Let's say I had a water garden outdoors in half a whiskey barrel, and had some floating lettuce in it among the hardy plants, which looked beautiful info the fall. And let's say I was slacking and forgot to remove said tender plant before a cold snap came. And, let's say, the lettuce consequently turned to total mush and muck, and were now a green blob.
If that happened [hypothetically speaking :-)], how would I clean up the water for spring? Could I just wet vac up the muck and some of the water, and then replace with fresh?
Spring Cleanup
Yes, you could either pump some or ALL of the water out and add fresh. You can take a pond net and scoop out what you can. If the muck is floating, you can overfill the pond and let the muck run out of the top of it.
If your fresh water has chlorine in it, when you add it, let it sit a couple of day before adding plants and fish.
NancyAnn
NancyAnn,
Thanks! All the rest of my plants there were hardy for me, so they're still there in the water and the muck. I'll fill a bin with the water and let it stand to dissipate the chlorine.
Anthony
I would just dump that dirt in the flowerbed and start over like Nancy suggested. Do you put fish in there?
Well, I wanted to, but the ones I chose didn't survive.
I might try again after I get it all spruced up. I put some snails in there, also, but don't know how they're doing. But the fish disappeared before fall last year.
Anthony
I have an associated question. I put an alternanthera reineckii into that water garden as well. While the foliage above the water is dead, that which descended below the surface is as brilliant red-purple as the original plant.
This is described on dave's garden as much more tender than I thought...are the roots probably dead, and I should just remove it, or does the above indicate there's life in the plant itself?
Anthony
Anthony- if this plant is what I'm thinking it is, it might still be alive.
I 'think' I have some and have been growing it for a couple years in aquariums and my ponds. It seems like the top foliage died during cold weather but the submerged lived fine.
Can you wait and see if you get new growth? Might be worth trying to save.
crimson,
yes, I guess I could, but I'm such a worry wart, I want to KNOW! :-) It is quite an attractive plant, I should have done more research before winter came.
That for the lettuce, too. Just tossing it sure would have been better than the green goop I have on my hands now... Lesson learned, I guess!
Anthony