"Heather" wrote in message ((snip))
..

So finally a few questions if I may.

The pond has koi in it as well as goldfish. I do not want to fiddle
around
with filters and UV lights. I do want to put plants in my pond. Am I
better off getting rid of the koi to a good home? (people have said to me
"koi don't like plants in their pond". Excuse me - it's not THEIR pond
it's
MINE)

Koi love plants in their ponds, attracts intsects etc for them to eat, that
statement you heard probably came from some Koi nuts that keep their fish in
clinically sterile ponds to avoid any parasite infections where the fish,
which are intelligent for fish**, get bored to death. I've met lots of these
so called fish lovers, it's why I gave up belonging to the BKKS years ago.
[**they will get to recognise you if only you feed them and will come to you
and you alone.]

With big koi you would have a problem with plants in the bottom of the pond,
like Water Lillys, which they will delite in ripping out to see whats there,
I cover the half dustbins with netting close to the soil so the plants can
send their shoots through but the fish can't get at the soil to suck it up
and blow it out. The books say use gravel, but for a big koi (30inches+)
that's not even a challenge, they'd move a housebrick easily. :-)
Oh, and if you have Koi in your pond it is THEIR pond, you are just the
staff, you will need to understand that. A bit like when you think you own a
cat. :-)
Without filters it is doubtful you will ever see much in your pond unless
you plan to clean it out on a regular basis as the koi act like underwater
pigs and will root around in the detritus to find food and stir it up,
indeed Goldfish, being a member of the carp family, also do that but being
tiny in comparison it's not such a problem.
Your call, but I suspect from what you write, and if they are big, you would
do better to get rid of them. You might get a local fish retailer to take
them for a few pounds, unless they are something special but then the
previous owners would have taken them.


Now that it's really too late to put weedkiller on the bindweed, is my
best
bet to dig up the plants that seem to be infested with it and then plant
nothing more serious than bulbs in the ground and wait for spring to dose
the emerging bindweed with weedkiller?

I have some in our front garden and this year I have checked every few days
and pulled it up as soon as it comes up. This certainly reduced it's
strength by the end of the season and I rekon could be a way of getting rid
of this weed eventually without getting so drastic.

Anyone got any experience of making leafmould with sycamore leaves? I was
going to put them all in black bags and stack them for next year. Don't
say
mow them first - since there's no grass in the garden I have no mower!

Leaves usually take at least 2 years to rot down, it's a fungus breakdown
not bacterial like a compost heap, and the sacks will need holes for air and
the leaves should be wet.

--
Regards
Bob

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