Water Gardening

I needed a hobby. My husband asked me to forgo getting a job until he left for Iraq. Otherwise we would be on opposite schedules. ( He wrecked our second mode of transportation) So I decided to take up water gardening. For a beginner things are going remarkably well. My fish HAVE NOT died and my plants are doing well, even my Louisiana Iris is blooming. One thing I did not expect was the work involved with keeping snails. They are critical to control algae but they procreate like crazy. I have trapdoor snails. These snails give birth to live young and are asexual. (they don't require sex to procreate, ohhh lucky me) At one point I had fifty young in two container gardens. However, the crows have caught on and are eating the babies out front. Now, daily, I check out if I have any babies and move them to the garden I have on the back deck .(pictured here) I figure when they get bigger I'll sell them to the local pet shop. It will finance this little hobby.

The other day I discovered mosquito larvae in the front garden. I didn't have mosquito fish so I had to drain it and start over. (that's how I found out exactly how many snails I had) I purchased a safe larvacide that I'm waiting for. Contrary to what the pond experts tell you, a fountain doesn't break the tension on the water and mosquito's can breed even if the water is moving. The other night I was doing the zen thing next to my pond and I saw a mosquito land. I did a very unzen thing and pushed it into the water where my goldfish ate it. GO GOLDFISH! Now maybe they'll consider eating the larvae but doubt it.