Elephants in the garden? The 4 legged kind!

Cats....either you love them or you hate them. Many people would go out of their way to run over one. This sums up the attitude of many gardeners towards cats, which is why there are moves to outlaw them (cats). I'll admit to having the same feelings myself, on occasion, especially after too many visits by the same cat to the same flowerbed. But on balance, I don't mind cats. I own one myself-if you can own a cat. Dave is his name and he's ancient at 21 years of age!
The cats that drop by my yard seem particularly free spirited, especially Midnight, and I've concluded, after years of observations, that they come to my place for one or both of two reasons: to find something to eat or drink, or to find a comfortable place to relieve themselves ( I do worry when they show up with a magazine).
No, there are worse things than cats in the garden, and I've had them all - rats, mice, groundhogs, raccoons, rabbits, squirrels - everything but rogue elephants, which are a nasty little problem for gardeners in Africa. Elephants there have been known to clean out the cabbage crop and drain the pond at one sitting, and they make an awful mess of the patio furniture. I count my blessings that I live in a neighborhood that has an effective elephant control by-law. The irony of it is, although cats can be a nuisance, they do a darn good job of keeping down vermin.
I recently read somewhere that the majority of people on earth are never more than ten feet from a rat - scary thought (who makes up all these statistics?) So, I'm all for a few cats running wild if they can increase that distance by a foot or two. We do need a few predators around to keep the neighborhood in a state of ecological balance.

Meet some of the gang.

This is a picture of most of the fish that wintered over outside. There are 11 out there at the moment and I plan on adding maybe 4 or 5 from the basement pond to these, while the rest of the basement fish will go into the smaller pond. That should divided them up pretty evenly by numbers at least. Every day I look at the outside thermometer hoping the temps are slightly above 60, but just no go. The basement pond read 70 degrees this morning. I'd like them to be at least fairly close. I read where others are turning fish out for spawning already because their temps have moved close together. It was May 3rd last year before I got mine out and at the rate I'm going will be that late again this year. About the time we get a couple warm days to get things moving, then we get a few cold nights again. And so it goes. I'm still in a holding pattern. The fish have had a great stay in the basement pond this winter. Not even once have I did a water change and forgot I was doing it! In years past, I've drained the entire pond before I remembered I had opened the drain. But, actually I've never killed anyone doing that. Mainly because the pond will pool about 1/2 inch of water in one corner. It has saved me a couple times. Why once I began a water change at night after dinner and didn't remember it till I got to work the next day. I left work in a panic and in tears, but they were all ok. Regardless, there have been no terrifying incidents this winter. (Knock on wood)

None of these fish have names except maybe the Showa at the bottom. And don't ask me what it is, cause it's one that the grandkids named and only Harry can remember what it was. Objectively looking at the fish, the Sanke (3 colored) fish clear to the left, may go down the road at the end of this season if it doesn't improve. It's a nice enough fish, but doesn't seem to want to grow. The Showa (3 colored with black on his face) at the bottom of the group may go down the road also. Showa are usually slow to mature in coloration, that's why he has made the watch list.

I pledged to get rid of a fish everytime I add a new one. So, fish that don't change or do change often get put on our "watch list". The big Bekko(White with black spots) while not a great looking fish is exempt cause we've had her for a long time so she's grandfathered in. Also, note that on the Sanke at the bottom of the picture beside the Soigoi (grey fish.) I notice she has a little red spot just behind her gill plate. This is a sore not a spot. I haven't done anything about it yet, but got my eye on it. I'm hoping she'll heal herself. If it gets worse at all, I'll net her out and hit it with some iodine. Looks like she lost a scale there. Harry said there were 2 scales at the bottom of the tank when he cleaned the pond. I'm wondering if that is one of them.

elephant ear bloosoms???

