This is my first year with a koi pond, full-scale veggie garden, and
lots of shrub/flower beds to put in. It's been a real learning
experience, all around. First pest to show up was a colony of
chipmunks...there were stalks of indian corn left in the garden over
winter from previous owner. Knew I should have gotten rid of them, but
it was a busy winter. Chipmunks ALL OVER the place when it was about
time to plant veggies, so went shopping for rat traps. Peanut butter
and seeds on the traps; no dice. Went shopping for poison corn, a
serious weapon, judging from label instructions. Held off on that,
ready to kill varmints if they touched my new plants. Chipmunks were
all over the place, including taking drinks at the pond, but no sign of
harm to plants. Stray cat shows up now and then, especially in
neighbor's yard where a bunch of rabbits live under the pine trees.
About this time, the c'munks seem to head for farm country. Other than
moving a few of my flower seeds and small bulbs, they didn't seem to
bother anything, other than plant some sorghum next to the back door. I
really didn't want to poison them, mainly because some good creature
might dine on their poisoned corpses.

So, I'm well into planting flower beds, digging up a lot of sod. One
goal is to reduce the amount of grass to mow, and of course to have
pretty stuff to look at. Now, I have gotten a lot done, tilling pretty
large beds, when the damn moles move in. Tunnels ALL OVER my flower
beds and two or three plants killed because their roots are hanging in a
mole tunnel. Out to the farm store for a mole trap, a truly serious
looking device that might behead a racoon if it ran into the trap. A
week or two in place, and no sign of moles....apparently they were
exploring and didn't bother going into the lawn because the sod was too
tough.

When cabbage worms showed up in the garden, doing some serious damage to
brocolli and bruss. sprouts, I spent time picking worms by hand. Next
day, just as many worms as before. Nothing blooming, so I dusted with
poison on those plants. Gone.

Some good rains, just enough sun, and stuff is really growing. Over the
past 20 or so years, I have rarely seen honey bees. Echinaccea have
some bug problems, eating some leaves. Now, my echinaccea and squash
blossoms are full of bees; seem to be the only plants honey bees are
interested in, so no poison there. I'd rather have a few chewed up
leaves than to kill honey bees.

My morning routine starts with coffee by the koi pond, whilst I feed the
critters and enjoy the sunrise. Got a new tenant in the pond about a
month ago....bullfrog, body about 6" long. The koi have spawned but
didn't see any signs of fry until I cleaned the filter pit couple of
weeks ago and found four babies. Built a cage for them to protect them
from larger critters, but I kind of hurried on that at they escaped into
the pond. I figured the bullfrog would get them, but I haven't seen him
preying on anything. He either hangs at the surface of the pond,
watching me while I watch him, or he perks on the stones in the pot of
cat tails. If he leaves the pond, he jumps onto the rocky edge and then
into the hedges near the pond. If he ate koi eggs or fry, he left
enough for a 3rd generation of fish. I assume he finds some yummy bugs
under the shrubs.

Sunday, son and grandsons came over to pull some weeds and pick beans.
The live nearby, and can bike or walk a nature trail from their house to
ours. There is almost always free food to be had when they come over,
but it is always a better deal for us ) Son is good at spotting work
opportunities and is good at whatever he fixes. He decided to clean out
the basement window wells; just a few leaves. And 8 frogs. Window well
is about 4-5' deep, so we rescued the frogs and let them go in the pond.
Finished up with a meal of sausage and newly harvested potatoes and
beans. Yum.

Took the camera out to the pond this morning, trying to get some good
pix of Mr. Frog and the fish. Finished with Mr. Frog and put the lens
cap back on the camera. Just settin' there when a BIG bird landed on
the garden fence; darn, that's a red tailed hawk! Just as it registered
in my brain, he flew over the pond at about 3' and about that far in
front of my face! He landed on the fence for a sec, and then took off.
Looking for fish? Chipmunks? If a fish goes missing, I'll blame the
hawk. He might be around a while if nobody feeds him poisoned
chipmunks. Haven't had a heron land yet, but I wouldn't mind too much
if it didn't take my prettiest koi. Gold finches have shown interest in
the pond lately; when I finish remodeling the ugly pile of rocks that
serves as a waterfall and pond aerator, there will be a pool for the
birdies to bathe and drink. Haven't had any deer jump the fence, but I
think they fill up on hosta plants at my son's house. Deer highway goes
between his yard and the neighbor's. Just planted a white and red rose
of sharon for the hummers. Don't know what will eat my grapes, but hope
they save some for us.

