Celebrate Earth Day!

Plant a tree, some flowers or just enjoy the beautiful outdoors!

Rock Collecting - Koi Pond Part 2

We want to use rocks to line the edge of the new koi pond we're building.

Being the DIY kind of people that we are, instead of just purchasing rocks by weight from a garden center, we decided to go on a rock collecting expedition.

 

It's  a beautiful early Spring day. We're lucky enough to live close to a large creek and it hasn't rained in a while so the creek bed is dry. We put the wheel barrow in the back of the truck, I grabbed my camera and we headed over to the creek.

Did I mention how heavy these rocks are?

But they were free for the taking and we collected plenty for our project.

Now we just have to unload them and get them around to the backyard.

 

Fresh Harvest

Growing asparagus requires patience, but our long standing asparagus bed is particularly prolific this year! After such a warm winter, the spears emerged from the ground earlier than usual and we will be able to enjoy the tender crisp vegetables for several months.

It's wonderful sauted or stir-fried, steamed and covered with a pat of butter, or my favorite - drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper and grilled with your favorite steak or fish.

Happy Easter!

Have a blessed Easter and enjoy a beautiful Spring Day full of Hope and Renewal!

Saturday Morning Field Trip

All winter, my husband has been working on his plans to install a koi pond in our backyard patio area. He has measured and calculated gallons of water. He's done a lot of online research, made lists of possible plants to include and sketches of the the pond to be.

Now we already have two small garden ponds full of water lillies and goldfish, but we want a larger, deeper pond just for koi. So for a little inspiration, this morning we took a drive to visit a water garden center - Aquatic Design and Supplies in Monrovia, Indiana.

Some of the beautiful koi in the large display pond.

This is a small, shallow pond with a pretty moss covered waterfall. It's smaller size would make it perfect for most backyards.

It was fun to watch the colorful koi as they followed us as we walked around the edge of the pond.

Such a beautiful variety of colors and patterns. I like the orange guy with the whiskers!

This is the large display pond at the garden center.
You can see the big waterfall at the far side.
 

Another view across the large pond. Such a pretty natural setting with the mature trees in the background and the smaller plantings closer to the pond edge.

This was great inspiration for our upcoming koi pond project in our own backyard!

I'll be sure to share our progress with you here.