Got the worst of the pond close down done this weekend

[Bartman]

I dread that job.  It is generally back breaking and endless, but this year it seemed to go a bit better.

Saturday was still cool and cloudy so I worked strictly on external tasks and got all the filters removed, rinsed and stored.

Today was sunny and warmer so I half drained the pond and pulled the lilies and submerged filter and pumps out.  All the lilies got their "hair cut" then were bagged and stored.  I still need to rinse the pumps and put those away, but overall the hard part is done.

After the next big freeze I'll need to cut back all the other plants in the yard and plant all the tulips I purchased.  I normally do these jobs over a few different evenings to spread out the work load.   Considering we have had frost just about every night this past week there are still quite a few of plants that are still perfectly fine.  The mums I put in this June look exceptionally nice amoung the daylilies which are in various stages of green, yellow and brown.

I hate to see summer come to an end.  Seems shorter every year.

Bart

[Ky Kim]

I agree Bart.  The season just gets shorter and shorter,   :'( and mine is longer than yours.  We've been moving plants into the greenhouse over the past week.  Its kind of depressing    and it is alot of work. .  Hurry on spring, were ready.   

[Jonna]

Season's certainly add a lot of work.  This is interesting to someone like me that has never lived where it freezes or snows.  I'm sure there are a lot of chores and preparation stuff that I never knew about.

[Holldoll]

I find it interesting too.  I grew up in Northern UT so we had very drastic seasons but I was too young to notice or care. But now being in zone 9 in CA I love that everything grows all year long!

[Red]

Hey Bart!
I am still in denial...  Prince George winter could start any day but so far nothing to inspire the work to come.  The maples over the pond have not even started changing colour.  So far they keep everything out of the pond but soon enough I'll be feet deep in leaves :\

I had a funny autumn indicator.  Earlier this month my "filter" seemed to be acting strangely.  (I just flop a sq. meter of fleece type fabric into a perforated pail and run the pump into it.  It worked really well until...)  The edges of the fabric kept being drawn into the pail.  I wondered if they were too loaded or something but then the other day I see this flurry of activity up at the filter.  It seems the local squirrel figured it would be a good thing to use to line his nest against the coming cold.  Man he was really going at it... and... pulled the whole darned thing into the pail.  Wish I had the camera handy!   LOL

Stay warm!
Jim

[Rocmon]

We've had squirrels pull mosquito fish out of our pond—as told us by a neighbors child taking care of our cat while we were away.

Only one of my quaking aspen has been beginning to yellow up some... Soon they will litter the pond. The lilies are losing pads and stopped flowering, but it's not the temperature, but the sun lowering to below tree tops so there's much less sunlight on the pond. I can't imagine having to dig up my garden and store it away every year....

Some bulbs are just beginning to sprout, so I put down an annual layer of horse manure compost—on time this year, for a change! It's been an odd year—digitalis are just flowering now, and the alstroemeria are still blooming? Yet the garden is thinning out in places, but yes we don't see snow here either :'(    .....I do look forward to fires in the woodstove.