maybe it was genuine end of stock, what ever the reason, I picked up plants at crazy low prices. When the rain stops, if it ever does, I'll plant them out.

Tags: rain, ridersonthestorm

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delete reply veroniquemariquita wrote on Jul 15, '10 Sounds like your weather is similar to ours.... either "feast or famine". In just a couple of days we went from being parched and dry with creeks that had stopped running, to being almost at flood stage. Our gauge shows 4 inches... quite a downpour for mid-summer.

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Jul 15, '10 You can send us some cool weather, although I must say it wasn't so hard to sleep last night as other nights. Looking forward to seeing your new plants.

delete reply mitchylr wrote on Jul 15, '10 It's been like that here, too Loretta. The last week there has been heavy, torrential rain almost every day. This afternoon is forecast to be even worse, but finally clearing by the weekend.

delete reply starfishred wrote on Jul 14, '10 and here we are so hot it is like the Gobi desert strang huh

delete reply bennett1 wrote on Jul 14, '10 I hope it cheers you up if you need cheering. I liked what you said on my blog. xx

delete reply bennett1 wrote on Jul 14, '10 Your fishes made me think of this:

delete reply veryfrank wrote on Jul 14, '10 Sorry to hear that your day was a wash out. At least you found some nice plants. It certainly sounds like some torrential rains. Have you considered fitting a sheet of screening over the pond when it is raining or during the falling leaves season? Right about now I'd like some cold rain. Our heat and humidity are stifling and the ground is dry and near parched.

April 14, 2010, Multiply, Th gardening starts no 9

Gardening no 9

Today was the day I decided to tackle the pond. The pond that I worked so hard on last year and was so proud of had turned into a black muddy mess over the winter. Caused by freezing, thawing, freezing, thawing and freezing some more. The aquatic plants had frozen and welded themselves to the sides and bottom of the pond during the coldest part of the winter. When I tried to remove the ice the plants came away too and the pots split and spilt aquatic compost into the water. As if that wasn’t bad enough this all mixed with the ton of leaves and general debris brought in by the blizzards. I’ve already said I lost all the new fish I put in last year. As the ice thawed they were floating on the top just waiting for me to scoop them out.
Today was the day set aside for restoring the pond. I scooped gallons of dirty black water out and freed the sides of a generous coating of green slime. The more water I scooped the blacker it became and the less I could see. And then I saw something move, a sole survivor, the plainest, most ordinary and by far the cheapest little fish to go into the pond has survived the winter.

I thought the pond had frozen solid, obviously not. I did initially think this one had survived because I didn’t find his body with the others. I’ve seen no sign of him for a couple of months and the water was so black I’d convinced myself he had died too. Even more incredibly, he is about three times the size he was last year and I have no idea what he found to eat in that muddy pond.

He is now sitting in a small tank full of his dirty greenish water on my kitchen table and not looking very happy about the move, I think he is keen to get back to his pond. After hours of scooping and cleaning and rearranging, the slow task of refilling began. One bucket at a time the pond began to take shape. I’ve not finished, the job is exhausting and I couldn’t muster the energy to haul another bucket of water outside which is why the little fish will be spending the night on the kitchen table.

In an attempt to keep the pond in better condition I’ve ordered a solar powered pump and fountain, it’s supposed to increase the amounts of oxygen in the water and reduce the amounts of algae. Moving water is less likely to freeze so as long as we have a little sunlight, the water should not freeze next winter. I hope it works, this is what the product info says
•  Allows you to create your own solar powered water feature
• Operates in direct sunlight only
• Powered by a separate solar panel (supplied)
• 2.5 m cable to solar panel provides location flexibility
• Maximum fountain height up to 12 inches, 30cm (jet fountain head)

Tags: garden, plants, pond

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delete reply brendainmad wrote on Apr 15, '10 My sister Diana has a pump for her pond. However, she takes the turtles and the fish out in the winter (yes, I said turtles and fish swimming together) and puts them in an indoor aquarium. I'm glad that fellow survived!

