Maggie Ross

Maybe have a lot of soaker hoses going to various trees and garden beds.  This might be a slower approach than what you had in mind though it seems a shame to waste all that water.



I like the idea. I'm not sure there will be enough pressure to reach the beds without using the pump on a continuous basis. The plantings are several hundred feet away but I'm sure it can be done. Thank you, Anne!

Anne Miller wrote:All that algae water would be great used to water existing garden.

Anne - (slaps self in forehead) - I didn't think of that. I'm not sure how to go about it, though, since we're planning to drain it all in one go. Must see if I can come up with a way to save it somewhere.  That's a LOT of water to "waste"...
Thanks!

Jay Angler wrote:Another idea I've seen, is to keep the water level high and put floating gardens in. Generally, they use things like milk crates to hold soil, and the pool acts like a giant wicking bed. The floating plant pads shade the bottom of the pool to keep it cool enough for fish.

How essential is a greenhouse in your climate? 7b seems pretty warm enough for most plants. Do you require season extension? If your only concern is small animals falling in, I would make them a few floating docks to climb out.

I would research what the natural temperature is in the soil at the bottom of the pool before considering the cold cellar option. If you can make the 'roof' over the pool strong enough to pile serious dirt on top, that would help a lot. Growing plants in that dirt will help to keep it cooler by adding shade and evapotranspiration.

Yes, there are tons of better videos that will give you cool ideas of real things you can build and do - cat videos are just for the occasional humour break!

Jay, thanks for your suggestions! In my previous reply above, I talk about why we don't want to use the pool water-filled (in summation: mosquitoes!).

We would need shelter for the hydroponics due to severe ice storms. They're increasing in frequency - 3 last year, 2 in the winter of '22-'23.  Plus we hover around freezing most of the winter. We would move the seed starting setup out of the parlor into a greenhouse, too. I'd also love to have the winter shelter for some dwarf citrus trees, and a place to grow a couple of tropicals like coffee & cocoa...hmmmm...

I just realized that even if the soil temperature at the bottom of the deep end is good for root cellaring, I would indeed have to insulate the rest of the structure, especially if it shares the warm space under the greenhouse roof. I could separate it from the greenhouse area but soil on top...hmm...got some thinking to do. Thanks for pointing that out!

C. Letellier wrote:Floating garden.  Here are the tomato floats I do on the reservior.

Thank you for the pics. I love the way you made them. My husband plans to do that on our lake - I'll share this with him.
The pool is in our backyard and all that space seems wasted since we can't swim in it anymore. We don't want to use it water-filled because even using dunks it's a huge breeding ground for mosquitoes.  To the point that we can't comfortably use the yard.
The lake, however, is another matter.  We're putting in catalpa trees this fall along with their companions (as best we can figure out!) and cattails in the shallow end. Swim dock & walkway will go in the deep end next summer but we should be able to get several floating beds made over the winter, ready for spring. We're also restocking grass carp and putting in a fish cleaning station which will share its solar with a smalish fountain for aeration - mostly for beauty, though, as the fish are doing just fine. Crappie or bluegill, anyone?? 😁😁

Just videos people post on FB & utube of domestic cats & kittens being silly. I have 3 (indoor) rescued kitties & would have more if husband would let me... Crazy cat lady, check. 😁

Great! Thank you, Anne. I love watching cat videos but I'd rather spend my TV time learning.

Thank you, Thekla. I'm off to search the site.

Newbie here again...
What are:
Pooless;
Bodgering (even GGG doesn't know!);
Bermshed;
Rock jack;
STUN; and
SKIP?
And I found Gert thank goodness, but who is Lorena?

Thank you!

Thanks, Donna Lynn - that's exactly what I was thinking!

Um, newbie question: are there pictures of these?
😳😳