Septic system

The installation of the laterals for our septic system began yesterday. The laterals are just inside the fence to the pasture closest to the house.

Septic system positioned just outside the gate to the pasture

Placement of laterals and line that runs from the house

view from North to South

The initial placement looked as though it might block the drive through the gate. So the field for the laterals was moved a little to the South to clear the area where vehicles will pass into the pasture.

Much of our discussion yesterday focused on where to acquire the dirt to cover these lines. Our "perc" test indicated the need for better soil around the lines. Luckily, we have soil near the draw that is of the quality needed.

The soil that is removed to cover the laterals will be replaced by soil taken from the draw to form the small pond that we are installing. The coordination of those two tasks will help avoid leaving the soil exposed for an excessively long period. Taking soil from our own land will also save a lot of money and helps to offset the cost of the pond.

Rick will reseed the soil over the lateral lines and the area where we remove and replace the dirt near the draw with a prairie grass and wildflower mix. I suppose that will start to sprout this year if there is enough rain.

Hopefully all this new seed means that Spring will bring an even greater variety of starter plants for my native flower gardens. And these lateral fields will provide the indoor plumbing we all depend on for comfort :-)

Update on the Prairie Garden

At the end of June in 2010 I wrote about my pitiful planting of prairie flowers and grasses. So I wanted to show you how it turned out.

First, here's how the original planting in the hard-packed clay looked shortly after the sunroom was finished:

Not very pretty. Well, it's a little better now, 3+ years later. Here's a view from approximately the same angle:

That's a little better. And, by the way, I have to say that this is the first year that the Prairie Dock (large leaved plant in the foreground) has really looked beautiful.

But this view doesn't really do the planting justice. Here's a view from the front door:

And even better...here's another view from the street:

And finally, here's a view from my favorite place - the sunroom. (notice I finally broke down and got a few koi for my pond)

Yep! For me this is heaven. And it's right there out my window. The best part is that it only requires about one day a week of maintenance to look this pretty. The rest of the time it's just pretty. Of course, I can't look for very long without wanting to be out in it :-).

Happy planting!

Pond happenings

My pond is a real blessing this time of the year. In my part of Missouri we need rain and it's scorching hot. Everything is shriveled and dry - except the pond.

In the photo above you can see one of the reasons I'm loving my pond. I get an occasional waterlily bloom to brighten the day. Only one of the 3 water lilies in my pond has bloomed regularly this summer. I bought this one 1/2 price from a grower that sets up a stand in the parking lot of my grocery store. Amazingly, it appears much healthier than the pink one that cost 3 times as much from my local garden center. I figure I'm lucky to get blooms at all since all three are new this year.

I've also noticed two bullfrogs inhabiting my pond. Last night this frog (or maybe it was the other one - I can't tell them apart) was sitting outside the water. And today he was out again. I would have thought the rocks would be too hot. But maybe hot is refreshing for frogs.

In the quietest times, it's fun to search the pond to see if I can spy both frogs. I'm usually lucky to see one. They like hiding in wait for unfortunate dragonflies. I actually saw them catch one. I had no idea until that day that they would leap into the air to get their dinner. It made a pretty good splash and surprised the heck out of me.

Here's one in a more normal setting in some grass near the waterfall. Pretty sneaky, I think.

The pond's prettiness

The pond is done. It's just maintenance now. This photo was taken early in the morning from my front door stoop. Even in this beginning state, I think it looks pretty. The plants tucked in the rocks outside of the pond that I mentioned in my last post will hide a lot of the gaps and unnatural looking edges. So I think it will just get better. You can see the green wire fence I put up to keep the dogs out of the bog and off the rocks while the plants get established. With any luck they will quickly find a route they like to the pond's edge and forget they can walk on the gravel in the bog. Lucky for me the wire doesn't obscure much of the view and barely shows up in photos :-)

Update on pond planting

Here's a snapshot of some of the planting I've been doing. Might be hard to see here, but the gaps in the rocks are filled with gravel and dirt.

