My Year long Koi Pond Build

In this Video I document my year long koi pond build in my back yard.

Nursery Stock to Bonsai - Magnolia Ann

Nursery Stock to Bonsai - Magnolia Ann

Nursery Stock to Bonsai - Chaenomeles japonica 'Texas Scarlet' Flowering Quince

Nursery Stock to Bonsai - Alpine Hemlock Fail

Tour of Pacific Bonsai Museum

Pacific Bonsai Museum

This collection boasts over 100 bonsai trees from China, Japan, Canada, Korea, Taiwan & America.

Address: 2515 S 336th St, Federal Way, WA 98003

Hours: 

Open ⋅ Closes 4PM

Phone: (253) 353-7345

My Journey into Bonsai

The closes I've come to a ripe Che Fruit

I've been growing this in ground for about 3 years now. The Che fruit. It has been a big disappointment. I think moving forward I'll dig it out and keep it in a pot in the greenhouse year round. It should help to ripen this fruit in time here in Seattle. Other wise this is the closes I've come to ripe fruit from the Che. It's still rock hard and inedible. The photo was taken in October.

Planera Fig

Planera Fig:

This was a nice surprise. Ripened in October. But it has a potential. I don't want to give a true score until I can get it into proper conditions.

Overall it has a unique taste, slightly herby with a strong strawberry jam taste.

The mother tree was found in Sa Maimona in Mallorca.

Origin: Montserrat Pons

Chojubai Flowering Red Quince Bonsai - From Nursery Stock to Bonsai

Chojubai Flowering Red Quince, Bonsai Progession from Nursery stock to Bonsai

3/21/19

First styling 2/23/19

Nursery Stock 2/20/19

Koi Log

Koi Diary:

October 2019:

Ochiba - PAN Inc


Sanke - PAN Inc


Kin Kikokuryu :
Pan Inc via Andy Le


Kohaku
Kujaku
Goromo

Pan INc via Andy Le


Kujaku and Shiro Utsuri from PAN Inc. the 2 Sankes died unfortunately.




Yamabuki Ogon PAN Inc

Podcasts interview with Steven Biggs, Author of Grow Figs.

Steven Biggs, the author of "Grow Figs Where you think you can't" and Grow Lemons Where you think you can't" also has a monthly podcast that he does about fruit and and growers from various areas.

 

He interviewed me on his broadcast about my fig breba list.

https://seattlegardenfruit.blogspot.com/p/the-ultimate-fig-breba-list.html

Listen here.

https://stevenbiggs.ca/garage-gardeners-archives/2019/10/3/haskaps-cold-hardy-fruit-growing-food-in-cities-fig-breba-list

2019 28th Annual Koi Show by Washington Koi and Water Garden Society

2019 28th Annual Koi Show by Washington Koi and Water Garden Society

This is first Koi show I've been to and it was a fun one. Held at Sky Nursery's main greenhouse in Seattle we were protected from the elements. 

There were about a dozen tubs with Kois that have been submitted by members for show. The judges were a Gary Elmore (VA) and Michelle Gravenish (MN). Funny enough we ran into them later that day at PAN intercorp and they helped us pick out the 3 best fish from sale pond Picture below. What a treat to have 2 seasoned Koi judges help you pick out fish.

The fish were amazing. Their size and colors were very inspiring. So much so we ended up buying 4 little fish from the sale tubs.

But we weren't done yet...

15 minutes away is Pan Intercorp aka koi.com. These fish below are Pan Intercorp Kois. These were $200 a piece for about 10 inches.

The judges helped us select these 3 kois. I think they are very beautiful with lots of potential. 1 Kohaku and 2 sanke.

Unofrtunately, since my pond is only near completion, i didn't want to come home with more fish only to house them in a temporary holding cell.

But I'll be back =).

The Hummingbird Flower - Regal Birdflower Crotalaria Cunninghamii

I was on the interweb a couple months ago and saw this post about the Regal Birdflower Crotalaria Cunninghamii. The flower of this plant looks exactly like a hummingbird.

Naturally I was very intrigued by the plant. It's quite a show stopper. So i bought some seeds online and grew them. The seeds rooted incredibly easily and even though I started them late in the year I should be able to keep them alive under the grow lights.

I can't wait to see the flowers.



Here's the wiki on the plant.

Crotalaria cunninghamii
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Green birdflower
Crotalaria cunninghamii 2.jpg
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Genus: Crotalaria
Species: C. cunninghamii
Binomial name
Crotalaria cunninghamii
R.Br., 1849

Crotalaria cunninghamii - this form has distinctive green flowers in axillary clusters.
Crotalaria cunninghamii, also known as green birdflower or regal birdflower, is a plant of the legume family Fabaceae[1], named after early 19th century botanist Allan Cunningham.[1][2] It is native to, and widespread, in inland northern Australia [1][3]. It is a coloniser of unstable sand dunes, along beaches and in Mulga communities.[3] It is pollinated by large bees and by honeyeaters[citation needed].

Description
Green birdflower is a perennial shrub that grows to about 1–3 m in height. It has hairy or woolly branches and dull green foliage. The oval leaves are about 30 mm long, the large and greenish pea flowers are streaked with fine black lines, and the club-shaped seed pods are up to 50 mm long. The plant’s flowers grow on long spikes at the ends of its branches.[1] The flower greatly resembles a bird attached by its beak to the central stalk of the flowerhead.[3]

Uses and cultivation
The sap from the leaves was used by Aboriginal people to treat eye infections.[1][3]

Green birdflower can be grown in warm areas. It needs well-drained soils and a position in full sun. It is not suited to cold climates or where there are frosts. Propagation is from seed, which readily germinates after boiling water treatment, or from cuttings

Here are the seedlings under a grow light.

Koi Fish Auction at Pan Intercorp

I may have been overly anxious but I wanted to check out the Pan Intercorp Koi auction in Edmonds. Just 40 mins from where I live. My pond isn't complete yet so I didn't want to come home with a whole bunch of fish and not have enough space to house them.

Upon arrival, they had the fish spread out for preview in large bags. You have an hour to ear mark your favorites. And even if you miss the preview they pass out a print out of all the fish. Which helps to stay on top of things.

There are about half a dozen greenhouse with various ponds around the grounds. I will be back to visit outside of the auction for sure.

All registered. Here's my bigger's paddle

I actually let my 2 older boys do all the bidding. Blake managed to get a the great deals, even winning a fish for a whole $1.

 

My 3 year did not know when to to put the paddle down. And probably over bid for a doitsu showa. All in all we won 4 fish! and the total was much less than what it would've been through their website. @ koi.com. 

We had an amazing time! The only con was that you couldn't check out until the last fish was auctioned. And when you have small children that can be a bit tough when they become restless. 

(left to right) 1. Doitsu Showa 2. Blake's $1 dollar utsuri 3. Kujaku 4. Sanke 

These were small koi. They will go into the 50 for now until the pond is complete.

Update:

My Aqua Ultraviolet bead filter is in.

Update: Got an outdoor outlet installed  to power all of the pond pumps and filters.