Indoor koi land, My koi

Staying busy…

Posted by lorivertin on

Summer is always so nice in Minnesota and we all love the first cooler days of Fall. The koi look prettier in the cooler waters and everything seems pretty nice until the first leaves start to drop. My gardens start looking tired and plants are dying off. I usually try to cut back many of the plants on the warmer weekend because tackling the whole yard on a blustery November weekend is never fun. The pond digger gets busy with building winter indoor koi land. This year we were going to build a hoop house over the upper pond but decided to go ahead and bring the koi into the garage. I do prefer being able to see all of the koi in relative warmth every day rather than trekking through snow and 10 below to maybe catch a glimpse of one or two koi.

Here’s how the koi are faring outside right now. The funniest koi is a shiro utsuri named Super. Super has sumi on his head that changes constantly. He used to have a little teardrop on his forehead, then it changed to a zig-zaggy pattern, then it all receded to white and now he has a funny mustache.

Falling leaves - it's just going to get worse over the next few weeks.
Falling leaves – it’s just going to get worse over the next few weeks.
Miyu is still the largest koi in the pond.
Miyu is still the largest koi in the pond.
Super is sporting a mustache this fall. His head has a lot of interesting sumi changes.
Super is sporting a mustache this fall. His head has a lot of interesting sumi changes.
Bert is still bigger than Ernie.
Bert is still bigger than Ernie.
The not so little koi...
The not so little koi…

Indoor Winter Koi Land…

The pond digger has been busy getting winter koi land ready. We purchased an above ground pool that’s about 16′ by 9′ and holds around 3000 gallons of water. It just fits into the center bay of our garage and the koi will be brought in from their outdoor ponds this weekend.

Winter koi land required the pond digger to do some painting and garage clean up.
Winter koi land required the pond digger to do some painting and garage clean up.
New retro bottom drains and installing the overflow pipe. The shiro utsuri between the bottom drains is about 21" long.
New retro bottom drains and installing the overflow pipe. The shiro utsuri between the bottom drains is about 21″ long.
Winter 2017 indoor koi land
Winter 2017 indoor koi land

New project for next year!!!

The pond digger is very excited. I've given the okay to re-do the lower pond. We're going to design a rectangular. more modern looking pond that is partially above ground. We're going to re-landscape the area with a larger deck area and the stream bed/waterfall will be taken out. Work will start as soon as the koi are in winter koi land.
The pond digger is very excited. I’ve given him the okay to re-do the lower pond. We’re going to design a rectangular, more modern looking pond that is partially above ground. We’ll re-landscape the area with a larger deck area and the stream bed/waterfall will be taken out. Work will start as soon as the koi are in winter koi land.