Gonna Build a Little Pond

Amarok · May 8, 2023

It's been raining off and on and is supposed to be like that for the next few days but at least the damned wind has finally stopped. I don't want to screw up any of the shape by climbing around in there while it's soggy, so I'll let it dry. Shouldn't take long once the sun's out again.
I just want the damn liner in already so I can move to the next phase.

DopeDaniel · May 8, 2023

If it holds air, why wouldn't it hold water?

Cradle of Mirth · May 8, 2023

I wish dinosaur food plant didn't take 2-3 years to show you leaves bigger than giant rubarb, even with its much warmer zones if it could get big in 1 season it would be worth it to me to plant indoors every spring, hard to push that for 3 seasons in zone 3 outdoors without a prune and bringing inside with a straw bed, all a hassle. it's an attention getter and throws mega shade. They will rot in a zone 3 winter under the snowpack sadly.

I'm liking the new fruit lineup you picked up !

Jewels · May 8, 2023

Amarok said:
Red River Raspberry, a Fort Laramie Strawberry(everbearing), a Regent Saskatoon

Excellent choices.
I have June bearing and I dont like them. One and done. With Chinook and and late frosts, they have trouble bearing much at all.

second season raspberry seem to work the best for us.
Old Feller, in my hometown had a white raspberry, never seen one since I was a kid.

Me Ma has Saskatoons at the farm.
Apparently the birds ignore them all summer, and then pick em clean all at once.

Cradle of Mirth · May 8, 2023

Jewels said:
Excellent choices.
I have June bearing and I dont like them. One and done. With Chinook and and late frosts, they have trouble bearing much at all.

second season raspberry seem to work the best for us.
Old Feller, in my hometown had a white raspberry, never seen one since I was a kid.

Me Ma has Saskatoons at the farm.
Apparently the birds ignore them all summer, and then pick em clean all at once.

Now that you mention it, that reminds me... good luck getting any honeyberries to yourself @Amarok

unless you have a yorkie or cat to scare off birds from the honeyberries, they'll get a good portion of it unprotected. Unless you want that, they'll appreciate it and spread its seed. I had to get an orbit enforcer for the robins, fun toy to have around

Amarok · May 8, 2023

Master Chief said:
Now that you mention it, that reminds me... good luck getting any honeyberries to yourself @Amarok unless you have a yorkie or cat to scare off birds from the honeyberries,

A yorkie would only be good to me as pike bait.

I want to at least get to sample the berries, but I intend to feed the birds.

I found out my neighbor has honeyberries and last year a flock of cardinals came in and denuded them in a day. He's had a hell of a time with birds and deer, but he doesn't have a fence either.

I just got back in from a putter in the yard session. Got both the Haskaps planted and arranged to go get another load of rocks with my neighbor.

Jewels said:
Excellent choices.

If a fine gentleman like you says so, who am I to argue?

Actually it's really nice to get some feedback, as I am learning all this as I go. Most of these plants I didn't know existed until recently. I didn't know there was such a thing as agricultural Zones and that plants were sorted by them. All the terminology is new (deadheading, canes, marginals etc). I didn't know how to transplant a tree or any of this shit(not to mention the whole pond thing and all that entails).

The nice thing though is the price of failure is only the cost of the plant. If something dies, oh well, now I know. If I don't like something, a few swipes with a saw or a few snips and problem solved. It's pretty low pressure compared to most things I've dealt with.

Cradle of Mirth · May 8, 2023

the grandpa once told me, if you want the birds to stop coming, you gotta go out there all dressed up in flamboyant colours, throw aways.. Catch one of the rascals so it has a fit and the others know you are the reason. Then dress your scarecrow with them clothes....

That shit won't work on zone 3 birds nope, too persistent

Willie · May 9, 2023

Jewels said:
Excellent choices.
I have June bearing and I dont like them. One and done. With Chinook and and late frosts, they have trouble bearing much at all.

second season raspberry seem to work the best for us.
Old Feller, in my hometown had a white raspberry, never seen one since I was a kid.