delete reply djdx wrote on Apr 15, '10 I think there are many variables in creating a pond and keeping fish. Water quality is important and I'm not sure tap (faucet) water is the best for fish. As it is a small pond, two goldfish might be perfect. I have read stuff about over-wintering ponds; I think they need some kind of air-hole such as plant debris so that the ice can't totally coat the water. That pump should be nice as you will also have the sound of the water.

delete reply veryfrank wrote on Apr 14, '10 The pump and the fountain sound like a good idea, good luck with that. That little fish is a survivor, beating the odds.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Apr 14, '10, edited on Apr 14, '10 still waiting for it to arrive, I ordered online today (amazon) and just been notified it has been dispatched so I'm hoping to have it tomorrow. The review seemed good but you can never be really sure about things ordered online until they arrive. as for little fishy, he is the original plain ordinary non-fancy goldfish, first fish in the pond and only survivor. Think I'll buy another very plain ordinary goldfish to keep him company.

delete reply bennett1 wrote on Apr 14, '10 What a great little fishy!! Way to go little buddy! I hope he/she makes it another year. Love your solar powered pond. I may start the agitation for a pond here. Hmmm...

Oct23, 2009, Multiply, fruit, jam, planting, fish

A Brief Update

My trip to my sisters was marred by the darn virus but we managed to get out and about a couple of times. It’s always good to see her, we live 500 miles apart and only get together a couple of times a year so we need to make the most of it.
Found this pretty forgetmenot broach in a second hand shop and just knew it destined to be mine.
There is a park with ancient woodland and it’s only a 20 minute drive from her house so off we went to walk her two dogs. Despite the chill in the air it was a beautifully clear, dry day and the autumn colours were beginning to come through. It was lovely way to spend the morning.

While away I watched a TV documentary about ‘Permaculture’, which fascinated me. In a nutshell Permaculture seems to be the practice of growing food in a way that does not require vast quantities of fossil fuels. Apparently conventional farming with all the high tec, fuel hungry farm machinery plus processed animal feeds and fertilisers means modern farming pollutes rivers, kills the land, burns fossil fuels, generally accelerates global warming and creates a massive eco-footprint. The ecological cost of our food is dangerously high but……. the good news is; there are other ways of doing things.
Seems we need to think smaller and more back to basics. Wandering ducks and chickens fertilise the land so efficiently manufactured fertilisers are not needed (free range duck eggs are a bonus), a wild life pond full of hungry frogs gets rid of slugs and snails, no more nasty insecticides.  Native trees with berries encourage song birds;  and allowing native wild plants (weeds to conventional farmers) to flourish ensures bees and butterflies return to the land in abundance.  Once there they pollinate and keep the whole thing ticking over nicely. 
The film also encourages what it referred to as ‘’vertical growing’’ as opposed to ‘’horizontal growing’’. Basically this seems to mean allowing fruit and nut trees to grow and then growing other things in layers downwards.
As well as maximising the use of land this prevents soil erosion and top soil blowing away. I have the film on DVD and if I had the faintest idea how to do it I would post it in YouTube for all to see. There are other short clips on YouTube about Permaculture but from what I can see they are not as good as the film I watched.
Anyway……………. I was inspired and had some small fruit bushes delivered almost as soon as I came home. How fortunate that this is the time of year to plant fruit. I have planted blackberries, blueberries, white currants, red currants and strawberries. I also have some tiny saplings bought back from my sisters garden, two Victoria plum trees and one damson Tree. When I say ‘’tree’’ I use the term optimistically; these saplings are barely two inches tall at the moment.
While out in the garden I had quite a lot of tidying to do before I could plant the fruit. There were fallen leaves every where AND; I couldn’t help noticing how well my small raised garden was looking, maybe you remember this was just a pile of rubble in the summer and look at it now.
Now I’m on the look out for a hazel nut tree, hazel nut seems to be the native nut tree that is the fastest growing and produces the best crop. My plot of land is tiny, but I’m going to give it a go.
I’ve already made blackberry jam this year (subject of previous blog) AND I picked a whole load of Rowan berries and made some quite sharp but delicious Rowan marmalade. I was a little concerned about using the Rowan berries due to their bad press and supposedly being poisonous. Seems the truth is that Rowan berries are indeed poisonous to humans in their raw form because they contain parasorbic acid, however…. Cooking the Rowan berries converts the toxic Parasorbic acid into harmless sorbic acid. And lets face it………….nothing gets cooked as much as a pan of jam on the stove!!
Anyway, my thinking is to get a Rowan berry tree of my own because you can never be sure what the wild berries are exposed to. The blackberries I picked this year came from the side of a railway line and the Rowan berries came from the same area. Soon I hope to be picking them from my own garden and away from any possible pollution from the trains.
One of my sisters has set up a fish tank and I told her once home I would take some pictures of my fish and send them to her, and here they are.Thought a couple of shots of my fish would be a good way to finish.  And that concludes my ‘update’. I’m now almost over the cold or what ever it was and back at work, life has returned to normal and I’m
 already counting the days until the Christmas holidays.

