Yes the post you’ve all been waiting for… the pond update!
I know nobody is reading this shit, but my blog is a handy place to journal updates on the backyard aquaculture experiment, which I’ll begin with the water analyses I conducted today:
I don’t see a change from two weeks ago. Maybe the pH and nitrates have inched microscopically higher, but not enough to bother me.
The pond is also still relatively young, and its only really been in the last few days that the water has cleared completely, so there’s still a lot going on before it stabilizes.
It’s also been very, very cold. At the bottom end of the Gerrys’ tolerance, which makes me feel sorry for the little guys though they seem happy enough. Comets are tough, scrappy bastards, though. So long as the water doesn’t actually freeze, they should survive.
The plants are still alive too, though dormant. It’s so cold even the native violets have slowed, and they are so aggressive you could carpet the moon with them.
I can’t rattle off the names of everything we’ve planted, but I’ve added some submerged and emergent varieties which (bad timing) are also waiting for warmer weather. But they’re not dead!
Two of the three species of strawberry I added to the mini bog filter are going well. It’s only the Fragaria x ananassa (‘Tioga’) at the top leftof the photo that’s struggling, maybe because it doesn’t like wet feet. I reckon the other two will just gobble it up anyway.
We hav a small flotilla of floating plants to aid with the chemistry experiment, which is great, but we also have a leak. A tiny one, maybe 2cm a day, but a leak nonetheless. I’m hoping it isn’t from the underwater light I installed a week ago, but I suspect it is. Which means it could be on the effing bottom!
I’m not draining the effing pond for 2 effing centimeters a day!
Finally, I’ve noticed that the Gerrys have come to the attention of predators. A couple of currawongs were hopping about, beadily eyeing the tasty golden treats under 60cm of water, and while our dumb cat Harry is yet to notice, our smart cat Hugo is mesmerised.
I’m watching you too, cat.