Me Ma has Saskatoons at the farm.
Apparently the birds ignore them all summer, and then pick em clean all at once.

I like the June bearers best. It's easier for me to protect an all at once crop and I get more berries even if some get eaten. With everbearing plants, my berries just get picked off slowly and I don't get much. Problems are more rodent than birds.

I have miles of red raspberries here. I have a few black raspberries too, but they are some painful buggers to pick compared to the reds.

Amarok · May 9, 2023

Willie said:
I like the June bearers best. It's easier for me to protect an all at once crop and I get more berries even if some get eaten. With everbearing plants, my berries just get picked off slowly and I don't get much. Problems are more rodent than birds.

This garden is for serving the local birds and providing me pleasure by its presence. I want to be able to stroll over and pick a snack, but that's a secondary bonus. I want an ever changing palette of colours and smells from thaw to freeze.

Rodents are a different story. They haven't been a problem in my immediate vicinity, but should they appear they will become targets, mainly due to the damage they can do to the pond liner.
There are plenty of unfenced gardens and open fields around though, so if they know what's good for them they'll stay there.

Psychobilly · May 9, 2023

Amarok said:
This garden is for serving the local birds and providing me pleasure by its presence. I want to be able to stroll over and pick a snack, but that's a secondary bonus. I want an ever changing palette of colours and smells from thaw to freeze.

Rodents are a different story. They haven't been a problem in my immediate vicinity, but should they appear they will become targets, mainly due to the damage they can do to the pond liner.
There are plenty of unfenced gardens and open fields around though, so if they know what's good for them they'll stay there.

^ Filmed in Detroit

Amarok · May 9, 2023

Lots of stuff today.
The bad: even though the county offers a really good price on gravel for residents, I found out they will only deliver by the truckload, or about 10 tons. I probably don't even need a ton for the pond, but was willing to take up to 5 for some other projects and to have a pile for the future but nope. Gotta figure out something else. I have a couple possible options.

The good: Hopped in the neighbors ol' diesel today and we got another load of large rocks. Should have enough now. He also showed me the local sand hill where people back up and help themselves so I'll be filling some 5 gal pails on my way back from the nearby fishing hole.
Noticed a sign for another greenhouse out in the boonies and my neighbor said it was decent so after we offloaded the rocks I drove out for a look. Had a good chat with the owner and came home with another Borealis Haskap for a good price. (I still want a Tundra but haven't found one yet). Probably grab a dogwood next time and I also told her I'd bring some cannabis seeds.

Got home and planted the new haskap, and the raspberry and one of the arborvitae from yesterday. I also got a bunch of under-liner into the hole before a thunderstorm showed up, so I weighed everything down before it let loose.

I think I need about 3 more arborvitae, one or two more haskap, and maybe another saskatoon or dogwood and that will be it for the larger plants. I'll be doing some more seeding( grass and wildflowers) this year but then I'll likely sit back and see what happens before adding groundcover, flowers, etc. I want to see what local stuff shows up first.

With the pond, once it's full and been circulating for a few days I plan to dump in a few buckets of water from a local stream to kickstart the aquatic life. Then I'll see about adding plants, either local or purchased.

Amarok · May 9, 2023

The more I read about these things, the less I want to share with the birds. This is good stuff.

https://haskap.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/haskap-canada-2021-agm-dr.-vasantha-rupasinghe.pdf

Cradle of Mirth · May 9, 2023

If you get enough of them, you can make a strong and healthy wine, they work really well for that with zone 3 and the cold hours needed. The strong wine from them is actually like a wine grape before making normal wine. Got a sweet tooth for sangria, haskap wine and honey mead..

