We live in Northern Virginia (7b) and leave our pond (900 g) going all year long. The pond covers the width of the backyard of a townhome overlooking a golf course. We use a pump to move the water from the pond to the top water fall where it spills into a bifurcated stream that then meets in a small ponding area and drops from another waterfall into the large pond. So, for maintenance in the spring and fall we check to make sure vegetation hasn't started growing into the pond. From time to time, tree roots will try to invade by growing along side the liner and then into the stream. We clean the settled leaves from the bottom of the pond with a skimmer, the excess mud out of the stream and then with a scrub brush clean the filter on the end of the pump. I also thin out the irises that grow in the ponding area as they can completely take over. This takes about a half day in spring and again in the fall. Once or twice a month I check the vegetation and check for algae growth. Weekly I check the water levels and the PH once or twice in the summer. This weekend it was in the 60s so I did all of this in a Sunday afternoon. In winter, the water movement keeps the pond from completely freezing over. It may look frozen on top but the water continues to move underneath. Often an ice layer forms over the pond but there's a cushion of air between the pond water and ice layer so it stays insulated, it doesn't get cold enough for the pond to freeze completely over. Over the years we've used a pond heater, an air exchanger and bubblers which helps keep the pond from freezing over and also helps to aerate the pond. I find that the bubblers proved to be one of our best assets and we now keep them going all year long. Hard to believe they have lasted so many years in all kinds of weather. We also put a mesh screen across the pond in the fall to capture the leaves; it also helps to keep critters out during especially cold winters. Raccoons are crafty, they devastated our pond one year when we weren't careful about how we laid down the screen. We didn't want it to get all caught up with the ice that formed along the waterfall. That was a mistake! Let me know if you have any other questions. Am glad to help! It's really such a wonderful addition to our life and has been fairly easy to maintain. It's a natural part of the landscape and has worked out so well for us. FYI, keep koi, fantail goldfish, shubunkins, tadpoles/frogs, snails and other aquatic plants so that there is a natural balance. The pond has attracted a significant amount of wildlife from visiting turtles, birds, skinks, and the occasional snake and/or raptor (the small birds seem to attract the winter raptors). Since water flows regularly we've never had problems with mosquitoes though we did also purchase mosquito fish just in case.

I spent a good hour sorting through my plastic storage containers yesterday matching bottoms and lids. Got rid of all of the orphans. It was cathartic...now they're stored together where they need to be. A long time ago I bought a mesh shoe-storage like organizer that fits over the door from our kitchen to our basement and that's where we corral our storage containers and lids.

NHL - when you use fertilizers (in containers) that rely on soil organisms cleaving the hydrocarbon chains of large fractions of OM in the product, delivery of nutrients will as a matter of course, be sporadic, at best. Boom/bust would be a good way to describe nutrient availability. Also, cool temperatures are a bane when there are organic materials in the soil, included to deliver N as they quickly break down; this, because of ammonium toxicity, which is very common (but seldom a suspect when things go south) in plantings that experience temps of 55* or lower and make use of various 'meals' (feather/horn/blood meals, mushroom compost, and various types of manure all come to mind). Used indoors, the fertilizers you ask about will also be very enticing to fungus gnats. Well, enticing when used outdoors too, but far less annoying there. Any OM that stays moist acts to attract the bugly uggers. In part 1 of your fertilizer threads I posted questions that would help a grower determine a fertilizer's suitability for use in container culture. See my comments in bold after each question. A) Are all nutrients essential to normal growth contained in the fertilizer? They are not listed as included on the packaging, so probably not. B) Are they represented in a ratio that closely mimics that at which the plant actually uses the nutrients? No C) Are the nutrients in a form that makes them readily available for uptake? No D) Is your fertilizer formulated and does it include ingredients that reliably allow you to ensure that the o/a concentration of nutrients, collectively, will not rise above a level that makes absorption of water and the nutrients absorbed in water difficult or impossible for the plant? No - during periods of chill (<55*) and high soil temperatures ( >85-90*), bio activity in the soil will slow or stop, meaning that nutrients will remain locked in hydrocarbon chains, out of the plant's reach. In addition, ANY cultural factor that represents an adversity to soil life will impact the rate at which delivery can occur. Too much/little water, unfavorable pH, temperatures, any additive toxic to soil biota, would all impact availability of nutrients. E) Is your fertilizer formulated with and does it include ingredients that reliably allow you to ensure that the o/a concentration of nutrients, individually, will not become low enough to create actual deficiencies; and, does it reliably ensure that individual nutrients will not become elevated/skewed to the extent they cause antagonistic deficiencies. No An antagonistic deficiency occurs when an excess of one nutrient causes a deficiency in another. Iron and manganese are particularly strong mutual antagonists, and phosphate is mutually/strongly antagonistic with a number of nutrients. Mulder's Chart illustrates known antagonists and synergism: If relative to your fertilizer you can't answer in the affirmative to any of the questions A-E, you can make better fertilizer choices. Al

We enjoy the rose of Sharon so we're going to try pruning hit following the steps and the article shared. We I also found a video that was pretty helpful it basically said to prune the suckers, any branches growing inward, any dead branches, any rubbing branches and then that I could trim from the top. When looking up the Russian sage I got all sorts of advice some said that I could keep 12" other said 6-8 " and then others said that I could cut it all the way back and it would continue to grow back from the crown. But basically the consensus was that I couldn't over prune the Russian sage. I'm going to try cutting it back 4-6 " today and take a picture and see if you guys think that I should cut it back any further. Since the branches at the base are really thick and woody I feel like cutting it all the way back might be the way to go here especially snce it's never been pruned before. As for transplanting it... I think it's worth a try to prune it first. Depending on how it looks at the end of the season I might transplant it next year