 

Tags: garden, sustainability, plants, permaculture, fruit, jam, fish

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delete reply madisonpooface wrote on Oct 26, '09 I love all the photos. Everything just looks so wonderful

delete reply veroniquemariquita wrote on Oct 24, '09 Hazelnuts grow wild here at the edge of wooded areas. As a kid I always tried to see how many I could gather before the squirrels got to them.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Oct 24, '09 For every one who who wants to watch the film.... I've found it on youtube http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/journal/item/436/A_Farm_For_the_Future....._HAVE_FOUND_THE_MISSING_FILM If you're interested in gardening, farms, food, wild life................sustainability watch this film.

delete reply aimlessjoys wrote on Oct 24, '09 Hazelnut is my very favorite, but I'm not sure they can grow here. We have tons of pecans, though, yummy! Your gardening & fish culture looks to be going great guns! I'll keep a good thought turning for you & for those fruit seedlings, too!

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Oct 24, '09 I'm counting the days until Christmas too even though I've only been back to work less than a month (October always seems to be a log month to me). Anyway, Loretta I think you've written your blog for Blog Action Day in this post. It's good to see you enjoying your new camera.

delete reply secretcorners wrote on Oct 23, '09 Good luck on all of it.

delete reply mitchylr wrote on Oct 23, '09 Glad to hear you're over your illness. Fascinating blog. I'd like to see that DVD, I rather like the principals you outlined of Permaculture.

delete reply sanssouciblogs wrote on Oct 23, '09 What a blog, girl! Oh yes, the forget-me-not pin was meant to be yours! Glad you got out and about despite the virus. So lovely where you are, I could feel the cool air in the trees. Fascinating as always. You can upload to youtube in parts, not sure how that works, probably ahve to upload to your computer first and possibly reformat to .avi. I've been wondering about that, too. Have a great weekend. xo

delete reply spiritwalkerr wrote on Oct 23, '09 Sounds like you had a good time, minus the virus, and learned some cool things too. Yah!

delete reply starfishred wrote on Oct 23, '09 interesting

delete reply nemo4sun wrote on Oct 23, '09 very interesting :)

delete reply greenwytch wrote on Oct 23, '09 very inspiring, indeed! wonderful blog, it's so nice to hear what's growing on in your world. the garden is looking fab. ; D

delete reply hedgewitch9 wrote on Oct 23, '09 Wonderful blog, very inspiring! The brooch was a great find too! Have fun with your planting.

delete reply pestep55 wrote on Oct 23, '09 The brooch is a perfect find for you /:-) Love the eco ideas... oddly the Cheasepeake is dying from farming run off as far away as PA and NY....

delete reply bennett1 wrote on Oct 23, '09 I love your pictures!! I am so glad your daughters got you a camera. The forest picture is so beautiful - haunting, like a fairy place. And making jam - I do remember when I made jelly and jam and vinegar from the black raspberries in my garden. Very nice. I missed you so much.

delete reply nessiek wrote on Oct 23, '09 Hello Busy Bee! Lovely pictures - its so lovely to gather the fruits of your labours eh? I love the brooch - its so you! :o) Nessie x