I've always loved water in gardens, but for some years I only managed that through bird baths, which are also handy for emergency plant watering. Then I discovered my local big box store had cheap plastic half barrels, which I've used to repot a couple of small trees, but it occurred to me one would be perfect as a water garden. They came with no drainage holes, but I cut those with a hole saw in the two used as planters. So I got a couple of small water lilies and a black taro (they like sitting in water), and another marginal plant, planted them up in some old perforated peg baskets, and hey presto. Mosquitoes are easily managed by putting a chunk of mozzie dunk in the water (it releases bacillus thuringiensis that kills mozzie larvae, harmless to anything else).

Everything was lovely until two weeks later when I came out one morning to find the tub filled with mud and ripped up water lilies. Ducks. The bastards had gotten in and savaged the plants, rooted about in the planters, and bitten off all the water lily leaves. Not eaten the leaves, just ripped them off. That was when I remembered why I'd never tried to make a water garden here before.

But I had a water garden now, although it took a day to lift and redo the peg basket planters, replanting the sadly denuded lily roots in each one and running the water in the tub clear with a hose. I wasn't going to let the duck pack get the better of me!

One thing I enjoy with gardening is DIYing things. I've made tripods and more complex plant supports, mesh cubes to cover brassicas for my wheelibeds, and so forth. I lay awake in bed trying to figure out how to keep the damn ducks out, and finally had a plan. The duck dome. (shown lifted up off the water garden tub)


1. A circle of hose, joined by jamming a 4 inch bit of thick bamboo in to hold the ends together (a system I often use to make small hose circles to raise pots up for drainage).
2. Four 4-inch bits of hose attached to that circle with the bottom side slit open so as to fit over the lip of the plastic tub. Easier to take it on and off with just a few attachment points.
3. A number of long, thin privet branches slotted into holes drilled in the main hose circle, bent over to make the dome and tied where they cross. I wasted some time researching where to get willow slips for this, then realised I had what I needed already - several Chinese privets that are invasive but provide shade, and I keep them trimmed so they don't flower. They have long, straight branches which I've been using for a while as plant supports.

All that remained was to assemble the bits. It went pretty smoothly, although the privet branches weren't perfectly straight, but it adds to the rustic look. I'm happy with it, and it's been duckproof so far. The water lilies are both making a comeback, as well.


In other news, I posted pics of our local reservoir dam on common nature, here.

And I'm now completely obsessed with Heated Rivalry on TV. In between episodes I look at all the meta, gifs and despairing posts from other similarly obsessed fans on tumblr, have read the books, am now listening to the audiobooks (Connor Storrie does a vastly better Russian accent than the readers manage - I gather real Russians think he's actually Russian!), and am trying not to rewatch the eps too many times in the gaping voids between Fridays. It's bloody inconvenient, as I have less than a week to finish my due South and SGA Santa fics, but I'll get there. Here are three meta pieces about how THE SEX IS THE POINT, two collected by machinistm, and one by Gav at the rec centre. Jacob Tierney is a fucking genius, and has taken Rachel Reid's (very readable) books to a new level, like Peter Jackson's loving LotR adaptations. Not to mention the explosive chemistry of Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie. Storrie is getting a little more attention as his performance of Ilya is spectacular, but I'm very fond of Hudson's Shane and when you see clips of Hudson being himself you realize how well and subtly he's performing the role. Plus Shane's such a sub; I just love him. God, four days to get through until Friday, but that's one ep a day, right? And then number five drops at 7pm. Not that I'm desperate, or anything...