Gardening with Joey

For @chrismpw no weeding - colour all year round just a bit of dead heading - ground cover & gravel -


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View attachment 317133
Great perennial geraniums there Joey. Got a few in my dad's garden. Any advice about looking after them? I have been trying to dead head but there are too many flowers to do this effectively. If I trim the tops of the plants with shears do you think I could get a second flowering?
 

Great perennial geraniums there Joey. Got a few in my dad's garden. Any advice about looking after them? I have been trying to dead head but there are too many flowers to do this effectively. If I trim the tops of the plants with shears do you think I could get a second flowering?
Yes wait till the first full flush of flowers re over then clip lightly back - the massive blue one is called Rozanne it need not attention it just flowers non stop for months in that photo but it gets very large - in the spring as it sprouts up during emergence for the season get a small garden hand fork,& tease away a couple of plant lets with roots & pot them on - ideally they should be split in half every 4 years & the centre old wood discarded - I am hampered because of my ground cover material - but have propagated many as described - you can find that plant on e bay or web ...It a beauty ....allow space when planting .....
 
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Hi @Joey66 can you help ?

There’s a little ornamental pond not far from ours, that’s full of fish, but in a bit of a bad state due to lack of maintaining.

It’s full of weed ( not a problem, as that can be raked out ) but the big problem as I see it, is that small willows have taken root on the edges and are advancing year on, as they dry the edges of the pond out.

I know from other ponds in the area, that if left unchecked, they’ll eventually dry the whole pond out as they advance towards the middle.

Me and my lad are planning on tidying the pond up and although we won’t be able to get the willows out at their roots, we’re going to cut them down at water level.

Will this be enough to kill them and stop their advance / if not how else can we kill them ?
Get the rubbish out & ask anyone in the area if they have oxygenating pond plants - not only will the fish gain by the plants improving the water - they will eat the plant itself - even very small bits of very small cut fresh lettuce can be used as food for the fish - when taking the rubbish out leave on the side of the pond for two hours for the insects to get back in a pond needs a good bottom - the worst thing in a pond is blanket weed get a net & remove it even if you wade in its a sure way for that stuff to make a pond go rancid its stringy slimy green threads vey noticeable, & a weed we called jimmy green teeth it propagates itself like he lime green pin head foliage just remove a bit of it as it is food for the fish & supplies shade for them but it must not cover the whole pond ....
 
Get the rubbish out & ask anyone in the area if they have oxygenating pond plants - not only will the fish gain by the plants improving the water - they will eat the plant itself - even very small bits of very small cut fresh lettuce can be used as food for the fish - when taking the rubbish out leave on the side of the pond for two hours for the insects to get back in a pond needs a good bottom - the worst thing in a pond is blanket weed get a net & remove it even if you wade in its a sure way for that stuff to make a pond go rancid its stringy slimy green threads vey noticeable, & a weed we called jimmy green teeth it propagates itself like he lime green pin head foliage just remove a bit of it as it is food for the fish & supplies shade for them but it must not cover the whole pond ....
-and then throw a bucket of Roundup over the Willows?
 

Get the rubbish out & ask anyone in the area if they have oxygenating pond plants - not only will the fish gain by the plants improving the water - they will eat the plant itself - even very small bits of very small cut fresh lettuce can be used as food for the fish - when taking the rubbish out leave on the side of the pond for two hours for the insects to get back in a pond needs a good bottom - the worst thing in a pond is blanket weed get a net & remove it even if you wade in its a sure way for that stuff to make a pond go rancid its stringy slimy green threads vey noticeable, & a weed we called jimmy green teeth it propagates itself like he lime green pin head foliage just remove a bit of it as it is food for the fish & supplies shade for them but it must not cover the whole pond ....

Surprisingly, despite the neglect, the pond seems to be in good health, as it`s full of fish and insects.

There`s water lilly`s and rushes in there, it`s just that the willows are starting to dry out the shallow edges of the pond and I know that they keep moving towards the centre of the pond and over the years will dry it out.

The predominant weed in there, is Canadian pond weed, which I can clear out with an old rake head on a rope.

I get the rest of the crap that people have thrown in by putting a pair of wellies on and wading in ;)
 
Surprisingly, despite the neglect, the pond seems to be in good health, as it`s full of fish and insects.

There`s water lilly`s and rushes in there, it`s just that the willows are starting to dry out the shallow edges of the pond and I know that they keep moving towards the centre of the pond and over the years will dry it out.

The predominant weed in there, is Canadian pond weed, which I can clear out with an old rake head on a rope.

I get the rest of the crap that people have thrown in by putting a pair of wellies on and wading in ;)
That Canadian pond weed does it look like this - if so its an oxygenator Elodia Densa - if over loaded just thin it out - do not remove it all FGS :lol:

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That Canadian pond weed does it look like this - if so its an oxygenator Elodia Densa - if over loaded just thin it out - do not remove it all FGS :lol:

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That`s it.

I`m not removing all of it, just creating enough clear patches to fish in.

We`ve been taking very small fish from one pond and putting them in a brand new pond nearby, which is about half an acre in size.

The brand new pond ( 6 mths old ) seems to have been hit quite badly by blanket weed, as it`s not shaded at all and I`m thinking of putting in a load of small floating barley hay bales, which release natural enzymes to kill it- they`re cheap and safe, over spending a fortune on chemicals ( which I don`t like )
 

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Ours is coming on. Looks a bit raggedy here as it’s directly under a large honeysuckle.
Just clip the dead bit away & water then liquid feed very resilient plant with a lovely fragrance roots easy from small cuttings too use shap scissors root in humidity in a clear bin liner make a tent - plus there is a double flowing variety too prune the honey suckle back a touch after flowering too ;)
 
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That`s it.

I`m not removing all of it, just creating enough clear patches to fish in.

We`ve been taking very small fish from one pond and putting them in a brand new pond nearby, which is about half an acre in size.

The brand new pond ( 6 mths old ) seems to have been hit quite badly by blanket weed, as it`s not shaded at all and I`m thinking of putting in a load of small floating barley hay bales, which release natural enzymes to kill it- they`re cheap and safe, over spending a fortune on chemicals ( which I don`t like )
The barley hay is very good but be patient it's a natural pond oxygenating material & will benefit the pond ;)
 
Not a fan mate, will probably go for some jelly or something when the fruits ripen - if nothing else to get used to the process and give some to friends and stuff. As I said the tree will go regardless so might as well make something out of it
Try a cake.

 

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