Sometimes a small purchase can motivate me to do some cleanup or re-arranging. It can be a frame or a lamp or even a light bulb. This time, it was plants. A local garden center is selling its pond plants for half price. I had an empty pot in my pond, so I went looking. I decided to get pitcher plants. I have grown these before, and despite their exotic reputation, they are winter hardy in Baltimore.
I hope they thrive. I loved the pitcher plants I grew before.
After potting my new plants, I cleaned my pond. Then I did something I have been meaning to do for months: I put my pond pump inside a plastic box that will help keep leaves and algae from clogging the impeller blades. It’s some kind of storage basket that looks like woven wicker, but is made of plastic. It has lots and lots of tiny holes in it to let water to the pump, but not leaves. It should be easier to clean than the mesh bag I had been previously using.
I had to cut notches for the hose and electrical cord.
I was going to put a potted plant on top of the box, but I don’t want the roots clogging the water openings. I think the lid would stay on by itself, but I put a rock on it just in case.
There is so much sediment in my pond, it has already settled on the box.
And sometimes when I do some cleaning or re-arranging, it motivates me to make a purchase. I went to a local pet superstore and bought some new goldfish for my pond. They were 29 cents each! Woo hoo!
They didn’t have any white ones. I’ll have to get some of those later.
It’s a vicious circle.
Well, look at you being all ambitious. I like the basket/box very much – it looks cool and seems like it will be functional. Did you come up with that idea or is this sold at the fish store?
The big problem here? I don’t have a fish pond to clean, so this cleaning tip is wasted on me.
This is a jury-rig job. The box is some kind of storage thing I got at Marshall’s. If I would have built the pond correctly, I would have dug a small pocket in the edge of the pond for the filter to sit in. If the box works like I intend it to, my pond cleanups will be much easier from now on.
Well, I learned something today – not about aquaria, ponds, plants or fish though – but about expressions I have misspelled/misused all these years. Here I thought it was “gerry rigging”! HA! Look how I was corrected – by Wikipedia, no less!
“Jury rigging refers to makeshift repairs or temporary contrivances, made with only the tools and materials that happen to be on hand, originally a nautical term. On sailing ships, a jury rig is a replacement mast and yards (which hold the ship’s rigging) improvised in case of damage or loss of the original mast.”
Thank you for today’s educational moment, Mr. Royuk.
I had previously looked it up recently. I was in the habit of saying “jimmy rig”, but heard someone else say “jury rig”, so I went searching. I found the same information as you, so I’ve changed what I say to match the original expression. Of course, now that I’m used to saying “jury rig”, people are probably going to start saying “jimmy rig”