LL's Gardening Diary

Members adventures in the Vegetable Patch all year round
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lancashire lass
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First proper snow 10th December 2017

Post by lancashire lass »

On Friday morning, we'd obviously had some snow (big flakes) overnight but the biggest problem had been a hard frost after rain. It took some doing defrosting the car without using a scraper on the windows (I'm trying to avoid scratching the windows on this car!) In the garden, all the leaves have now dropped off the trees even the neighbour's ash tree (I can remember the tree still in leaf as late as 21st December a few years ago) but I've decided to keep the scaffold netting on the pond as it seems to act like a blanket at keeping the water from freezing.

I'm still not too sure about my winter preparations though. So I decided to join a pond forum and get some more experienced advice.

My pond is considerably smaller than most on that site and geared up for much larger fish than my little goldfish LOL but I was able to find lots of information which may be useful. For one, most of them cover their raised ponds with polycarbonate sheeting (like you find in greenhouses) Of course, some even have heating as well as expensive and elaborate filtration systems with UV (kills off algae so prevents green water) but goldfish are supposedly considered "hardy" and should be fine over winter. Still, with the forecast of heavy snow for today, the thought of sub zero temperatures concerned me.

So last night I was outside trying to find something suitable to cover the pond. I managed to find some lids from the dismantled cold frames but the weight would have pushed the netting down so I managed to find another long cane to support them ... but about 2 feet of it sticks out over the edge of the pond which I'll have to be careful not to walk into. The lids only cover about a quarter of the pond. I had a sheet of plastic big enough to fit over the entire pond but it is a bit flimsy and despite a few pieces of wood off cuts weighting the edge down on the ledge, a slight breeze caught underneath it. I needed something a little lightweight to weight it down in the middle and found a few smaller canes. Just as I was putting the last one on top, the edge of the cane caught and tore the plastic in the middle }hairout{ For now, I put a split bag over the top to cover the hole ... it'll help to keep the cold out but when the snow melts, the water will still trickle into the pond.

The snow started to fall at about 7.00 am this morning - this photo taken at about 8.45 am:

Image

When I went to feed the chickens, I was prepared to have to refill their water drinkers but surprisingly they were fine. However, the breeze blowing through the runs was distinctly cold - not a day to be outside today, brrrrr .sn< .sn<
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lancashire lass
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PVC sheeting for the pond 16th December 2017

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Every morning I've been trying to peek into the pond for any glimpse of my goldfish but as always, all I'd ever see is a vast expanse of water, pebbles and the 2 pumps at the bottom (the water is remarkably crystal clear!) but not a single fish. And on top of that, the nights this past week have been subzero, not to mention a couple of days that never thawed, all adding to the worry. After forecast of a particular cold night, I even took an old curtain and cheap fleece throw to cover the biofilter and part of the pond. So yesterday (Saturday), I called in at Wickes for some cheap corrugated plastic sheeting to cover the pond. Each sheet is about 2 feet wide x 6 feet long so I needed 4 of them, and some wood to support them over the pond (any weight on the sheeting such as snow and they'd likely to bend) This is where my old 2 door car had advantages over the new car - I could at least drop the back and passenger seats forward so that I could load big things into the car .... with 4 doors, the front seats are fixed. It was either the plastic sheeting or the wood but I couldn't get both into the car }hairout{

Goes without saying, I chose the plastic sheeting and hoped they would be fine as a temporary fix. I had to peel layers off the top of the pond - the netting and flimsy plastic sheet were frozen to the ledge - before finding a couple more garden canes to put across the pond and moved the 8 foot one to the middle of the pond to support them lengthways (yes, I had managed to walk into it more than once when I had used it to support the cold frame lids) I found a dead fish floating in the duckweed {cry} which I scooped out, then I pushed the strands of elodea and duckweed away to see if there were any others at the bottom of the pond. Miraculously, all the others were just startled to find their hiding place had been exposed and swam around. Phew, what a relief! I was really happy to see them all again. Even more surprising is that the water didn't feel as cold as I'd have expected - it wasn't warm either I might add.

