social

Keeping Pond Water Clear

July 1, 2015

A big pile of milfoilMy husband and I have been trying to keep ourselves extremely busy for the past four months to avoid unemployment-related depression. As we currently have zero (0, none, nada, zip) income, we are getting very creative with our time and energy.

Advertisement

Our pond is rapidly being overgrown with an invasive pond-weed called Milfoil. This stuff makes it almost impossible to fish in the pond, and it exacerbates fish-kill in the winter by robbing oxygen from the water as the stuff dies and rots. We decided a good way to keep ourselves occupied is to drag this stuff out of the pond an armful at a time. This has also proved to be great exercise, as the stuff is terribly heavy when wet!A pond with milfoil.

 
Milfoil in the pond.
 

Hubs rigged up a hook from a piece of metal (I had salvaged it on a pre-unemployment trip to the lake), a large fishing sinker, and some nylon trot line. We throw the weed-harvesting-rig out into the pond and slowly drag it back in, bringing 20-40 pounds of the weeds back to the bank with it. We load up the garden trailer and pull up to 200-300 hundred pounds at a time to the garden. We are improving our aim every day, and spend roughly an hour a day harvesting this stuff, as well as 20-30 minutes spreading it.Collecting milfoil

 
Collecting milfoil from the pond.
 
A big pile of milfoil
 
The best part about all this is that we have been needing to mulch our tomatoes and other parts of the garden, but no money for mulch! Guess what? It turns out this stuff makes fabulous mulch, and it enriches the soil when it rots (well how could it not, growing in fish poop, right?).

A garden being mulched with milfoil

 
Milfoil mulch
 

The pictures aren't the best, but I think you get the idea. We are hoping to get enough "mulch" tonight to finish the paths in the tomato garden. We have also mulched our grapevines with it and hope to do our asparagus bed with it in the fall. When dry, it is very light and soft to walk on.

Advertisement

It's a wet, dirty job, but we are enjoying working together on a big project, and it feels so good to be building muscles while recycling our pond weeds!

Source: Thought of it myself and did a little online research to see if it was a good idea---turns out it was!

Read More Comments

May 1, 2012

It is frustrating when your beautiful garden pond become a murky green from algae. This is a page about controlling algae in a pond.

Controlling Algae in a Pond

<< First< Previous
Categories
Home and Garden Gardening Ponds and Rockery Pond TipsJuly 6, 2013
Pages
More
🌻
Gardening
👒
Mother's Day Ideas!
🐰
Easter Ideas!
Facebook
Pinterest
YouTube
Instagram
Categories
Better LivingBudget & FinanceBusiness and LegalComputersConsumer AdviceCoronavirusCraftsEducationEntertainmentFood and RecipesHealth & BeautyHolidays and PartiesHome and GardenMake Your OwnOrganizingParentingPetsPhotosTravel and RecreationWeddings
Published by ThriftyFun.
Desktop Page | View Mobile
Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Contact Us
Generated 2024-03-28 21:42:24 in 4 secs. ⛅️️
© 1997-2024 by Cumuli, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
https://www.thriftyfun.com/Keeping-Pond-Water-Clear-1.html