Having a pond

Ponds are lovely in the landscape, but no matter what a pond installer tells you, they will require maintenance. I love mine and can be captivated for hours watching the fish swim leisurely through the floating plants.

Yesterday I decided to divide up some enthusiastically overgrown plants around the biofilter and waterfall area. I know better, but I figured some plant roots were stuck in the filter media so I pried them loose with a garden fork.

Six hours later I wandered back to the pond to discover it was empty more than half way to the bottom. A leak is one of my persistent fears. Logic had it that I’d done something dumb up around the waterfall, so I turned off the pump that circulated the water up through the biofilter and waterfall and was relieved to find the level stopped descending  in the pond pool below. (The thought of having to drain the whole pond area with its huge, heavy potted waterlilies and myriad aquatic residents is seriously discouraging.)

Tearing apart the biofilter and waterfall area is no easy task since I built it all from scratch using no kits. And sure enough a closer inspection revealed that I brilliantly had punctured the plastic basin of the biofilter with my garden fork, causing all the water pumped up from the pond to drain away into the soil. I will try to patch the hole with silicon glue and a liner patch. Otherwise it means tearing out the whole tub and replacing the biofilter tank. All because I was thoughtless and sloppy.

Ponds can have parts wear out, damaged by people, animals or erosion. They do need care. Especially when the pond owner messes up. Although I spent too much time chastising myself for my stupidity, I am grateful that I discovered the problem before the pond drained out and I lost everything. I guess we are all human and make mistakes. The moral of the story seems to be, check on your pond regularly. Even a small mistake can have big consequences when you are creating a completely man-made ecology in a garden, out of its natural context. And even experts who have worked with ponds for years do make stupid mistakes.

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Some pond plants escape into local water areas and become pests.

Maybe it’s time that nurseries label invasive plants. After all, many home gardeners aren’t likely to research the plants they like and a number of ornamental plants can be dangerous to surrounding areas. In fact, we’ve gotten amazingly comfortable importing plants from all over the country so gardens can sparkle with a vast assortment of plant choices, but have given very little thought to what could do too well in an ideal environment without natural predators and other checks.

Often I find myself waxing poetic about the beauty of a plant or flower without thinking my readers may be in a completely different eco-system and those same plants can be invasive pests in someone else’s garden. What’s more, I often see nurseries selling plants that are listed as official pests just because customers like them and they sell well.

I wonder. Would people buy differently if plants were actually labeled as invasive pests at the nursery?  Or would they buy and plant them anyway? Hmmm.

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Photo by Jane Gates

Rather than a technical article, I just wanted to add a blog about the combination of politics and gardening. In my opinion they just don’t mix. Now, in your area, you may find the rules and regulations being passed on landscaping and gardening are perfectly legitimate. But here in Southern California, I am at a loss who or why some restrictions have been legislated with what seems to be very little concern for the overall effects — both short term and long. I suppose there are people with “a  little bit of knowledge” who think they are doing good.

For some reason city, county and state organizations all too often don’t realize they could be spending their (our) money wisely by actually hiring knowledgeable people to advise them on residential landscaping and gardening codes and legislation. Bu instead of hiring people who are experts in the subject, they tend to appoint researchers who grab books that may or may not be appropriate to the topic in question then pass sweeping legislation about what can and can’t happen in our gardens. I have no doubt that if some residential garden enthusiasts are left to their own resources, some may indeed make bad choices that are neither wise nor safe. Legislating controls certainly has a place in our society. But when I see lists of supposed wildfire prevention regulations that accomplish the exact opposite of making a landscape fire safe and laws to stop all water features in an effort to reduce water usage when huge, water-guzzling lawns are acceptable in drought-afflicted areas and smart-built recycled water features that help wildlife survive are banned, well, I really begin to wonder.

