Hi! Lovely place!

Hello, everyone! I'm from Hampshire, England, and really enjoy growing things. We're currently renting an old Victorian house with a LONG garden, and lots of plants and a pond! I love the garden, but I really have no idea what to do with it, or how to care for and maintain the pond! There is also a lovely patch way at the end that I've been given carte blanche by the owners to do with what I will! I can't wait to get some veg and herbs in there! Though, my gardening experience is pretty much non existent...

I'm so glad to have found this forum and can't wait to really explore more of it and start asking some questions! I imagine you'll be very sick of me soon! :D

 

Good morning and welcome to GC Erin. Great that the owners have given you carte blanc so you can do you own thing there. I might have a few tips or ideas about the pond and there are lots of others who can help you with the garden. How big/deep is the pond, what is in it now, both in the way of plants and insects/fish/etc? What is in the garden now and do you have any ideas of how you would like your own patch to look? How big is it?

 

Hi! Thanks for offering your help! The pond is pretty big, probably about 10 feet across, and I would think 3-5 ft deep. We bought some fish last year so we have about 5 or 6 including Koi, goldfish and a couple other varities... It has bamboo on one side, and two other water plants, one that is very reedy and tall, and the other that isn't very tall but has long knarled type roots.

Both of which seem to have suddenly either died or gotten very ill. I have a big problem with what my husband says is "Duck weed" as well...

The plot at the back is about 10 feet long and about 8 feet wide. Currently full of weeds and some nettles.

I'd like to plant some herbs in one little section of it that seems to be sectioned off a bit, and some potatoes, onions and tomatoes, maybe carrots...

[ 26. February 2007, 10:40 AM: Message edited by: Erin ]

 

Hello, Erin, and welcome to GC. It's full of knowledge in all aspects of gardening and you will get the help you require.

Enjoy!

 

Hi Erin and welcome. I'm quite new here too and have found it a very friendly and helpful site.

Your garden sounds lovely and I would get digging in the first instance to prepare your plot for planting. Also, start your tomatoes off asap, they germinate quite quickly.

Have you got all your seeds, ready for the off?
Great, isn't it!

 

Hi Erin

Welcome to GC, you're sure to get lots of help here! I'm quite new too but have always found answers to all my questions. Whereabouts in Hampshire are you? I was born in Portsmouth, moved up to Lancashire 10 years ago, now living in SW France.

 

Hi Erin and welcome

 

Hello and welcome, to GC Erin

 

Hi erin and congrats on finding a really friendly and useful site.

Don't despair about the pond plants. We have had a very mild winter except for a couple of hard frosts a couple of weeks ago whaich could have knocked them into their usual winter state. Don't worry until may, if no growth by then, well come on here and ask. Other folk more knowledgeable in pond plants may be able to tell you what they are and if they're ok.

 

Hello, everyone and thanks for the wonderful, warm welcome! I'm so eager to get started outside now that I've found this place- I was dreading it, as I just wasnt sure how to start or what to do!

 

First off to the duckweed:

Lemnaceae
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Close up of two different duckweeds:
Spirodela polyrrhThe very tiny Wolffia plants are under 2 mm longLemnaceae is a botanical name for a family of flowering plants. It is also known as the "duckweed family", as it contains the duckweeds (also known as water lentils).

These plants are very simple, lacking a stem or leaves, but consisting of a small blade-like structure floating on or just under the water surface, with or without simple rootlets. Reproduction is mostly by budding, but occasionally a flower consisting of two stamens and a pistil (some call it an inflorescence with three unisexual flowers) is produced. The fruit is an utricle, a sac containing air and a seed designed to float. The flower of Wolffia is the smallest in the world at 0.3 mm long.

Duckweeds are an important food source for waterfowl and are eaten by humans in parts of Southeast Asia (as khai-nam). Some duckweeds are used in freshwater aquariums and ponds where they may spread rapidly, although in a large pond may be difficult to eradicate once established. The plants can provide nitrate removal (if cropped) and cover for fry. The plants are used as shelter by pond water species, such as bullfrogs and bluegills. The duckweeds are important in the process of bioremediation because they grow rapidly, absorbing excess mineral nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphates. A cover of duckweeds will reduce evaporation of water compared to a clear surface.


We get some every year, some worse than others. A few bits won't hurt, they look quite pretty actually, but if you let bigger patches grow then you are in trouble. So do as we do and net it out every day.

The bamboo stand sounds lovely. We used to have a giant stand of it but lost it when the bamboo bloomed world-wide some years ago. Hubby refused to replace it as it does make an awful mess. But, oh! when the wind used to rustle through it, you could sit there, listen and dream. It has to be kept in check every few years as it does spread. I think that the reedy plants might be the Chinese ? (I'll have to check and see what it is called in English). It also tends to spread and needs to be chopped back at the roots every few years, like the bamboo. If it is what I think it is, then it has just died back for the winter and will soon be appearing again. Hubby cuts ours right down in the autumn. It is another super pond thing, so make sure that you keep both tidy.

I can't think what the plant with the long knarled roots might be. But hope that this has helped you a bit. Good luck with your projects!

 

Miscanthus sinensis
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Miscanthus sinensis


Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Magnoliophyta

Class: Liliopsida

Order: Poales

Family: Poaceae

Subfamily: Panicoideae

Genus: Miscanthus

Species: M. sinensis


Binomial name
Miscanthus sinensis
Anderss.
Miscanthus sinensis (Chinese silver grass, Maiden grass, Zebra grass, Porcupine Grass; syn. Eulalia japonica Trin., Miscanthus sinensis f. glaber Honda, Miscanthus sinensis var. gracillimus Hitchc., Miscanthus sinensis var. variegatus Beal, Miscanthus sinensis var. zebrinus Beal, Saccharum japonicum Thunb.) is a grass native to eastern Asia throughout most of China, Japan and Korea.

It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 0.8-2 m (rarely 4 m) tall, forming dense clumps from an underground rhizome. The leaves are 18ââ?¬â??75 cm long and 0.3ââ?¬â??2 cm broad. The flowers are purplish, held above the foliage.


[edit] Cultivation and uses

Miscanthus sinensis flower stalks in mid-October. The horizontal variegations are visible on leaves in the lower-right part of the picture.It is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant in temperate regions around the world. It has become an invasive species in parts of North America[1].

Several cultivars have been selected, including 'Stricta' with narrow growth habit, 'Variegata' with white margins, and 'Zebrina' with horizontal yellow and green stripes across the leaves.


[edit] References
Flora of China: Miscanthus sinensis
Virginia Cooperative Extension: Miscanthus sinensis 'Stricta'
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miscanthus_sinensis"
Category: Grasses

 

Hi Erin and welcome to GC from another gardener from Hampshire.