My cucumbers are taking over the planet. Got enough tomatoes about to
ripen to make a mess of spaghetti sauce and share with fam. and
neighbors. Nice little watermelon about ready. Canteloupe, squash,
eggplant, brussel sprouts looking good. Now, if I encourage hubby to
eat more veggies, I'll have it made in the shade )

"Norminn" wrote in message

very interesting story snipped reminding me of an article I read long ago
about what were then "newfangled" community gardens. You summed up the
gardening experience nicely but you were spared the great ravagement of
critters consuming your entire operation. In your case, the chipmunks just
"self-deported" (I'm sorry, I couldn't resist!).

At a garden near the NYC zoo something(s) unknown completely destroyed every
single plant in a huge community garden. It was the typical "one bite per
every plant" instead of chowing down on just a few plants completely.

Back in those days, no one used CCTV cameras. Now, the whole event would be
on YouTube. After that savage attack - and it really looked like vandalism
but it was clear it was animals, maybe many, maybe not. The clues were all
over the map.

Some people thought once the fence surrounding the garden was breached, the
dozens of animals who were tempted nightly by the smells finally gained
entry. The bottom line is that some of the "love the earth" greenest hippie
Gaia folks you can imagine went Rambo, determined to kill every last critter
in a mile radius. What's that old joke: "A Democrat is a really a
Republican that hasn't been mugged yet?" Personal experience can really
alter one's outlook on life.

Some good rains, just enough sun, and stuff is really growing. Over the
past 20 or so years, I have rarely seen honey bees. Echinacea have
some bug problems, eating some leaves. Now, my Echinacea and squash
blossoms are full of bees; seem to be the only plants honey bees are
interested in, so no poison there. I'd rather have a few chewed up
leaves than to kill honey bees.

A new study was released about fungicides found in bees.

http://www.umdrightnow.umd.edu/news/...ey-bees-health

On average, the pollen samples contained 9 different agricultural
chemicals, including fungicides, insecticides, herbicides and miticides.
Sublethal levels of multiple agricultural chemicals were present in every
sample, with one sample containing 21 different pesticides. Pesticides found
most frequently in the bees' pollen were the fungicide chlorothalonil, used
on apples and other crops, and the insecticide fluvalinate, used by
beekeepers to control Varroa mites, common honey bee pests.

In the study's most surprising result, bees that were fed the collected
pollen samples containing chlorothonatil were nearly three times more likely
to be infected by Nosema than bees that were not exposed to these
chemicals

It might be time for us to accept more spotted fruit and use fewer
pesticides because everything I've read about Colony Collapse Disorder
describes a world that would be missing a lot of my favorite foods if
honeybees went kaput. That reminds me, has anyone seen Han lately? He
knew all about this stuff.

My morning routine starts with coffee by the koi pond, whilst I feed the
critters and enjoy the sunrise. Got a new tenant in the pond about a
month ago....bullfrog, body about 6" long. The koi have spawned but
didn't see any signs of fry until I cleaned the filter pit couple of
weeks ago and found four babies.

Those would be the "koi polloi." (-:

I'm jealous. I grew up in the heart of the city and I loved it when we went
to visit family friends in New Jersey because they had this huge estate
(must be worth $5M today!) with a running brook at the back of the property.
It's a little sad how impressed I was by a clean, free-running stream with
frogs, dragonflies and a whole little self-contained world. I think a koi
pond would be a pretty good substitute. How much did you spend to create
yours? How much effort does it take to maintain? It might not be feasible
to build a pond in the DC area because of winter freezes. )-:

Built a cage for them to protect them
from larger critters, but I kind of hurried on that at they escaped into
the pond. I figured the bullfrog would get them, but I haven't seen him
preying on anything. He either hangs at the surface of the pond,
watching me while I watch him, or he perks on the stones in the pot of
cat tails. If he leaves the pond, he jumps onto the rocky edge and then
into the hedges near the pond. If he ate koi eggs or fry, he left
enough for a 3rd generation of fish. I assume he finds some yummy bugs
under the shrubs.