Tucked into those areas are sedum and Fame Flower (Talinum calycinum). I tried to photograph the intense magenta flowers with yellow-gold stamens that float on almost imperceptible stems in the evening above the Fame Flower. My camera must be intensity-avoidant because it just refused to focus. But you can see the little succulent leaves protruding from the rocks.

Planted at the bottom on the rocks in this photo are Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) and Missouri Evening Primrose (Oenothera macrocarpa). These are planted on the east side. There are more planted along the south side of the pond.

Where the pond intersects the waterfall (not shown in the photo), I've planted Purple Poppy Mallow (Callirhoe involucrata ) and Bush's Poppy Mallow (Callirhoe bushii). The purple poppy mallow will trail. So I've planted one of them in a large crevice in the rocks around the pond. It should look pretty trailing over the side.

If all survive, it will be beautiful. I'll have to keep a close eye on things as they become established. If I haven't secured the soil in those rocks well enough, it's likely to wash out. It would be a shame to see those little fame flowers wither!

Pond photo

Here it is!

The only thing not done in this photo is spreading that big pile of mulch. But that doesn't really affect the pond. I took this photo Sunday evening before calling it quits for the weekend. The reflection on the water makes it a little hard to see details so I'll explain.

This view is from the front door stoop. The gravel bog filter is the area at the close end of the pond that contains plants and doesn't look as though it has any water. The rocky lump at the far end of the pond, between the wheel barrel and the pile of mulch, is the waterfall.


More plants are needed around the edges of the pond. You can see one that I've placed near the waterfall. It came from my old, small pond and survived the winter in a shallow pan of water. There is a waterlily in the far right corner that purchased a week ago and a clump of water hyacinth floating in the center to provide a little shade for my gold fish. The majority of the plants I've purchased so far are in the bog filter. There is a water canna, cardinal flower, bog bean, two Louisiana water iris, a variegated sweet flag, two pickerel rushes, a taro (annual), something called a water wisteria, and two blue rushes. You may notice a small pot sitting in the gravel. That's a chocolate mint that my uncle gave me. I've heard it will grow in the pond, but that it's pretty aggressive. So I'll put it in a pot. There is also a plant with small yellow flowers in the bog that I pulled out of a puddle in a gravel parking lot the other day. It looks like a buttercup. I'll check it out and let you know.

It all seems to be working well. Most of the plants have been in the pond for over a week and they all appear to be growing. The water canna and the pickerel are blooming. The gold fish from my old pond that lived in the aquarium downstairs all winter were moved into the pond on Friday. They look healthy and happy.

Yay! And I still love the splashy sound of the waterfall.

Pond beginnings

Alright, now that my sunroom is finished and the builder finally graded the front yard, I can work :-)

Here's a picture from the outside of the sunroom. You can see my dog, Doogle, standing very near the large hole that will be my pond.

The pond will be kidney shaped and easy to see from several areas. Anyone walking to the front door, seated on the deck, or sitting in the sunroom will have a great view of the water.

Here's the hole my builder dug for me. It was a great help having him excavate the deepest part for me. My last pond was only 3' by 6' and digging that was enough to tell me that this wasn't a job I could do.
This is the view standing next to the sunroom windows. I had just finished digging the shelf for water plants. The area near the shovel will be the gravel bog filter.

In this photo you can see that I've added a cinder block foundation to support the wall that will partition the filter from the rest of the pond. After checking the outside edge with a level, I also placed a line of cinder blocks to support the liner beneath the moss rock that will edge the pond.

My next steps are to place a level line of concrete pavers around the edge of the pond and install the underlayment. The pavers will make a nice, even edge for the liner that is slightly raised to keep water and dirt from washing in. I'll use carpet pad to protect the liner from protruding roots and rocks. I think before I put the underlayment in I will do more trimming of roots. There are a lot of them and some are really big. Look at the one on the near side of the photo. It's like a tree branch.

I'll be out of town for a week, so not much will happen in the garden. I'm driving across country from Olympia, Washington. So, even though nothing will change much in the garden, I should have some great pictures to share from the trip.