Hugh Jass · May 10, 2023

Amarok said:
The more I read about these things, the less I want to share with the birds. This is good stuff.

https://haskap.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/haskap-canada-2021-agm-dr.-vasantha-rupasinghe.pdf

Seems as though you've happened on a "super food," for your garden. Bonus!
Plus, they have meaningful fruit in year 2!
I got all excited for a sec, but then saw I'm about 4-4.5 zones too warm for these little guys.
Have to stick with my blueberries, although they really belong to the squirrels.

Amarok · May 10, 2023

Hugh Jass said:
Seems as though you've happened on a "super food," for your garden. Bonus!
Plus, they have meaningful fruit in year 2!
I got all excited for a sec, but then saw I'm about 4-4.5 zones too warm for these little guys.
Have to stick with my blueberries, although they really belong to the squirrels.

Yup, these are just for us polar people.

The University of Saskatoon only began their program over the last couple decades and the plants have only been commercially available here for ~15 years but they are becoming very popular. After talking to staff at various nurseries and greenhouses, they say they have trouble getting them and can never get enough to satisfy demand.
That's why I've been so aggressive in trying to find the different cultivars I want because there's only a short window for the year when they are locally available.

Amarok · May 10, 2023

SCORE!!!

Did some more research and found a place in Edmonton that is cheap, has a great selection, and even free shipping.
Berry Blue Haskap - 1 Year Old Bundle of 2

Honey Bee Haskap - 1 Year Old Bundle of 2

Tundra Haskap - 1 Year Old Bundle of 2

Should be okay for pollination, though I may get one more Aurora. (Edit: NM the Honey Bee will pollinate all the other early variants) I wavered between adding more early variants vs the larger, later varieties like the Beauty/Beast pair and went with earlier and smaller to allow more variety.

I was just short of free shipping so I added some more "superfood", which was on sale beyond the already way-below-greenhouse prices:
Firecracker Goji Berry - 1 Year Old Bundle of 2

They'll ship on Monday and I should be planting them by Wednesday.

Psychobilly · May 10, 2023

Sounds like a ......Berry good deal....

Amarok · May 10, 2023

Been doing more reading and quite pleased with my purchases.

The Honey Bee is almost a universal pollinator, the Tundra seems like an upgrade from Borealis, and Berry Blue is a Russian cultivar that is different enough to be interesting while still capable of being a pollination partner. The BB is the only type I've purchased that wasn't a UofS developed line.

The Goji might not quite be tough enough for my winter, but we'll see how she does. That was an impulse add for the free shipping so even if all I gain is knowledge, I'm still at least breaking even.

Amarok · May 10, 2023

All the underlay is in and the liner has been spread out but still needs to be properly placed. I ran out of energy for today.

Tomorrow I'll go grab some sand, get the liner placed, and start building the stone inner retaining walls. If I can fill the lower section to weigh it down it will be a good day. Then I can pin down the upper sections of the liner, complete the walls, and finish filling.

The general shape and slope of the return stream has been roughed out. I need to shape it a bit more and reinforce it before adding the liner and rocking it down.

Seth Meyers Sarcasm GIF by Late Night with Seth Meyers

Oh, and I can't propagate any haskap because they are patented. If they air layer themselves though,

Bullfrog · May 10, 2023

Love your selection of plants. Birds are going to love them for sure, I'm sure you will too if you can get to them before the birds do. I thought about trying some honeyberries but went with bluberries instead. I know they grow in my area. Love the Saskatoon's, I've always called them Juneberries, planted too many of them to count when I was landscaping. They have a beautiful mounding growth habit. They're one of the first flowering shrubs in my neck of the woods. Love my raspberries too, make jam every year, I've been told it's the best Raspberry jam ever. Highbush cranberries, Viburnum trilobum, is good hardy shrub that I might have considered. They are really pretty when in bloom, fall colors are nice too and they usually produce so much fruit that it'll hang all winter long giving a little red color and some food for the wildlife. But they do get a little big and wild looking, spread like wildfire too.

Sounds like you're coming along but also still some work ahead. Seems like you're having a really good time with the process too, love that for you.

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