There's a great "zen" to maintaining something like a koi pond or even
simply sitting by edge of a brook. It helped me to realize how profoundly
interconnected all of nature is at heart.
Then I spent a summer in a friend's cabin right on a river that was at least
50' and 6' deep and had been tame for the 10 years the cabin had been there.
God was it great to lie in a hammock and hear the river gently flowing by.
It was not navigable, per se, which meant no rafts full of drunks floating
by every 10 minutes. Perfection.

Then came the one-two punch of hurricanes Frances and Ivan - I was going to
say a few years ago but it was actually 2004, almost a decade ago - my how
time flies! The damage didn't really come from flood water but from all the
debris of the houses upstream. My friend's cabin was situated on a river
bend that meant almost all the floating crap went by him. Almost all. His
neighbor on the other hand collected what seemed to be three junkyards full
of splintered houses, boats, picnic tables, coolers, doghouses and some
other pretty weird stuff just because of the river flow dynamics. I learned
about Mother Nature that day, too. (-:

--
Bobby G.

On 8/6/2013 2:34 AM, Robert Green wrote:
"Norminn" wrote in message

very interesting story snipped reminding me of an article I read long ago
about what were then "newfangled" community gardens. You summed up the
gardening experience nicely but you were spared the great ravagement of
critters consuming your entire operation. In your case, the chipmunks just
"self-deported" (I'm sorry, I couldn't resist!).

There are corn fields very near, so I suspect they went to greener
fields; hope so.

At a garden near the NYC zoo something(s) unknown completely destroyed every
single plant in a huge community garden. It was the typical "one bite per
every plant" instead of chowing down on just a few plants completely.

Hard to do for any garden pests I know.....more likely some fool
obsessed with weed eradication or over fertilizing during hot weather.

Back in those days, no one used CCTV cameras. Now, the whole event would be
on YouTube. After that savage attack - and it really looked like vandalism
but it was clear it was animals, maybe many, maybe not. The clues were all
over the map.

I know racoons can clean a cherry tree in one night, but in the city
they likely prefer trash cans.

Some people thought once the fence surrounding the garden was breached, the
dozens of animals who were tempted nightly by the smells finally gained
entry. The bottom line is that some of the "love the earth" greenest hippie
Gaia folks you can imagine went Rambo, determined to kill every last critter
in a mile radius. What's that old joke: "A Democrat is a really a
Republican that hasn't been mugged yet?" Personal experience can really
alter one's outlook on life.

I am probably on the left side of the center line and have been mugged
only by pretty radical Repugnicans (family then, one a retired cop known
for his violent treatment of folks who dial 911 when someone stole a bag
of potato chips and reported a "robbery").

On 8/6/2013 2:34 AM, Robert Green wrote:
"Norminn" wrote in message

very interesting story snipped reminding me of an article I read long ago
about what were then "newfangled" community gardens. You summed up the
gardening experience nicely but you were spared the great ravagement of
critters consuming your entire operation. In your case, the chipmunks just
"self-deported" (I'm sorry, I couldn't resist!).

At a garden near the NYC zoo something(s) unknown completely destroyed every
single plant in a huge community garden. It was the typical "one bite per
every plant" instead of chowing down on just a few plants completely.

Back in those days, no one used CCTV cameras. Now, the whole event would be
on YouTube. After that savage attack - and it really looked like vandalism
but it was clear it was animals, maybe many, maybe not. The clues were all
over the map.

Some people thought once the fence surrounding the garden was breached, the
dozens of animals who were tempted nightly by the smells finally gained
entry. The bottom line is that some of the "love the earth" greenest hippie
Gaia folks you can imagine went Rambo, determined to kill every last critter
in a mile radius. What's that old joke: "A Democrat is a really a
Republican that hasn't been mugged yet?" Personal experience can really
alter one's outlook on life.

Some good rains, just enough sun, and stuff is really growing. Over the
past 20 or so years, I have rarely seen honey bees. Echinacea have
some bug problems, eating some leaves. Now, my Echinacea and squash
blossoms are full of bees; seem to be the only plants honey bees are
interested in, so no poison there. I'd rather have a few chewed up
leaves than to kill honey bees.

A new study was released about fungicides found in bees.

http://www.umdrightnow.umd.edu/news/...ey-bees-health

On average, the pollen samples contained 9 different agricultural
chemicals, including fungicides, insecticides, herbicides and miticides.
Sublethal levels of multiple agricultural chemicals were present in every
sample, with one sample containing 21 different pesticides. Pesticides found
most frequently in the bees' pollen were the fungicide chlorothalonil, used
on apples and other crops, and the insecticide fluvalinate, used by
beekeepers to control Varroa mites, common honey bee pests.

