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It’s still too cold for starting seedlings outside. The water in the tanks has finally reached 55° which means we can start feeding the fish, but that’s still a bit too cold for plants to grow vigorously. Within the next two weeks that should all change.
I put the plants I’d wintered over in the laundry room out into the bog filter tanks. I also stopped at JMH Gardens and picked up some penny royal, fairy moss and some kind of pond bean. I can’t remember what Jill called it. I’ll ask when I go back in a couple weeks for the water hyacinths. I’m pretty sure “bean” is right, but given how I’d managed to mangle all the other things I purchased (fairy frost is a fabric not a plant), I’m feeling a bit less confident at the moment.
Instead of rock in the upper (smaller) bog filter I’ve added hydroton this year. The lighter medium will facilitate the take-down of the filter in winter.
The grow bed plumbing is finished with the exception of one 1½” end cap. Three 3-gallon buckets are ganged together using tee-less connectors and 1½” pipe. Terry painted the buckets black which will facilitate warming the water over the next few weeks.
Once I’ve got the new end cap drilled with holes and installed the flood depth can be fine tuned. I’ll plant the beds with seedlings the first of June if the water’s warmed enough.