All too often I have found home owners who want to go ecologically-friendly actually thwarted by landscape legislation. I’ve had to nix excellent garden plans or plants because the fire department has erroneously placed them on the fire-danger list or the county has placed what appear to be arbitrary building restrictions that won’t allow truly useful designs. The water department that is supposed to be helping in water conservation seems to be sorely lacking in anyone able to give home-owners any really helpful advice beyond the same trite phrases. Why should any public department be allowed to legislate rules and regulations if they can’t first hire real, knowledgeable, helpful people who know what they’re talking about from first-hand experience?

I understand controls, but broad legislation that bans recycling safe, useful material instead of differentiating between the acceptable and non-acceptable, stops the planting of plants that should be good choices because they are a problem in an entirely different geographic area, or makes it too difficult to actually implement wise ecological choices by making improvements too exacting — well, somebody should call in some REAL experts for a change. Leave the politics to the politicians and let the local experts make the decisions behind the legislating instead of the pencil-pushers!

Okay. This is my blog, so I’m allowed to vent my frustration at the idiocy I see all over the place when it comes to legislating residential gardens. Maybe if we tried doing things because they WORK rather than because this is the way they’re SUPPOSED to be done, we’d actually get efficient and productive! And everyone could be happy — except, perhaps, the inept people who are used to reaping healthy salaries for making decisions they simple aren’t competent to make. With a little luck they’d be spending their working time doing something they are better at doing.

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Turn off lights for Earth Hour

Don’t forget the big event on March 27th that celebrates Earth Hour. At 8:30 pm on Saturday evening, shut down all your lights and electrical devices (including your computer) to make a stand against global warming and energy waste.  Last year Earth Hour darkened the globe sufficiently to be seen from satellites above the planet.  Keep in mind each one of us helps to use up the limited resources on this planet.  Yet each one of us can also contribute to cleaning up pollution, expanding green jobs, developing better energy resources and boosting our economy by living in a more conscious, eco-friendly lifestyle.  Every individual can have an impact on making life on this planet better and healthier. So don’t forget to turn off all utilities that are not absolutely necessary Saturday evening at 8:30 pm — just for an hour. Then focus on the small ways you, too, can make this a better planet to live on.

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Help celebrate Earth day: Art by Jane Gates

Mark your calendars for Earth Day on April 22, 1010.  This year will highlight the 40th year of celebrating renewing awareness of how we treat the planet on which our lives depend. Expect celebrations on a local, national and global level. Check out what events are happening near you.  And in the meantime, you can help co-exist with Mother Nature while saving money, reducing labor and keeping yourself healthier by doing fun and simple things like growing your own edibles in your garden or planting vegetables and fruits in container gardens.  Consider replacing lawns with native plants and permeable paving.  And look for non-toxic ways to combat household and landscape pests.

The remember to check out all the interesting celebrations and events in and around April 22, 2010 for Earth Day.

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Gardening on the Internet: Cartoon by Jane Gates

Not only is the Internet a place where you can learn about gardening and get answers for many of your questions, but there are some very entertaining sites worthy of watching. But before you go surfing all around the Internet, it’s important to remember that not everything you read there is correct or factual. Be careful before you blithely follow instructions or advice you read.  Sometimes you can find yourself getting bad information.

Not all Internet writers are knowledgeable about the subject they are writing. In fact, at this point, the Internet is bloated with articles being churned out by ‘content sites’ – organizations that hire masses of people to write for low pay or for small residual percentages of profits from advertising fees.  Some of these people actually do know their subjects. I have participated in writing many articles this way for eHow, InfoBarrel and The Examiner. But many contributors to these sites simply are writing without experience, knowledge or research. Others may be writing for whatever pennies they can earn as a result of recession pressures and are more interested in attracting advertisers to pay them rather than having any interest in sharing any valuable information.

Of course, we can always learn from each other, from shared experiences, and even sometimes even from those we least expect. So just because a person may not have a lot of credentials doesn’t not necessarily mean the article doesn’t have good information, either. Just be careful before assuming whatever advice you read about is accurate or helpful. Check out the person behind the information you are getting or look for additional supporting information on multiple sites before setting out on a project.

