Worked on the Penny Wort and Lilies on the East side of the pond today but quit when the boat had a good sized load. Do I save the plants for compost or haul them to the dump? The only plant debris that I have had good compost luck with was pine needles - everything else just turned into a pile that I eventually had to burn. I also quit because shears are too much work. All I need is a sharp knife.
The pond is now so clear that for the first time since algae appeared we can see the bottom. That seems impossible considering the original 16 and 18 foot depths, so I used a 20 foot piece of 3/4 inch pvc and checked today while trimming the plants. The deepest parts are now closer to 14 and 16 feet and there is approximately 8 inches of silt on the very bottom. That actually works out because we did a lot of work trying to seal the bottom before we finally used a liner. The sides are so steep that none of the dirt that I pushed off while leveling the berm was able to stick to the plastic, and what was I thinking.
I counted between 40 and 50 koi today, and saw a couple of bass, but haven't seen any catfish other than the ones being eaten by birds. And along that line, the Bittern has been absent for 3 days, the longest time since it appeared. Hope it drops by again.