Then it was time to fit the sheets into place. I didn't want icy cold snow / rain water draining into the pond with pollutants (bird poo, soot etc), but it can also change the pond water pH to more acidic. So a piece of wood placed on the planter side lifted up one edge up slightly while the other end was right up to the ledge to drain any water away. Then I used the pond netting and scaffold netting over the top and hooked the edges on the screws round the walls to stop wind catching underneath the sheets and lifting them. It looked surprisingly okay )t'

Image

Hopefully that should keep the heat in, and absorb any sunlight to warm it up .... not that I'm expecting much sunlight at this time of year to reach the patio. And I found some insulation to put round the biofilter / water butt - but I also need lots more such as bubble wrap which I'll try to get from work if I can - so hopefully now, water being pumped out of the pond won't get superchilled while it slowly drains down to the bottom to reach the overflow pipe. Keeping that pump running is all part of disturbing the surface water to keep it ice free as well as exchange of gases. I feel a little happier now that the plastic sheeting is in place and having seen that most of the goldfish are still alright.

This morning it was coop clean day and I've been spreading the soiled bedding round the fruit trees in the garden. So much including any weeds have died back from the snow and ice and for the first time I could almost see the entire length of my garden. And in for a shock - my fence is bowing in (towards my garden) I couldn't see anything but I suspect my neighbour had something heavy leaning against it. This isn't a cheap fence and is solidly built, so I'm not very happy about that.
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lancashire lass
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Christmas Day 2017

Post by lancashire lass »

It was unseasonably warm for Christmas Day but weather forecast of north winds and back to subarctic weather for Boxing Day and thereafter was playing on my mind. Since I finished work on Friday afternoon for the Christmas break, my thoughts have been concentrated on getting ready for the festivities but now the day was here, everything was sorted so I could concentrate on the pond once more.

First task of the day was to feed the chickens and clean the coops ... well, they should have a nice clean bed for Christmas LOL. The soiled bedding was spread out on the fruit tree bed. As I walked back from the garden, I noticed 2 lengths of wood still hanging on to the Spice Palace chicken run holding the old scaffold netting (my original attempt to form an enclosure should the chickens escape their run ... at least one barrier to prevent them running into the garden) I pulled them down and noted they were both 6 foot lengths ... long enough to support the plastic sheeting on the pond.

I found some shorter lengths of wood and formed a plan - 2 lengths was not really enough, but the canes were not strong enough to support the sheeting. I could bind 2 canes together and they'd be stronger than as single canes, and use the smaller canes and wood across the wood/canes for added support. First I had to dismantle the new filter box and lift out the pump from the pond - I was unlikely to use it again until spring so I might as well store it away safely. Of course the box was still full of water so had to bleed it out carefully from the bottom drain into the biofilter water butt. Surprisingly there was quite a lot of muck as the last bit emptied - I was convinced the filter box wasn't working when I first started it up but the problem in the water must have needed a lot more filtering than I realised (until I discovered the sludge buster which had worked a treat)

After moving the filter box out of the way, I looked inside the water butt and to my horror, the lump of limestone I'd used as a weight to push the netting down was in fact ... a lump of concrete. Now that the dirt had washed off I could clearly see the indentations of concrete that had set inside a bag. OMG, how much had leached out of the concrete into the pond water? Is this why I had lost a couple of fish? Suffice to say the lump was thrown out. I noticed the top filter and sponge filter were filthy where water from the pump line was landing. I'm glad to see that was working out - now all I had to do was lift them out and rinse out. Despite that, the water level in the water butt was still high and pouring through the secondary overflow ... I could only think the bottom overflow was blocked so I pulled the blue tubing a little more so that the tubing inside the water butt was lifted up a little higher. I didn't really have time to deal with emptying the whole water butt, but I think I might need to reconsider the design in spring - I had hoped dirty water would be filtered off at the top and only clean water percolated down through the netting where I hoped nitrifying bacteria was growing, but I suspect there was a build up of silt at the bottom of the water butt as this was the second time I have had to pull the tubing up to make a bigger clearance for better water flow.

After replacing the rinsed out filters, I realised the plastic lid was no longer weighted down by the filter box. I couldn't find any house bricks to put on top but did notice a couple of buckets - filled with water, they'd be just as heavy. And to prevent rain water landing in the water butt, I replaced the off-cut of pond liner. A temporary solution until I get the wood to box it all in.

