Robert Pavlis

Do You Need Pond Pumps and Pond Filters to Control Algae?

About 7 years ago I started developing various water features, both garden ponds and water falls. As part of my research I found consistent comments like the following: you can’t make a natural pond using a pond liner without pumps and filters. The use of the word ‘natural’ here refers to the pond filtration system, not the esthetic look of the pond. I’ll deal with esthetics in a future post on how to build ponds.

In a natural pond the water, soil, plants, and animals all live in harmony. No one comes along to clean the pond or to aerate it. There is no big man-made filtration system that keeps the water clean. The common advice is that a pond liner is artificial and a pond built with it will never reach a natural state where the water, plants, and animals live in harmony the way they do in a natural pond. If you don’t filter such an unnatural pond it will become full of algae and the water will be dirty and smelly. The only way to have a pond with a liner is to add aeration and filtration.

Is this really true? Do you need pumps and filters to provide artificial pond filtration?

pond pumps and pond filters — Author’s pond at Aspen Grove Gardens (1 st year)

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Identifying Plants can be Tricky

I had a garden open house yesterday for a local gardening group. It was a beautiful day and I was enjoying the visitors, or at least I was until one of them mentioned that I had the dreaded ‘dog strangling vine’. News to me! I have never had it before. I asked to see it and a few guests followed us to one of my clematis arbors. They pointed to evil villain.

I smiled and told them that this was a precious seedling I had grown a few years ago. I thought I had lost it during the winter, but luckily it survived. It even flowered with very small dark red/brown flowers. I mean very small! It was now making seed pods – nice long slender pods. I was very proud of my plant.

Cynanchum louiseae – Dog Strangling Vine

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What A Plant Knows

Daniel Chamovitz has written a book called “What a Plant Knows”. An interesting title, but can a plant really know anything?

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Growing Tomatoes – Should You Remove Bottom Leaves?

A local gardening group was touring a greenhouse operation that grew tomatoes. The tour guide told the visitors that they removed the lower leaves from the plants because “they robbed nutrients from the upper part of the plant that was producing fruit”. In short, removing lower leaves resulted in a better harvest. It is unclear if that means larger tomatoes or more tomatoes.

Some home gardeners remove lower leaves believing that they will get a better harvest. Others don’t bother and claim they get a good harvest without the extra effort. Who is right?

Growing Tomatoes Should You Remove Bottom Leaves — Growing Tomatoes – Should You Remove Bottom Leaves? source: Dan Klimke

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Citronella Plant – Does it Really Keep Mosquitoes Away?

Mosquitoes are becoming a more important pest as new varieties move north in North America, and the incidence of diseases increases. Around here there is a big concern about the West Nile Virus so it is only natural that people try to find simple ways to keep mosquitoes away.

A very common solution is citronella. Some suggest planting the citronella plant next to your patio to keep mosquitoes away. Others rely on citronella candles. These solutions are just myths.

Pelargonium Citrosum - marketed as "mosquito plant" — Pelargonium Citrosum – marketed as “mosquito plant”, source: Chhe (talk)

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Soil Testing for NPK

Which fertilizer should you be adding to soil? How much fertilizer should you add? Why is my plant not growing well? These are all very common questions and a very common answer to them is; do some soil testing!

That may be the right answer, but there is much more to the story. Let’s have a look.

Soil testing for NPK, source: r. nial bradshaw

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Do Coffee Grounds Acidify Soil?

It is a common belief that used coffee grounds are acidic and that they will acidify your soil. Lets see if it is true.

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Increasing Soil Acidity

There is a lot of advice on how to make make acidic soil both in print and on the net. You can use coffee grounds, pine needles, and sulfur to name a few. This advice has two problems. Firstly, the recommended product may not actually acidify soil. For example in Do Pine Needles Acidify Soil I show that pine needles do not make acidic soil. Coffee grounds don’t acidify soil either. The second problem is that before such advice is given it is important to know the soil types (ie soil texture) being treated. Let’s take a closer look at this.

acidic soil texture — Soil texture is important when trying to acidify soil

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Invasive Plants You Should NOT Buy

You are at the nursery and have found a nice-looking plant. Is it safe to bring home? Your friend has some extra plants and offers to give you some – should you take them? In both cases, you can get into a lot of trouble by taking the plant home.

This is a list of invasive plants you should never, never, never add to your garden–unless you want them everywhere.

Nurseries should be restricted from selling them to unsuspecting customers.

See also Products You Should Not Buy!

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Castor Beans – Are They Poisonous?

I was giving a talk at a local Master Gardner meeting the other day and I mentioned that castor beans contain one of the world’s most deadly organic compounds. Someone in the audience commented that you can actually eat several castor beans and you would only get a mild stomach ache.

These two points of view seem to contradict one another. What is the real story?

Castor beans, caster bean plant, Ricinus communis — Castor beans, Ricinus communis

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How to Get Rid of Moss in Lawns

Lots of people want to know how to get rid of moss in the law, but a better question to ask is, “why does moss grow in lawns?”The most common response to this question is that the lawn receives too much shade and that the soil is acidic. The common advice is that grass will grow better if you limb up the trees and add lime to the soil to make it less acidic. Or you can spread a moss killer for lawns.

What about moss that is growing in a sunny area? What about moss growing in soil that is alkaline? There is much more to the moss story and the only way to really get rid of moss in a lawn is to understand why it is there in the first place.

How to get rid of moss in lawn — Mossy alkaline bolder at Aspen Grove Gardens

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Liming Acidic Soil – Adding Lime

Your soil is acidic and you would like to change the pH so that it is less acidic. The universal advice is to add lime to the soil ie liming your soil. Lime is alkaline and it will neutralize the acidity of the soil and make it more neutral. Adding lime certainly works – but there is a catch!

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