Ducklings day 43

Shockingly, no modifications to the duckling run today. They’ll only be using it for another week or two, so it’s fine.

I mentioned yesterday that they swam in the afternoon. Here are a few cam shots from then, starting with three pairs of duckling feet on the edge of the pool:

Duckling feet

The shade does make the pictures less clear; the cam can’t handle the sunny and shady contrast as well:

Afternoon swim

Afternoon swim

This morning, treat time:

Morning treat time

Drinking water drained from when I just refilled their water dispenser:

Drinking water drained from house

Flapping wings; it’s fascinating watching the feathers growing, as little pins that sprout feathery bits from the end, spreading towards the base:

Flapping wings

Touching bills:

Touching bills

Splashes:

Splashes

Scratching:

Scratching

An afternoon swim today:

Afternoon swim

Flapping wings:

Afternoon swim

Converting the fountain into a garden, part 2

Last week I posted part one of a project to convert our fountain into a garden. Here’s the thrilling conclusion.

You may recall that I drilled a hole though the base of the fountain wall, and ran an irrigation tube across the bricks, at the back where it isn’t usually visible. To make that tidier and reduce the risk of tripping on the tube, I added a pipe cover:

Pipe cover

I added more soil:

Adding more soil

And scoria to the fountain bowl, to aid in drainage:

Adding gravel to bowl

Scoria and soil in progress:

Gravel and soil

More soil:

More soil

A much smaller soil pile; the remainder will be used in the veggie garden, and possibly elsewhere:

Smaller soil pile

Adding plants:

Adding plants

A hose valve for the tube to the top of the fountain (as seen on my What’s It Wednesday question and answer yesterday), to enable adjusting its pressure independently of the irrigation emitters for the bottom level:

Hose valve

Irrigation tubing; half inch tubing to the top of the fountain and down one side of the bottom level, with quarter inch tubing off the latter leading to emitters:

Irrigation tubing

An irrigation emitter; this style has an adjustable spread, so can cover anything from inches to several feet:

Irrigaton emitter

Pulling back a bit to focus on the plants:

Plants and irrigation

And back further to see more of the plants:

Plants

Another angle; Jenn chose the plants to be predominantly blue to evoke water, with some splashes of color representing fish. Plus taller plants at the back, shorter in front — and in the bowl, some that will trail off the edge nicely:

Plants

A last shot of the finished garden:

Plants