Carter's Water Garden


Sunday Reflection’s…

Summer is officially over! Fall is here 🍁 And it feels good… Cool morning, hot coffee ☕️, the leaves are showing color, football 🏈 is on 5 days a week… AND, my garden is thriving! I still have a load of Tomatoes 🍅 ripening on the vine, I have Brussels sprouts growing, as well as broccoli 🥦 carrots 🥕 and Turnip greens! My mums are showing out and today I’m potting up some pansies and ornamental kale. Yeppers, so far so good with Fall!

We have passed the equinox and the Harvest Moon is coming in a few days🌝 Fall is Here 🍁🎃

We will be touching things up in the coming days and evenings for the Moonlight Pond Tour, and I’m looking forward to that! The Harvest Moon 🌝 is a big deal around here 😊

Still in the back of my mind, I’m missing the heat of Summer… So I smile and tell myself, it’s Fall now dummy! Get the net…

There’s no nicer Fall evening than sitting by the Pond and feeling the warmth of a Fire 🔥 More little things that make Fall worth it.

“Ah, when to the heart of man Was it ever less than a treason To go with the drift of things, To yield with a grace to reason, And bow and accept the end Of a love or a season?”

~ Robert Frost

Have a great Sunday! 🍁🔥🏈

~ Mark C.



Sunday Reflection’s…

What a beautiful morning! The sun is out and it’s so warm I was able to sit outside in my shorts and a T-shirt this morning 😊 We are past our 1st frost and freeze now, so I guess you can call this an Indian Summer… And I’ll take it! In 8 days we will celebrate Halloween 🎃 Then we enter the Holiday Season 🦃 🎄It all comes so fast 💨 I’m still trying to enjoy the Fall Color before it disappears… Here are a few pictures of some Fall Color that I have captured on film over time. Enjoy the season at hand, it’s the best one, and the only one that’s real right Now ❤️

Colorful foliage, almost no bugs, beautiful weather, football, fire pits… I Love Fall 🍁🏈🎃🔥

“Looking out my window
In October’s golden light, 
I see a beauty unsurpassed,
A truly lovely sight.

Leaves are saying soft good-byes
As they come floating down
To make a nature’s carpet
Of yellow, red, and brown.

Mountain tops, now turned to white,
Forewarn of winter chills,
While trees, like golden rivers,
Wind their way up through the hills.

Throughout our world’s creation
You will ever find it thus,
Kaleidoscopes of color,
In God’s hand, the artist’s brush.”

~ Alora M. Knight

Have a great Sunday 🙏🏻

~ Mark C.



It’s Fall 🍁 When do I stop feeding my Koi high protein food and start feeding Cool Season Koi Food? | Carters Nursery Pond & Patio | Jackson, TN

Fall is in full swing! The sun is setting earlier every day & the temps are falling… And soon, Jack Frost 🥶 will be paying us a visit… The Koi have eaten well this year & have put on a good bit of fat to get them through the Cool Season ahead. Now is the time that many of my clients and fellow Koi enthusiasts start asking a very important question…

– When do I stop feeding regular food and start feeding Cool Season Koi Food?

– My Answer- Remember the rule of 60!

When the water temperature drops below 60 degrees Fahrenheit you should switch to a Lower Protein, Cool Season Koi Food. We like to call it the ‘Rule Of 60’… | Carters Nursery, Pond & Patio | Jackson, TN

Switching to a Cool Temperature Koi Food is very important for the health of your Koi!

Every Pond should have a floating Pond thermometer. Our finned friends are cold blooded & water temperature is very important when it comes to seasonal feeding times. Pick one up at Carters Nursery, Pond & Patio | Jackson, TN

So be sure to – check your water temp (via a floating thermometer) & when your water temp drops to 60 degrees, you should transition to Cool Season Koi Food. That’s the “Rule of 60”

Fall is NOW! Enjoy your Koi 


Mark Carter
Carter’s Nursery, Pond & Patio
2846 Old Medina Rd.
Jackson, Tn. 38305
Ph.# 731-424-2206
http://www.cartercountry.com

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Friday Radio Report | LIVE Talk Radio | WNWS 101.5 FM | Everybody Talks | Carters Nursery Pond & Patio | Jackson, TN

Good Morning! Here we are 1 week into Autumn and it feels so nice 😊 It’s a another BEAUTIFUL DAY! 🍁 I am walking into the studios of WNWS 101.5 FM, in downtown Jackson, TN! I’m going ‘LIVE’ from 9-11 am with Seabass and Chuck Walker on the best little show in Jackson – “Everybody Talks” 💥!

I’m LIVE today from 9-11am Call in and lets have some FUN! 731-423-8101

I’ll be here from 9-11am – So get your questions ready! We will be talking Outdoor Living, Koi Ponds, ‘Cool Season’ gardening, trimming, mulching, landscaping, pumpkin carving, football 🏈 and LOVING FALL ❤️🍁 Tune in! 📻

PS: Ask about our upcoming Fall Aquatic Workshop ! It’s FREE! And it’s tomorrow!

