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************************************************************* by If you would
like to have a water lily but don’t want to dig a pond, it is possible.
You can find an above ground pond of almost any size.
Nurseries have half whisky barrels and a liner to fit.
Farm stores keep stock watering tanks of many sizes that work very
well. Put them in a fenced
backyard so the neighborhood kids can’t fall in, and you are ready to
start. Smaller ponds
like these are harder to keep under control but they are fairly easy to
drain to clean up the water. Mosquitoes
love these ponds as they don’t like moving water but there are
“dunks” you can add which will kill the larvae without hurting plants
or fish. Choose a sunny spot
if you want blooms. Lilies
require at least six hours of sunlight a day.
They will grow in less but won’t bloom very well.
If you place it near a tree you will be fishing out leaves quite
often-but it is easy as you can reach all the way across your pond. If you want
water plants but you don’t want a water lily, there are many plants to
pick from. Most don’t need
to be under water. They just
want their feet wet. In one
tub in my front yard under a south window, I have some cattails and a
black leaved Taro. In a big
black three legged pot there is an umbrella plant that gets 6 feet tall.
In an old wash tub lives a water petunia that blooms most of the
summer. All of these plants
cannot freeze and live, so I take babies each fall and put them in small
pots, and sit them in pans of water about an inch deep, and keep them
inside. You can put
fish in any of your containers that have enough water, and they love to
eat any mosquito babies that arrive. Guppies
do very well but goldfish in my yard make food for coons that like to go
fishing. Therefore, I have fish only in my large ponds containing cement
blocks with hollow centers in which the fish can hide.
They are also in two feet of water with straight sides so coons
can’t wade in and fish. Added pleasures
to a pond are dragon flies. They
come in blues and greens and blacks and lay their eggs in you water.
I have a toad house but so far no toads. In general,
water lilies grow in proportion to the size of the container they are in.
One of my containers has a blue tropical (there are no blue hardy
lilies I know of) and it will fill the pond. If it were in a lake it would
be as much as 4 times larger. I
have a friend with an old white bathtub with legs she uses for lilies.
It is backed up by a rock wall and partially surrounded by
container plants. The white
makes the colors of the lilies outstanding. When October
comes I take the lilies off their blocks, cut their leaves off to prevent
rotting, and drop their pots to the bottom of the pond.
Any of the hardy container plants are also put in the bottom of the
pond and plants and fish spend the winter outside with a heater to keep a
hole in the ice. If you
don’t have fish, hardy plants will survive in the bottom of the pond
without a heater, as long as the pond is in the ground and at least 24
inches deep. Copyright 2009 *************************************************************
TIME TO CONTROL GRASSHOPPERS BY Now
is the time to begin control of grasshoppers.
Large adult grasshoppers are difficult to control with insecticides
due to their size and decreased susceptibility to the insecticides.
The best time to control grasshoppers is during the 3rd
and 4th instars when they are ½ to ¾ inch long.
These stages will occur in mid to late June. Recommended
active ingredients for products designed for grasshopper control in and
around the yard and garden are bifenthrin, carbaryl (Sevin), Acephate (Isotox),
Malathion, and permethrin (Eight). These may need to be re-applied on a
regular basis. For
organic control use Nosema locustae (Nolo Bait).
NOLO BAIT contains “nosema locustae” spores sprayed on wheat
bran which can be spread around the yard and garden and is non-toxic to
humans, livestock, wild animals, birds, fish or life forms not closely
related to grasshoppers. Death
will begin to occur in 3 to 6 weeks. Re-apply
bait every 4 weeks until end of summer. Copyright 2009 ************************************************************* QUOTE OF THE WEEK BY “Always
read the label This quote can
not be attributed to any one person as I hear it quite often from many
experts. Protect your plants, the environment, and yourself. Always read the label
on any product before using in the garden, on the lawn, on trees and
shrubs, on your houseplants, etc. Always follow the
label directions. If the label says mix 2 ounces in a gallon of water, do
not put in 4 ounces. If the label says apply 5 pounds per 1000 square
feet, do not put on 10 pounds per 1000 square feet. Protect your
plants, the environment, and yourself. Always read the
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