|
|
|
 |
|
 |
| Planting the Pool |
Protecting the Roots
You will have a cleaner, healthier pool if you prop up all planting
receptacles a few inches from the floor. It is easy, with a clear floor, to
take a rake now and then and pull out leaves and twigs that fall in
and otherwise might accumulate on the floor and decompose, eventually fouling the water. Propped-up boxes also give goldfish a lot more
freedom, and provide them with shade, which they need in hot summer
weather.
Cigarette lighters, rings, keys, and so on, do get dropped into pools
from time to time, and you may have to get into your pool one day to
retrieve something of the sort. You can kill a water-lily quite easily by
stepping on the root, but you can wade among them safely enough if
the roots are confined in containers.
Planting receptacles are an absolute necessity for water-lilies in farm
ponds to which livestock have access. Horses and cattle will walk around
the boxes, buckets, or tubs of lilies, but will walk right on a plant if it
is not protected.
Controlling Growth
Movable receptacles also have the advantage of controlling growth.
Water-lilies, in their many varieties, are much like people. Some are shy
and retiring; some bold, ambitious, and ruthless, and the strong crowd
out the weak in short order if they are not restrained. The most practical
way of keeping a strong, prolific water-lily in check is by planting it in
a container where you can limit the food supply and thus prevent overzealous spreading. For a weaker species, you can keep soil and fertilizer
in one spot where roots will have exclusive access to it. Boxes are a
great help also when you set out the tropical water-lily seedlings you
have developed indoors during the winter. Turned loose in a pool with
an assortment of adult plants, the seedlings can be quickly overwhelmed.
Regulating Depth
The ideal water depth for lilies in a pool ranges from 2 to 3 inches
for some varieties to 2 to 3 feet for others. A single species-particularly
a tropical seedling-will do far better if, in early stages of growth, it
passes through increasing depths by progressive stages. Placing a planting box in the water at the exact depth you want is quite easy. Simply
prop it up at the desired height with bricks. As the season moves on
and growth progresses, you can increase the depth gradually by pulling
out one layer of bricks at a time. (See Drawing 21.)
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