While all the netting had been lifted off, I inspected the gravel bed planter. The flag iris, dwarf bulrush and corkscrew reed had completely died back so I removed the dead and decaying foliage, and removed any autumn leaves that were still in the beds ... that should reduce a build up of ammonia and nitrites as the beds were still open to rain water which overflowed into the water butt.

I lifted up the plastic sheeting and inspected the pond - as it was mild, a lot of the fish were waiting to be fed. As they swam around, I was amazed to see that some had actually grown! Not what I was expecting over winter but I suppose if the water is mild the fish are still eating whatever is in the pond. The Shubunkins in particular looked very well - I think the last one I got and the one I'd named "Phantom" because half of the face had a big patch of red like a face mask, are both females. Much deeper bodied and looking a bit fat too (I doubt they are old enough or big enough to breed but to be honest, I really don't know that much about goldfish)

I got on with the support frame but I was disappointed I couldn't find the chunkier off-cuts from the pond construction. Perhaps I'd thrown them away - not something I do as I'm very much one for holding on to stuff in case I had use for them, but there comes a point when the clutter is too much. The smaller pieces could have been used to raise the top and bottom of the sheets much higher, and allow better air ventilation (as warm air rises at the highest raised end, it should drag cooler air in at the lower end and reduce some of the condensation on the inside of the plastic sheet)

While the pond was still open, it was an opportunity to check the water quality. The tests were still good although the pH was still low and looking dangerously close to being not okay. I used the last of the sodium bicarbonate but I knew it wouldn't be enough. I still had the oyster shell so thought it time to apply it - being made of calcium carbonate, acidic water will dissolve the oyster shell releasing calcium for the plants, fish and bacteria and carbonates in the water will help to buffer and neutralise the pH. That's the idea of the sodium bicarbonate - the pond forum I joined were in favour of sodium bicarbonate than calcium carbonate for dealing with low pH. There is some chemistry there that I need to learn more about as I don't understand why one is supposed to be better than the other. I sprinkled a few of the crushed shell in the pond then made a bundle in the last of the fine mesh from the tent material and placed this near the pump - water movement should drag some of the dissolved salt and carbonate into the pump which eventually will go into the biofilter and deposit it at the other end of the pond via the overflow.

By the time I finished putting the netting back and tying it off, it had gone 11 o clock! I hadn't even got the turkey in the oven yet - I know it was a small bird so wouldn't take that long, but I hadn't even started any other preparations. Lunch was served at ... 2.45 pm but with the bottle of Asti Spumente went down very well.

Hope everyone had a lovely day .san.jump.
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lancashire lass
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Update

Post by lancashire lass »

As forecast, the arctic weather returned .sn< Yesterday was particularly bad - strong wind hit the house, followed by rain (possibly sleet and snow as well but I was busy so didn't notice) and overnight a hard frost. The news was all about the snow and ice but here where I live, just ice - everything white from ice. I was not particularly looking forward to going outside to feed the chickens as I knew they'd also need their water drinkers emptying and filling up ... as expected, the drinker in the White House run was frozen solid but surprisingly, the other in the Spice Palace run was not. As I passed the pond, I had a peek under the cover by the overflow pipe - no ice on the pond surface )c( The overflow from the biofilter was good and strong and the plastic sheet directly above it was clear of condensation. Everything looked fine - I'm well pleased the latest tweak to the winter protection has worked well so far.
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Wet & windy January 2018 - weather woes

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January 2018 seems to have been wetter and more dull than usual, with temperatures oscillating between freezing and extraordinary mildness followed by strong gale force winds. The early hours of Thursday 18th January were particularly bad - I woke up to the wind slamming into the house at about 3.30 am. Unable to sleep, I decided to get up and make a coffee ... the wind was so strong, I began to worry the power might go out (and my stupid burglar alarm being triggered - I can't turn it off and I find it very stressful knowing I can't do anything about it) At least I'd have my first cup of coffee without a hitch LOL

Then I heard something moving and then an almighty clatter very close by- I opened the front door, luckily I have a small porch so had some protection from the hurricane force wind sheering against the front of the house. I could see a ridge tile on the drive and ... a scratch down the door of the drivers side. I turned to look at the direction of the wind and it really was nightmarish, enough for me to realise how dangerous it was and hurriedly stepped back indoors and shut the door.

