Feeding Plants with Fountain Water

After a prolonged pause from blogging (but not from frugal gardening) I am finally able to sit down and add a post to frugalgardengirl.  In case your wondering about the lengthly holiday I am proud to announce that I became a grandma in August.  This pretty baby girl is my granddaughter Ayumi. 

When she's visiting I don't get as much done around the house, or in the garden for that matter but I'm pretty sure that the time we spend together is the most important thing that I could be doing.
Cleaning our patio fountain is a chore that needs to be done frequently, especially in the summer months when the warm weather causes the algae and fish poop to turn the pond green. 

Rather than waste this nutrient rich water, I prefer to use it as the a source of liquid fertilizer.
It's easy to use a hose to drain larger ponds and fountains.  I place the end of the hose in the fountain and turn the hose on at the spiget for a few seconds.  After turning off the water, I detach the hose at the spiget, holding the end up until I reach a spot that I want watered.  Then I lay the hose down and gravity does what it does, pulling water out of the fountain and over to my garden.

The water left at the bottom of the pond is emptied bucket by bucket to the potted plants surrounding our patio.  It sounds tedius, and it can be, but it's good exercise for my husband and I.

If you have an aquarium, or your kids have a fish tank, don't waste this wonderful source of food for your garden.
Just to be on the safe side, I don't use this water for leafy greens or root crops.  I do use it on fruit trees, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and many other bush and vine plants and haven't had any problems.
Any time that I can get a chore to do double duty-in this case cleaning the fountain mixed with watering and fertilizing the plants, I know I've done a great job.
Be well and happy gardening!