Saturday, June 26, 2010

Floating an idea


I had one of those Homer Simpson "D'oh" moments recently, when I saw a plant in another garden growing as it should grow, unlike my version of the same plant. It was in a pond that I saw some Nardoo (Marsilea drummondii), our native floating fern, doing what it should do. Float. On the water. It's a simple game. Float on water = floating fern. Trouble was, my floating fern didn't float. It kind of hovered over the water. D'oh!

Problem solved, here is my nardoo, floating on the goldfish pond like it should.

And here is nardoo doing it all wrong a month or so ago. The problem was simple. I had not put the pot deep enough underwater. That's all. The pot was sitting on a brick, with the top of the pot about 2-3 inches below water level. Wrong! I took out the brick, sank the pot to the bottom, so it was 6 or more inches below the water level, cut off all the foliage, and started again.

While it was a bit of an anxious wait to see whether my drastic action worked, it took only four weeks for the first new leaves to float into position, just like they should have all along. But now all is well with the world, the fish seem to like their new floaty cover, and I've learned something.

And so the moral of the story is to be a gardening stickybeak – you might just learn something useful. Now, I'm sure many blog-readers from around the world won't be familiar with the word 'stickybeak' but it's a fine old Australian term that's fairly close to the English 'Nosy Parker'.

In its worst sense a stickybeak is someone who pries into others' lives, but in the grand sense of the word it just describes what we all can't resist doing: having a look at something, whether or not it's often over a fence, through a fence, or from a vantage point.
Stickybeak often = get a life.
Stickybeak occasionally = national pastime.

And that's what I was doing, walking around the local area stickybeaking at others' front gardens, and in one I saw the nardoo floating serenely, just as it should. That ended my stroll in fact. Headed for home, 'fixed' the nardoo problem then and there. Good, productive, stickybeaking stroll, that one.




7 comments:

lotusleaf said...

Nardoo is a stranger to me, but 'stickybeaking' I do some times. Congratulations for solving the problem!

Shivangni said...

Even I do it all the time, just tell my self that its for learning.
Lucky you that you can have a floating garden. In Delhi we are not allowed to have them for the fear of breeding deadly Dangue mosquitoes. What other pot plant is submerged in the pond? (Now my bit of stickybeaking!)

Sue O said...

"Stickybeak" will be my new word of the week.

Sue O said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Northern Shade said...

Your nardoo looks terrific floating in your mini-pond, with the fish swimming below.

Checking out gardening blogs is another good way to stickybeak for ideas. It gives you chance to peak over the fence at a world of gardens.

Lanie said...

I think you may have solved one of my pond plant problems too. I'll take it off the brick and see what happens. Thanks. Lanie

mrsjohn said...

Even I do it all the time, just tell my self that its for learning.
Lucky you that you can have a floating garden. In Delhi we are not allowed to have them for the fear of breeding deadly Dangue mosquitoes.
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