This morning as I went through my normal routine of feeding the fish and cat, I happened to glance over and notice that my elephant ear actually had a bloom on it. In the fall, I usually simply cut off all the huge leaves and dig up the bulbs, but I had one particularly large plant and didn't have the heart to cut it, so I dug it up, leaves and all, dumped the whole thing in a 5 gallon bucket and put it in my living room for the winter. It has continued to produce a couple large leaves at a time throughout the whole winter. I don't believe I have ever seen my elephant ears bloom. I didn't know they did. I just thought they threw off little baby bulbs at the roots and that's how they multiplied. So I snapped a couple pictures to share. Have you ever seen your elephant ears bloom? This is the type of elephant ear that holds it's leaves upright. I know "elephant ear" is a real general term, I never have been one of those people that knows all the Latin names for things. Sorry.... they are pretty common though.

Spring Cleaning

Spring certainly has sprung. Daffodils have all bloomed, tulips are right behind them. The longer evenings beckon me to get out into the gardens to rake a little. Easter Sunday was so nice, I went out and trimmed all my bushes and cut off all the ornamental grasses. Got a half inch of rain last night with more to come. The ponds and fish are looking great. Thanks to Harry cleaning out some of the algae. There was little or no sludge on the bottom, but his efforts have left the water crystal clear now. Because our ponds are nearly under a huge walnut tree, Spring cleaning is essential for us. As much as we work at keeping them clean in the fall, there is always a few stray walnuts or leaves that get in usually turning the water a very bad coffee color. Last year there were little or no walnuts on the tree however (seems to always be an every other year cycle) so the ponds came out of winter looking pretty good. Regardless, every Spring Harry completely drains the pond, sweeps down the sides and refills it. The fish are netted out and put in a tank. This year Harry said he only had them out for about 4 hours while he cleaned, flushed the lines and got enough water back in the pond to cover the fish. So, Spring cleaning is complete, the pond waterfalls are up and running, filters are all working, and life is good if you're a fish. Water temps still only hover in the upper 50's, but the fish are already eating the Spring blend of fish food. Hopefully I can get the fish in the basement out by the end of the month. The pictures above shows the empty stream and one of the two submersed jets that help to move water down and out of the stream. The second pic shows Harry vacuuming up all the leftover rinse water. You can also see my 4 bottom drains and attached aerators. Good job, done. Now all that's left is enjoying the fish. At least till Spring Spawn ruins all my good water quality!

koi jumped out a 6" hole!!!****

OK, lost an additional outside koi this week. That's 2 for the winter. This 3 year old 15" Sanke came out of the winter looking pretty good. He's been a little sluggish, but seemed to be doing OK. Saturday the pond's temps were 45 degrees and fluctuating every day with the changing temps. I happened to walk out to look at the fish and there he was all pine coned! Not good! I was on my way to town, but put everything down to go get a net and tub. He was still pretty active but I got him netted when he thought he was hiding in a mass of string algae. I took him to the basement and put him in a tub of cold tap water. I figured it had to be around the same temp as the outside pond, only cleaner. Put an air stone on him and added a little salt and Elbagin (an antibacterial water treatment), covered the tank and shut down the lights to help make him comfortable with his new surroundings. Everyday for 4 days I did partial water changes on him twice a day (as there was no filtration) Each day the water naturally warmed to just over 60 degrees. I replaced the salt and Elbagin daily also. He didn't get worse, but he didn't get better either. All the while he acted pretty good actually. He seemed pretty calm without being too lethargic or anything. Almost like he knew I was trying to help. Well, last night we had the grand kids over to color Easter eggs, so the checkup was prolong from the normal 5:30 to about 9:30 in the evening. And, when I went to the basement...there he was laying on the basement floor!!! Da** Da** Da***!! I left about a 6" hole open on one end of the tub so he could get a little light and dang if he didn't jump out it. He appeared dead, but was still kind of wet, so I returned him to the aerated tub and messaged him a little to try to make him breath. After several minutes, I just let him float in the aeration, said a little prayer, and called it a night. But, upon returning this morning, it was obvious that he was indeed dead. I had planned to get some antibiotics for him today. But, guess I don't have to bother with that, do I? Always upsets me to loose a fish, but when its something I've done, it makes me so mad. I just never thought he had enough space to get the speed to jump out the hole! But he obviously did a tail stand or something.
So above is a couple pictures of what he looked like. He's flower fertilizer now. Dang, dang, dang!!!!