There are many excellent sites on gardening, landscaping and horticulture as well as a number of sites posted by universities and government that can help you with your gardening searches. Check my list of some of the garden bloggers and sites across the country that I have listed under ‘sites’, ‘references’ and ‘resources’.  And look at some of the sites of published gardening and landscaping book authors.  You also might want to tune into Shirley Bovshow’s live streaming ‘Garden World Report‘ for a show that seems to be offering more solid content than TV stations are televising these days.

Gardening on the internet offers more possibilities to learn about every aspect from specific plants to design ideas, from construction to pest control, from local garden-related events to news around the world. Enjoy learning, but remember to be discerning. The internet is completely uncensored — and that can be both a blessing and a curse!

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Are your gardening expenses tax-deductible?

As the date for filing taxes comes ever closer for this year, most people are scrambling to find whatever deductions they can to help reduce their taxes. Did you know that there are certain circumstances when you can actually use your garden or landscape as a tax deduction?  Here is a list of some ways you can consider tax deductible gardening:

Do you have a home office? You may be able to deduct labor and material expenses that you put into the landscaping that surrounds your garden, especially if it creates part of the ‘entrance’ to your office.

Did you sell your home? If you put money into improving the ‘curb appeal’ of your house to help it sell, or you had to fix up your garden as a ‘necessary improvement’, the costs involved can be deducted from the profits you will be declaring from the sales of your house at tax time.

Did you sell garden produce? Any flowers, vegetables or fruits you sold can be considered an income from your garden. Crafts made from garden materials will also qualify. As a result, all expenses involved with growing your garden will then become deductible for tax purposes. The one hitch to this one is that you have to first declare your income from garden sales before you can deduct anything.

Do you work in the green industry? If you are a landscaper, nursery person, garden designer or architect, garden writer, gardener or have income from any related job, you can consider part of your garden as a business expense. You can claim you used the garden for learning, experimenting, trials, information, etc.

Have you done outdoor presentations in your garden?  Any courses, business presentations, lectures or other events connected with how you make your living that were delivered in your landscape area or garden can make that space part of your business ‘office’. A single event may be hard to justify, and it has to be directly connected to your business, but if you live in a mild climate, expanding your office space outdoors can help you declare tax deductible gardening.

Do you rent space in your house? Not only are repairs and maintenance costs indoors necessary to your property. You can consider outdoor property maintenance a deductible expense for conducting your rental business.

There may be even more ways to work your landscape into tax deductible gardening. Check with your accountant for more advice.

If you have not kept records up to this point and realize that you have legitimate ways to make your garden into a tax deduction, don’t worry: there’s always next year. Start keeping records now.  There are some good buys on software out there. Check into products like Turbo Tax or TaxCut (which is now called H&R Block at Home) for the best prices. Keeping records will make it easy to keep track on any income in which your garden or landscape played a part. And by regularly logging all your expenses for gardening, even the little expenses will have time to build up into a nice deduction for next years’ taxes.

With all the changes in the economy and the growing popularity of green living, your garden can offer business opportunities you might not have considered in the past. Look at your landscape and see if you might be able to start a good business in a bad economy. You may be able to get even more than tax deductible gardening out of your landscape this coming year.

Also see:

How to find a free list of tax deductions

How to find a grant for a woman-owned business

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Wildflowers and my Border Collies

We’ve actually had above average rain this season in ‘sunny’ California. This state has been in a drought for so long that many people think the rainfall this year is unusual. Only for the past decade. Rainy winters used to be common in the past with some years a little over average, and some a little under. Due to so many years of drought, wildfires have ravaged so much land that denuded hillsides turn into mudslides and make news all over the country. But maybe with a bit of normal rainfall, growth will be able to stabilize those barren hills and reduce the likelihood of more mudslides in future years. Since we usually experience an average of 6 months a year without rain here in Southern California, I for one adore this weather. (Though my heart does go out to those who are suffering adverse effects.) It will be hot and dry soon enough. But before that, we should at least have a fabulous wildflower season. Spectacular, colorful hillsides make much happier news headlines than mudslides. Here’s cheering for the benefits of this year’s rainy winter. And I hope lots of you are enjoying this rainy season in Southern California. Our gardens certainly are!

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