Planting The Garden Pond
>Controlling Growth
Fertilizers
Compost
When to Plant
Planting the Tropicals
Planting in Shallow Water
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.)
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
DISHPAN
CEDAR PLANTING PAIL
PLANTING BOX
SHALLOW PLANTING BOX
 |
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 fertilizer 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.
It is important to start with proper soil, since the basic food for both hardy and tropical water-lilies is good, firm garden loam which you should enrich in ways which we will discuss later. Starting with a poor soil, and trying to build it up with fertilizer, does not work out well. In light or weak soil, regardless of how well it is fertilized, water-lily growth will go into foliage. Swamp muck, although it may look black and rich enough to grow hair on an egg, will not do. Actually, there is very little nutritive material in muck. What there is will very likely be in the form of only partially decomposed vegetation. As decomposition is completed in the pool, gases are produced and the muck turns sour, fouling the water and creating an unhealthy environment for goldfish.
River mud cannot be used for the same reason. Leafmold, although it contains plant food, will foul a pool as it decomposes. Heavy clays are very good for water-li1ies since they contain potash. However, they cannot be used unless well mixed with lighter soil or sand, for it is difficult for lily roots to penetrate solid clay absorb food from it.