In the study's most surprising result, bees that were fed the collected
pollen samples containing chlorothonatil were nearly three times more likely
to be infected by Nosema than bees that were not exposed to these
chemicals

It might be time for us to accept more spotted fruit and use fewer
pesticides because everything I've read about Colony Collapse Disorder
describes a world that would be missing a lot of my favorite foods if
honeybees went kaput. That reminds me, has anyone seen Han lately? He
knew all about this stuff.

My morning routine starts with coffee by the koi pond, whilst I feed the
critters and enjoy the sunrise. Got a new tenant in the pond about a
month ago....bullfrog, body about 6" long. The koi have spawned but
didn't see any signs of fry until I cleaned the filter pit couple of
weeks ago and found four babies.

Those would be the "koi polloi." (-:

Out of curiosity, with no intention to cook any koi, I Googled "koi
recipes"..........koi tacos, anyone? YUCK!

I'm jealous. I grew up in the heart of the city and I loved it when we went
to visit family friends in New Jersey because they had this huge estate
(must be worth $5M today!) with a running brook at the back of the property.
It's a little sad how impressed I was by a clean, free-running stream with
frogs, dragonflies and a whole little self-contained world. I think a koi
pond would be a pretty good substitute. How much did you spend to create
yours? How much effort does it take to maintain? It might not be feasible
to build a pond in the DC area because of winter freezes. )-:

The pond was installed two owners ago, and really didn't factor into our
purchase, other than "that's nice"....the house, lot and neighborhood
are ideal for us. We moved in in November, so this is my first year
with a pond/koi. When I search online for info, I fine one item of firm
advice in conflict with the next item. The stars of the koi world spend
hundreds on fish and know their breeds; mine are generic, mostly big
orange fish with black spots....two of 9 have the big, wavy butterfly
fins and different coloring. No idea what the babies will be like.
People with expensive fish spend (or build) elaborate filters with UV
lights to kill algae, all kinds of chemicals to de-chlorinate, clean,
clarify water. My breakthrough came when I put in some plants....two
water lilies, cat tails, reeds, and some floating water lettuce. Then I
put wire screen over the pump pit to keep out leaves and big junk.
Then, while browsing hardware dept for cheaper filter material, I saw
thin foam sheets of window-AC filter material. $4 for two sheets.
Filters out the finest stuff (especially after the darlings spawn) and
keeps the water clear as drinking water.

I wasn't going to spend $15 on water testing strips, but with a lot of
big fish for the size of the pond and after reading all the hazards of
fish waste turning into nitrites and nitrates, curiosity got the best of
me.....water tested "zero" for both. pH fairly high, but we live and
draw water from a big chunk of limestone called "Indiana".

You can spend a bloody fortune on koi and ponds.....basic filter, 12"
square plastic holds two sheets of filter material which is pretty much
a coarse plastic fibre like insulation. One is thinner and "charcoal
embedded", one plain white plastic stuff. $13 sq/ft at local pet
emporium. The immersible pump (500 GPH, $100) and filter sit in a tub
in the ground at foot of pond. Have to unplug pump, drag out and
disconnect water line to clean the filter. Allegedly, you don't want it
"too clean" or it won't grow "beneficial bacteria" (type unknown, hoping
they aren't flesh-eating types) that help break down algae. Well, my
algae doesn't know it is supposed to break down or stop at the filter,
so it keeps on circulating and lining the pond with a pretty green
velvety layer. The pond is concrete, shaped like a fat rowboat with
rocks mortared on the perimeter; waterfall is an ugly pile of
rocks/boulders about 5' high. It had four slaps of flagstone for the
falls with stones caulked on in a straight line to control the water
flow...UGLY! I've started tearing into the rock pile to change the
layout....want it lower, with water pooling at the highest point, the
dropping into a rocky stream and the falling into the pond. More
movement of the water at surface means more oxygen. Don't want to use a
bubble for oxygen, and if the fish can't hack it in my pond, they can
leave )

Experts say ponds should be 5' deep so's they don't freeze solid in
winter. Mine is about 20". If Indiana winters go back to twenty-below,
we have a problem. Until then, a small, cheap heater keeps an opening
in the ice (heater floats if not iced over). Fish quit eating when the
water temp drops to about fifty degrees, so there is no care (in my
pond) to be done over winter. I can get most of the algae off the
bottom with shop vac, which isn't a lot of fun but it gets the job done.
I tried draining the pond almost completely a couple of times, but it
didn't slow down the algae.

