The Rural Voice, 1997-11, Page 38Gardening
Goldfish and snowflakes
By Rhea Hamilton -Seeger
We finally created our pond in the
backyard this past summer. While the
hole was dug the previous year, it
took until this past spring to organize
a liner. We used a discarded pool
liner. The hole was excavated to eight
feet wide and nine feet across. The
depth is about two and a half feet..
The edge was levelled and a set of old
4x4s from the dismantled barn served
as a lovely square edging to pull the
lining over and pack the earth up to.
The level edge of the wood offered a
good ledge for the flat, thick
limestone.
The water was in for only two
weeks when we fished out our
goldfish from the large aquarium in
the house. We had been fostering
these 14 fat beauties for the past two
years anticipating this momentous
garden landmark. They averaged
about seven inches in length except
for the monster koi. "Joe" was a
showy 11 inches long, glistening
white with mystical black markings.
Once they were poured into their
new home, they swam in a fevered
pitch around the pond. We had
installed baskets of water lilies in the
bottom, carefully mulched with the
required pea gravel. Joe quickly
busied himself by knocking the gravel
onto the pond floor exposing tender
lily roots. The black muck around the
roots was then easily fanned into a
murky cloud with the antics of the
fish. We have a circulating pump with
a small fountain head. Despite regular
cleaning of the sponge filter, the pond
never regained that crystal clearness
that we had enjoyed the first two
weeks. We have since discovered that
koi have a playful nature and some of
their digging can be curtailed with the
addition of ping pong balls floating
on the surface or threaded onto
fishing line and anchored in the
bottom the pool.
Ponds are becoming very popular
and many gardeners are finding out
how simple they are to install. Unlike
gardening with soil, where you can
plant a few basic plants and work
from there, pond gardens take a bit of
34 THE RURAL VOICE
researching. There has to be a balance
of a variety of plants and animal life
for a healthy pond. It is a complete
ecosystem.
To make the water garden inviting
for your goldfish you need three types
of aquatic plants — submerged
floating, and marginal. Submerged
plants get their nutrients from the pool
water and are a major factor in
preventing green water (algae). More
green water indicates a greater
number of submerged plants is
needed. Plan on one bunch per square
foot.
Floating plants such as water
hyacinth and water lettuce have
floating roots that absorb nutrients
from the water. These plants also cut
down on the amount of sunlight
entering the water. Since most
submerged aquatics do not require
sunlight for growth and derive their
oxygen from the water surface, it is
generally accepted that no more than
60 per cent of the pond surface may
be covered.
Marginal plants are mostly for
looks. Among the favourites are
pickerel weed, cattails, reeds and the
striking red cardinal flower found in
many lovely wild spots in the Bruce
Peninsula. Marginals are vigorous
growers and often require annual
repotting in the spring. If the plant
normally dies back in the fall, cut
back above the water level to avoid
debris in the water and eliminate
wintering insect pests. Now that you
have some idea of the environment
created for the goldfish, let's talk
about winter.
We know that the floating plants
will not survive the cold and must
either be placed indoors in a small
aquarium or left to perish. An
inventive friend keeps a small child's
wading pool in the basement for just
such a job. She also installs her
goldfish and a few large snails too.
This year the Seeger goldfish will
be staying outside. By the end of
October we decreased the feeding
schedule as the temperatures fell — a
light feeding every two to three days
seems to do the trick. The cooler
temperatures have slowed their
metabolism. During the fall days you
can replace high protein foods with
wheat gerrn types. If the water
temperature falls below 50°F, stop
feeding altogether.
Another very important job to get
done is cleaning the pond bottom of
debris. Decaying plant debris creates
a toxic mix of poisons and should be
vacuumed out or at least the bulk of it
scooped out. It doesn't hurt to run a
pond skimmer daily over the surface
to avoid a buildup of leaves that sink
to the bottom.
Aeration is an important factor.
We will be leaving the pump going
over the winter but will raise it to
within a foot of the surface. This
helps avoid circulating cooler water
into the bottom where the fish are
hibernating.
You should try to keep an open
hole in the ice to allow for gas
exchanges. A constant churning of the
water via the pump is certainly
helpful but with our high snow loads
and severe winds this may not be
possible. To further aid the pump, we
have to try and create a plastic tent
over the pool. Since the size of our
pond makes that difficult, we will be
putting heavy thick planks over the
end where the pump is set up. A
plastic sheet tacked to the boards
should do the trick nicely. This can be
done in November or December,
depending on the weather.
During the heart of the winter, the
fish will be surviving on stored food
reserves in their bodies. You have to
resist feeding them even on those
unusual early spring thaw days when
you may catch a glimpse of them
lazily swimming about.
By March you will see them
actively searching for food. If you
offer food keep it light and easily
digestible. Avoid high protein foods.
Let's see if we can get these
beauties through the winter and I will
tell you more in the spring about
tending goldfish in your pond.0
Rhea Hamilton -Seeger raises two
children, and is a skilled cook and.
gardener.
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