By 6.00 am, amazingly the wind had stopped and it was calm so I rushed outside with a torch to inspect the damage - the scratch down the door was not big but I could feel a groove as I ran my finger down it. Then with trepidation, I opened the back door (were the chickens alright, had the neighbours tree fallen down, was the fence still there, was my pond okay?) I was struck by how all looked just fine, not even a branch off the tree and the covers on the polytunnel were still there (one has not been secured properly since last year) - I can only think that the wind although coming from the west, was blowing down the street at a slight angle which made it seem more ferocious against the front of the house, enough to rip the ridge tile nearest the gutter off the bay window roof but the houses themselves had protected everything at the back from the worst of the storm.

Then yesterday was another memorable weather phenomena - when I stepped out first thing to let the chickens out and feed them, I was struck by how incredibly mild it was. Enough for me to have a peek under the corrugated plastic on top of the pond in time to see a gathering of goldfish clearly waiting for something to eat. After feeding the animals and fish, as per usual I was rushing to leave the house. It was so mild, the scarf round my neck was unbearable. As I started the car up, the thermometer read 15oC! More like a cool summers day than first thing on a winter's morning. The weather forecast suggested it would be windy and raining but apart from gusty wind which sent my heart racing as I queued at a junction side of a tree-lined cemetery, there was no rain. By the time I was halfway to work, the dark cloudy sky took on a yellow hue ... it really did look very strange and almost apocalyptic. Then it started to rain - spitting at first, driven on by the wind. Within a few minutes, the rain intensified and all the traffic ground to a halt as the torrential rain seemed like a seamless waterfall and the roads turned into rivers. It really was quite spectacular. I've seen some heavy downpours in my lifetime but this really was incredulous.

And what has all this to do with the gardening journal? For weeks I've been attempting to make a start in the garden to clear some of the rubbish, trim hedges and get the polytunnels & greenhouses ready for a spring start but it's either been too cold or too damp. With all the rain, the soil in garden is saturated and the path from the patio steps between the 2 chicken runs has turned into an ankle deep mud bath - I need wellies just to get down there. The chicken runs are not too bad and for the most part are dry. Luckily the pond itself is protected with the PVC sheets so the impact of most of the rain on the water chemistry should be reduced although I did put an overflow from the planter into the biofilter - rain lowers the water pH and I know I'm still having problems as I've also lost a few of the goldfish.

I hate winter at the best of times but I can't wait for spring to arrive soon enough.
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KarenE
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by KarenE »

I'm the same LL - especially since weekends seem to be wet and they are pretty much the only time I can get into the garden or the plot. I've learned I need to get going early in the garden - jan/feb time - if I am to stand any chance of keeping it under control. It's the mud everywhere that's most depressing...

At least the pond, the chooks and the garden were all safe from the winds )t'
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lancashire lass
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by lancashire lass »

Melisa wrote:we used to just clean the sponges about once a month & the water was always clear. We had Koi & a few Goldfish all bought small but got huge in the end. When we decided to empty it a friend had the Koi that were left. Hope you get it finished & the fish in soon.


You were more than welcome to post in my gardening diary Melisa on topics that are relevant but clearly you also seem more interested in attaching links that are of no interest to me or others, so please don't post in here anymore.
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by Meanqueen »

Melisa is a spammer, joined this morning, six posts in half an hour, some with links, others having no connection with the thread content. I pm'd Wendy, but it looks as if she has gone off duty.

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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by wendy »

Post deleted and banned
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lancashire lass
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by lancashire lass »

thank you
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Potatoes arrived and ...

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Well, my potatoes arrived over a week ago and all look a good size and condition, so the chitting begins. I hope I can get the polytunnels sorted out this month and then can plant the potatoes sooner than usual - being under cover, they should grow a little earlier than if planted outdoors and have a little more protection from any unexpected frosts once the leaves start to appear. However, this cold and wet winter is not going away quickly enough so the garden is very soggy and making it difficult to get about.

