Strange goings on in the Koi Garden

Winter is a time of projects, and we have done our share of projects here at the Koi Garden over the years.  Pond projects that disrupt the Koi are usually done in the summer when they are awake and active.  The immune system of the fish goes dormant in the winter and therefore they cannot take the stress of any changes in their environment.   Therefore this time of year is for the other projects.

But be afraid.  Be very afraid!

An installation of bamboo flooring in the downstairs office and the adjoining bathroom kinda burst out the door into the Koi Garden.  And yes, that is a toilet in our back yard...

While your neighbors might not mind your individualistic tastes in lawn ornaments, it is probably best to take into account how this will affect your fish…  Don't let any of the chemicals and paints get anywhere near the water.  Saw dust or any construction dirt will cause big problems if they get in the pond water.  Don't even think of using the pond as a workspace.  The vibrations of power tools like saws and drills gets magnified and propagated throughout the pond.  And if your pond is covered in ice, don't think for a minute that it buffers the fish from their surroundings.   Ice will act as a conduit for any sound or vibration that hits it.  It is best to keep any work far away from the Koi pond.

Remember Koi are people too..

Koi Garden Guy's Gift Guide part II

Last week I covered the items 10 to 6 of the Koi Garden Guys recommended shopping list.  This week I will finish off the guide.

5. Koi Cufflinks.  Just what the smartly dressed Koi Garden owner should be wearing this season, preferably in a nice spring party in your Koi Garden.

4.  Comprehensive Koi book.  This book is one of the best.  It is  the first places I go to find answers for any questions I have regarding the Koi Garden.

3.  Ceramic Warming stools.  No Koi Garden should be without them.  They should be placed near the pond for the best viewing of the pond.  Make sure to place them so they become warm from the morning sun (get it?  Warming stools?).  There is no place better to have a warm cup of coffee or tea.

2.  Japanese lantern.  A Rustic Lantern is must-have item for every Koi Garden.  The more rustic, the better.  Make sure you cover yours with a nice blanket of moss.  (For tips on getting moss to grow just right, please check my earlier post.) While you can buy them on Amazon, you can find beautiful ones at your local Japanese garden store.  I've showcased my beautiful lantern in several previous posts in addition to the moss post.

1.  Bronze Heron.  This can be a highlight of your Koi Garden.  I've found this nice one for you on Amazon, but you should be able to find nice specimens at your local garden art store.  One of our favorite stores Oasis Water Gardens, has some very pretty ones.

Koi Garden Guy's Holiday Gift List

With the holiday season right around the corner, the Koi Garden Guy has put together a top 10 Koi Garden Holiday Gift List for the Koi Garden fanatic on your shopping list.

10.    Solar Chinese Lanterns.  Minimum three lanterns, but this is one case where you can overdo it.  Unless your garden is huge, don’t use more than five. For wet climates, bring them in during the bad weather season.  Remember, they are solar based, so position them where they get the sun.

9.  Koi Tote Bag.  Carry stuff in style. Since plastic store bags are now passe, why not save the environment while advertising a great hobby?

8.  Indoor/Outdoor Weather station.  This station not only tells you the correct time (probably updated by atomic Gnomes in Colorado), it also tells you temperatures. Both temperatures in your home but also the water temperature of your Koi pond. Not the air outside your window, or near the pond, but the water temperature of the pond! It does so wirelessly, so you can read it from the comfort of your living room.

7.  Bonsai Plant.  No link for this one, but you can find some at your local Japanese Garden Stores.  For those people who live in harsher environments, a Bonsai plant is a great way to enjoy the Koi garden indoors during the winter.  Then when the summer comes around again, you bring the Bonsai outside and place it in a shady section of the Koi Garden.     Voondebaaarrr!

6.  Pond Water Test Strips.  I have talked about these before. They are a great way to keep in touch with all the chemical stuff going on in your pond.  No more liquid chemicals, counting drops.  Dip the strip in the water and compare the colors to a standard attached to the container.  Brilliant!

Next week we will have the final five of Koi Garden Guy's holiday list.

Can't keep a good moss down

Seattle is not known for sunny weather, but the summers are actually quite dry here. Keeping a moss nice and moist and green, much less alive in the summer requires some thinking, in addition to some timing and working with the weather!!! The rains just have returned and are helping out but even in Seattle, you cannot count on the rains.

I have always been impressed with the moist moss in Japanese gardens. I will dive into the Seattle Japanese Garden more in future posts, so stay tuned for them.

In order to cover one of my nicest Japanese lanterns with moss, first I needed some moss. I had read of ways to grow moss from scratch (yes, I do read stuff like that), but that seemed too long a process. It involved chopping up moss in a food processor and mixing it with milk or yogurt to create a paint for surfaces where you want to grow moss. Nope, not going to happen....

Instead I became a moss thief; yes a moss thief. I “harvested” some really nice moss from the sidewalk down the street. I prefer early mornings; it stops having to do the explanations to neighbors…. I used a metal spatula to remove the moss and a cookie tray to store it. The cookie tray works well in retaining the water, keeping the moss moist and healthy. You can almost not over water the moss at this stage. I would recommend storing the resultant “moss cookies” in a shady place in the yard out of sight from your neighbors… For some reason being a moss farmer is not looked on with the esteem that I think it should be…

My goal was to use my moss cookies to cover my Japanese lantern. I first let the moss settle in for a few days in my moss tray. I later pulled pieces out of my moss tray and pieced them together like a puzzle on the top of the lantern in the most natural layout I could think of. I tried to keep the lantern moist and out of direct sunlight for as long as I could. Babying the moss at this time is needed but a Japanese lantern without the top looks, well, looks nothing like a Japanese lantern… So even though I placed it back in the Koi Garden and made sure it stayed moist and in the shade, especially on hot days.

Now once I had spent so much time and effort in covering my Japanese lantern with a delightful head of moss, I had to keep it that way. In addition to the risk of moss drying out, you need to watch out for birds and squirrels. For some reason, they both think that there is something underneath and will sometimes tear up your work in search of gold or something. This is another reason why I always keep some moss in my moss tray. You just never know when you will need some more moss!

After a while, the moss will adhere to the lantern top and you will be the proud owner of a moss topped Japanese lantern. Once the moss is established, it will handle droughts, ice and snow equally well. It goes dormant in the cold of winter, and if dried out in the summer, it will return after some beneficial watering.

Now that is some really good moss!!!

Good Moss!!!

With the damage that the recent frost has wreaked on the Koi Garden, the moss keeps right on thriving. It is funny how something that you work to remove from the rest of your garden, you work to keep in the Koi Garden.
In fact, I have a salvaged cookie tray filled with moss just for replacement purposes. Weird.

I use moss for covering new lanterns, placement in other plants like Maples, and even Bonsai plants…..

Even in bad weather the Koi Garden is growing. The moss that seemed so dead during the summer springs to life. The pots that looked so dingy from dust now spring to life exposing a shiny glaze after a rainy day....