Watercress and Waterworks

I went to California on Thursday for business and got back about 5am this morning.  I was disappointed about the flight delays because I was hoping to put a full day in on the pond today.   I did pretty good.  I grabbed about three hours sleep and then went at it.  The weather continues to be amazing.  Eighty four degrees today in mid-March!  We should still have snow on the ground, not green grass.  The Magnolia is starting to blossom and the roses are leafing out too.

This rapid advancement into the season is creating a bit of a problem in pond world.  The weather is dirty from the winter.  This isn't a problem with cold water, it will not smell.  I was hoping to have a long enough period of chill this spring that I could get the filtration up and running before the heat came.  I made a bit of progress towards that goal today.  The first of two runs to the filtration areas is completely connected now.  I'm hoping that tomorrow I can finish the drain to the high falls and then I can start playing with building the waterfall itself.

That's after I finish the the overflow....and the shape of the veggie pond filter...and the bottom drain of the veggie pond filter.  Gah, still lots to do but at least the weather is giving me the chance to do it.

Since the pond water is heating up I decided to toss a bit of rooted watercress in there to see what will happen.  I bought a bag at Whole Foods.  Of the entire bag only this tiny little sprout actually developed roots!  I really like the peppery flavor of watercress but its tought to get fresh.  I'm excited I might be able to grow my own.  This little spout is growing in the end of a swimming noodle that I chopped up.
In addition to the food value watercress can help the pond by eating up the nutrients in it.  The more nutrients you have the more algae you have, so the sooner I can get stuff growing the better.