A little horseback riding accident in Canada has me sidelined from yardwork and spending time around the ponds. I hope to be back out there in about two weeks but will have to be careful. I had a skin graft procedure to close a 4″ lower leg laceration and have spent the last few days in bed. One consolation is that I can see the upper pond from my windows and catch glimpses of the larger koi swimming around.

So the pond digger has been preparing the new garden shed area. He made a template and filled it with rocks for the shed to sit upon.  Home Depot delivered a few pallets of rocks and two nephews did a good job hauling up and spreading the rocks. It’s amazing how quickly young bodies get the work done!

We also had a little greenhouse in our yard that I always had good intentions to use during the winter. Invariably I never did and it became random storage. Our friend, Sai, is going to start up his pond again, maybe this year or next year, and he said he was going to try out a greenhouse. So we asked if he wanted our greenhouse and it disappeared one Sunday. The koi club members are all super nice and always happy to help – so we were glad that he could use it.

So our yard was looking pretty much like a junkyard with stuff all over but thankfully the shed came in and we can start putting things away. I’m sure our neighbors are glad. The pond digger started with some interior shelving and will be putting up assorted racks for stuff.

We also decided to get a smaller container for our yard chemicals. I’m always concerned that we’ll accidentally poison our koi since we had a little incident last summer. We think we had a little bit of insecticide on a glove or hose end and a few tosai were lost. Our mosquitos this year have been in the gazillions. Next year, we might try some bat houses for some natural controls.

So I’m pretty happy with our new garden shed. It’s from  Plants and Things in Anoka, Minnesota. It’s made of cedar and we chose to have a black trim and door. If we ever decide to paint our other garden pieces, they will also be in contrast black. We added an extra window to the front side and a transom window over the door. I always hate dark sheds where spiders lurk. It might be nice to get some electricity to this shed as well.

The pond digger will need to do some work around the entrance door. This fall, we’ll pull up the raspberry canes and move them somewhere else in the yard.

Aside from shed stuff, we tried out a foam fractionator on the upper pond because our nitrites were up a little. We thought it was the koi feeder feeding too much but no bubbles (dissolved organic compounds). We’re thinking the pond was just having a moment with all the rain that has been falling lately. I see on different facebook feeds and website, people raving about the foam fractionator. However, I did see an interesting comment by someone who said – ‘if you need a foam fractionator, you should revisit your filtration…’ Hmmmm maybe so.

Another weekend flies by and the pond digger has been doing exceptional work. Not only has he been getting our yard back in order and taking care of the koi – he’s made me some great chicken soup and has been taking care of me.