Most popular pond installs use heavy black plastic for the liner...dig
hole, shape bottom and leave "shelves" for plant pots, line with sand,
throw in liner, throw in pretty rocks, plumb and electrify. There is
substantial argument about using plastic liners because critters can
dig, peck or chew through them. I would not want to have to find and
repair a leak in the dang things and they start at a couple of hundred
dollars.

Being obsessive about keeping algae/nitrogen out of water, I read more
about how it is produced and how it breaks down....always found articles
about how beneficial water plants are in using up the nitrogen, then
there was always an ad for fertilizer for water plants. WTF?

City kid here, too. Always have loved frogs and toads. Birds come
around a lot, especially if there is a puddle to bathe in. Got a couple
of gold finches showing interest. Enough plants around to look good but
not overgrown...shelter for the frogs but enough room to work.

Built a cage for them to protect them
from larger critters, but I kind of hurried on that at they escaped into
the pond. I figured the bullfrog would get them, but I haven't seen him
preying on anything. He either hangs at the surface of the pond,
watching me while I watch him, or he perks on the stones in the pot of
cat tails. If he leaves the pond, he jumps onto the rocky edge and then
into the hedges near the pond. If he ate koi eggs or fry, he left
enough for a 3rd generation of fish. I assume he finds some yummy bugs
under the shrubs.

There's a great "zen" to maintaining something like a koi pond or even
simply sitting by edge of a brook. It helped me to realize how profoundly
interconnected all of nature is at heart.
Then I spent a summer in a friend's cabin right on a river that was at least
50' and 6' deep and had been tame for the 10 years the cabin had been there.
God was it great to lie in a hammock and hear the river gently flowing by.
It was not navigable, per se, which meant no rafts full of drunks floating
by every 10 minutes. Perfection.

Sailed in some fairly rugged weather, which was awesome. What I refused
to do was sail on weekends and holidays, when all the drunks and idiots
are out roaring around.

I bought tickets to a "swamp walk" at Clyde Butcher's studio in
Florida...an "extra" if you go to check out his work )...but my hubby
chickened out so we didn't go. Guess guys are worried a gator will get
their precious parts )

http://www.clydebutcher.com/

Then came the one-two punch of hurricanes Frances and Ivan - I was going to
say a few years ago but it was actually 2004, almost a decade ago - my how
time flies! The damage didn't really come from flood water but from all the
debris of the houses upstream. My friend's cabin was situated on a river
bend that meant almost all the floating crap went by him. Almost all. His
neighbor on the other hand collected what seemed to be three junkyards full
of splintered houses, boats, picnic tables, coolers, doghouses and some
other pretty weird stuff just because of the river flow dynamics. I learned
about Mother Nature that day, too. (-:

--
Bobby G.


Storms do a good job of cleaning house....I've found all kinds of
clothing, parts of roofs, lawn furniture, while shelling. Used to take
two bags, one for shells and one to pick up trash on the way back. I
always wanted to find a place in Florida with no signs that humans had
been there, but failed. Kayaking FL rivers is awesome!

"Norminn" wrote in message
m...
This is my first year with a koi pond, full-scale veggie garden, and lots
of shrub/flower beds to put in. It's been a real learning experience, all
around. First pest to show up was a colony of chipmunks...there were
stalks of indian corn left in the garden over winter from previous owner.
Knew I should have gotten rid of them, but it was a busy winter.
Chipmunks ALL OVER the place when it was about time to plant veggies, so
went shopping for rat traps. Peanut butter and seeds on the traps; no
dice. Went shopping for poison corn, a serious weapon, judging from label
instructions. Held off on that, ready to kill varmints if they touched my
new plants. Chipmunks were all over the place, including taking drinks at
the pond, but no sign of harm to plants. Stray cat shows up now and then,
especially in neighbor's yard where a bunch of rabbits live under the pine
trees. About this time, the c'munks seem to head for farm country. Other
than moving a few of my flower seeds and small bulbs, they didn't seem to
bother anything, other than plant some sorghum next to the back door. I
really didn't want to poison them, mainly because some good creature might
dine on their poisoned corpses.

What you need is whatever chow they eat soaked in anti freeze (Automobile
radiator)

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