Thursday, June 16, 2016

Garden tour in apple pie country...and the Anoxic Filtration System

Garden tour in
apple pie country
: Five big gardens will highlight Brownsville event on Saturday, June 25

click on link above to see video and more info.
QUOTE from: The Register-Guard

“DIY innovators

"When hands-on landscapers Shelly Ellingson and Rick Krause take on a project at their country home near Brownsville, it’s often pretty unique.
Their bubbling, 4-foot-deep koi pond is a case in point.

Made of split-face concrete blocks, the curved pond meshes right against the wood of a back deck. If the water inside seems unusually clear, it’s due to an anoxic filtration system that incorporates kitty litter, of all things.

Shelly learned of the low-cost filtration technique through an online koi forum. “Laterite in the kitty litter pulls the nitrates and the nitrites out of the water,” she says. “It’s a very inexpensive way to filter it.”

With various other landscape projects underway, including a new fire pit, the couple don’t relax much these days. “But when we do,” Shelly says, “it’s nice to sit there (by the pond). I find something very relaxing about just watching the fish, and watching the lily blooms reach the surface and open up.”
The grounds also include a vegetable garden, and on tour day guests may stroll down to the Calapooia River.”

Home & Garden editor Kelly Fenley can be contacted at hg@registerguard.com. Follow him on Twitter: @KFenleyRG.
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