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| Planting the Pool |
Planting Boxes, Buckets, Tubs
Water-lilies can be planted in much the same kind of container you
use for your porch flowers-with one exception. Because of the tremendous growth they make in a season, water-lilies require quite a bit
more soil and fertilizer. Even the shy ones are voracious, and the more
luxuriant the foliage and bloom, it seems, the healthier the appetite.
At this point, I think it would be a good thing to mention that the
tremendous blooms pictured in water-lily catalogs are not exaggerations. Flowers will attain the near unbelievable size the dealers claim
they will, provided plants are set out and fed according to directions.
So give them plenty of sunlight, plenty of soil, and plenty of fertilizer.
Don't cheat water-lilies on their food allowance and they won't cheat
you on bloom.
The ideal container is about 18 inches square and 10 inches deep,
although, if you must, you can get by with something a little smaller, say a cubic foot of earth. Anything larger than 2 by 2 feet by 10 inches
deep is a waste of space. As for strength, any container will do that will
hold together well enough for you to move it about and take it out of
the pool occasionally.
A stroll through your basement, garage, or outbuilding will probably
reveal a number of receptacles that will be very satisfactory for planting. Orange crates and bushel baskets are too flimsy. Wooden packing
boxes, the kind once widely used to ship canned goods, are excellent.
Cardboard cartons are worse than useless; after a week under water
they disintegrate and drop the lily root, soil, and f ertilizer onto the pool
floor.
Wooden tubs, buckets, and half-barrels are fine, so long as they are
clean and have never held any substance containing oil.
Metal tubs, buckets, and similar containers also do well, but don't use
any such container made of copper. An old-fashioned dishpan, the kind
which turns up at every country auction, is excellent.
Any water-lily dealer will sell you, or tell you where to buy, planting
boxes, tubs, and buckets. It is also a simple matter to nail together your
own. Make planting boxes of used lumber, if possible; otherwise buy
cypress or white cedar. Other new woods exude a "flavor" that is harmful to goldfish.
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