Two weeks since I last posted; the pond digger says I’m slacking off. I actually do have a life outside of koi keeping that keeps me pretty busy. We have a kitchen renovation that started seven weeks ago and there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. Of course my house is dusty, things are in boxes and covered in plastic – can’t wait to have my kitchen and house back. Today the koi club had its spring koi auction. I wasn’t planning to buy any koi but there was some very nice koi up for auction and we couldn’t resist. Came home with three, including a large hi-utsuri from a fellow koi club member. Red and black, I named her Constance. The three koi went into our upper pond which has been suffering from green pond-itis for two weeks now. We’ve thrown in extra bacteria, algaecide, hooked up a bead filter…and the green algae is still there. The koi seem to love it and the water parameters are perfect. The pond digger’s company chemist told him it’s a natural state for the pond and good for the koi. Well the whole point is to be able to see the koi. So we have some UV filters on order which should clear up the water. Landscaping is an endless task in the yard. I had a little hill that was planted with ajuga last year. This spring, only the weeds, creeping jenny and the oregano like ground cover came back. So I’m trying succulents. These are hardy to Zone 3 (we are Zone 4) so I’m feeling confidant they should come back next year. Need to throw down some mulch to keep the hill from washing away. I usually prefer to post photos of the ponds and koi looking nice but in reality, working on the pond means a lot of tools out, dirty gloves thrown down, rocks all over the place and just general disarray. I thought it would be interesting to document a typical Saturday view of the yard. I think in about two weeks we should have much of the pond work done and we’ll be concentrating on landscaping and building something easier on the eyes around the equipment pits!

[learn_press_profile]