Meanwhile, DT Brown had a special one off free p&p this weekend ... I tried not to look but the lure was too much. So yes, I ordered some bare rooted strawberry plants and some raspberry canes. I'm not sure exactly where the raspberries are going but I plan to grow the strawberries in hanging baskets and planter by the back door. My biggest problem are the blackbirds - cheeky little things - so I'll have to consider netting too when the fruit start to ripen. I decided against getting any onion sets - for a start I simply won't have the space to grow them, and secondly it would be cheaper to buy the sets locally.

The garlic I planted earlier are doing well and are about 2-3 inches tall. I also planted another dozen cloves from supermarket bought garlic from last week. Considering how much garlic I eat, I very much doubt I'll ever have enough space at home to become self sufficient unlike at the allotment plot.

Meanwhile this morning as I went to fill the feeder for the chickens, I suddenly realised that the planters by the fence where I have daffodils growing were partly covered with containers I'd retrieved from the plot ... when I lifted them away, many had leaves about 6-8 inch tall and there were even a couple of flower heads coming up too which I found surprising. I'd have thought it was too early and too cold, but then again we have had some fairly mild temperatures too so that would have promoted growth. Plus, the big body of water in the pond might be acting like a hot water bottle (without the heat LOL) and creating a micro-environment on the patio by keeping the temperature from freezing.
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by Mo »

I suppose it's like forcing rhubarb by keeping the light out. Hope they don't get too much of a shock.
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by wildlifemad »

Hi LL. Just worth mentioning with regard to your garlic growing, we bought 'proper' seed garlic when we first got our allotment then every year we just save some bulbs to re-plant next year, we read somewhere that the garlic then gets used to your type of soil & grows better. We certainly have a good crop each year. Hope this helps!!
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by lancashire lass »

wildlifemad wrote:Hi LL. Just worth mentioning with regard to your garlic growing, we bought 'proper' seed garlic when we first got our allotment then every year we just save some bulbs to re-plant next year, we read somewhere that the garlic then gets used to your type of soil & grows better. We certainly have a good crop each year. Hope this helps!!


)t'

this post from the 2013 diary

HappyBob wrote:Also its a good idea use garlic that you have grown your self year on year as its said that it evolves to your soil type over the years


The other reason for growing from my own harvest is the shock of seeing the price of seed garlic yike* . But yes, absolutely agree about them adapting to the soil type. Also I can inspect my own bulbs and select which ones for growing knowing that I won't be carrying diseases from somewhere else into the plot - the shared plot I had to give up last year was riddled with white onion rot and that really restricted what I could successfully grow. I also use the bigger bulbs in the hope future bulbs will be bigger (it probably doesn't work that way LOL)


Also, over time I learned that early maturing garlic was better suited to my plot than late maturing ones which seemed to succumb to rust and soil pests more readily than those lifted earlier. My best garlic was a variety called Illico which I got in 2010 but not long after, became unavailable on the market. I was so pleased with it that not only did I save my own to grow, I offered it to a friend in Scotland who took a real liking to it and now grows it in bulk (to sell to a restaurant and even on ebay) I know if I ask him he'd generously send me a lorry load back LOL

Not just seed garlic but also other crops - if you save the seed from your crops (peas and beans are good ones to try) then you are saving seed from plants that have done well in your soil / location and carry the genes over to the next generation. Those plants that don't do as well and have poor yields are not good ones to save seed from. My friend from the shared plot had the grand idea of saving the seeds from the very first runner bean pods - and to grow those and again, save the seeds from the first to appear ... the idea was to "select" (Darwin's theory of selection) runner beans which are earlier to flower and produce pods. A couple of years into the experiment we had an exceptionally cold & late frosty spring that put paid to a lot of the seedlings. However, selection for size and better yields is still something to look at if you go down that road (tomatoes for flavour are another - whatever you look for in a vegetable and can successfully save seed, preferably one which can be self pollinated rather than cross pollinated)
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

Post by sandy »

LL as always, thankyou for such an informative and beautifully written diary )like(
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