We will talk about just about anything that YOU want to talk about! Ask a question, send in a picture, share a story (but please, NO politics!) It’s Friday! Call in and join us – 731-423-8101

For 20 years Ive been involved with this Friday Talk Show and it just keeps getting better! The phone # is still the same – 731-423-8101

– HEY, You can listen, and you can call in and talk… the # is the same that it has been for over 20 years – 731-423-8101. But, did you know you can text your comments and questions? 731-277-5155

Did you know you can text us? Texting us is so easy! 731-277-5155 Give us a shout out from the dog house 

Also – Come by and see us at the Nursery! We are open today until 4pm and tomorrow 8-2! Fall is in the air! 

Fall is in at Carters!

Come on in to Carters Nursery and get what you need for your Garden and your Pond! We have Plants, Shrubs & Perennials! And all the cool season Pond treatments you need! Including cool season Koi Food! We’ve got stone by the pound and Sod by the piece! Plus cool hats, jeans, garden decor and gifts in our ’Unique Boutique’!


I’m looking forward to seeing ya’ on the air…

Mark Carter
Carter’s Nursery, Pond & Patio
2846 Old Medina Rd.
Jackson, Tn. 38305
Ph.# 731-424-2206
http://www.cartercountry.com

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Sunday Reflection’s…

Good Morning! ☀️ What a storm we had last night! ⛈ ⚡️ 💥 Here we are changing seasons… Bye bye Summer, Hello Fall 🍁🍂 We have literally been on a West TN weather seesaw… It was 100 degrees on the last day of summer, So Hot 🥵 Then the next day a 51 degree morning… Then back up close to 90 today, but guess what – down into the 40’s tonight😮

I recently saw a few Wooly Bear’s… Could be looking at a bad Winter ❄️

Oh well, again the old saying holds true, “If you don’t like the weather, just you wait”…

Now it’s on to breakfast and then a little work in the Garden! I Love ❤️ Fall!

“In the garden, Autumn is, indeed the crowning glory of the year, bringing us the fruition of months of thought and care and toil.  
And at no season, safe perhaps in Daffodil time, do we get such superb color effects as from August to November.”

~ Rose G. Kingsley

Watch this short for the cutest puppy ever 👇🏻

Have a great Sunday!

~ Mark C.



Summer Is Nearing It’s End… The Autumnal Equinox is Thursday 🍁 Do the seasons know it’s time? | Carters Nursery Pond & Patio | Jackson, TN

The older I get, the quicker these seasonal changes seem to come… WOW! Are we already looking at the END of Summer?

Earth seasons as Effect of the Earth’s axial tilt. Infographics for summer and winter solstice, autumnal and spring equinox Northern Hemisphere. Sun path diagram or day arc for year. Vector illustration.

Summer is going out on a HOT note! High 90’s today & we may very well see 100 degrees tomorrow! 🥵 But, then on the official 1st day of Fall (Thursday the 22nd) the high is only gonna be around 80 degrees… Do the seasons know it’s time?

The trees and plants know what to do for sure. I always LOVE watching the color show unfold 🍁

“During the autumnal equinox, the sun shines directly on the equator, and the northern and southern hemispheres get the same amount of rays. The alignment officially occurs this year on Thursday, September 22”

So the 1st full day of Fall is on the 22nd. Are you ready for Fall?

“Lyric night of the lingering Indian summer, Shadowy fields that are scentless but full of singing, Never a bird, but the passionless chant of insects, Ceaseless, insistent. The grasshopper’s horn, and far-off, high in the maples, The wheel of a locust leisurely grinding the silence Under a moon waning and worn, broken, Tired with summer. Let me remember you, voices of little insects, Weeds in the moonlight, fields that are tangled with asters, Let me remember, soon will the winter be on us, Snow-hushed and heavy. Over my soul murmur your mute benediction, While I gaze, O fields that rest after harvest, As those who part look long in the eyes they lean to, Lest they forget them.”

~ Sara Teasdale

Here’s to changing seasons… 🍾


Mark Carter
Carter’s Nursery, Pond & Patio
2846 Old Medina Rd.
Jackson, Tn. 38305
Ph.# 731-424-2206
http://www.cartercountry.com

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Waterfall Wednesday | #Waterfallwednesday | Carters Nursery Pond & Patio | Jackson, TN

I just LOVE falling water! The sound, the movement, the splash! Todays offering for Waterfall Wednesday is a little different, but thats what makes it special!

This Stacked Slate Wall Falls is a little different, but it has all the things that make up a good Waterfall!

  • Water flowing over stone ✔️
  • Great movement ✔️
  • Great Sound ✔️
  • Cooling Splash ✔️

So its a little different today, but what an Awesome Water feature! My Stacked Slate Wall is todays offering for #Waterfallwednesday!

PS: You can see this feature in person at Carters Nursery Pond & Patio, along with many others during business hours 5 days a week.

Mark Carter
Carter’s Nursery, Pond & Patio
2846 Old Medina Rd.
Jackson, Tn. 38305
Ph.# 731-424-2206
http://www.cartercountry.com

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The Zen of Spring Frost

If you are like many Gardeners and live by the ”Last Frost Date” given in the Almanac or in your local paper, you may be very disappointed this morning… I’m getting ready to go out and uncover the hundreds of plants that I have under blankets, sheets and in a big cold frame greenhouse.

Late frost caught many off guard last night.

Why does it ’sneak up’ on us so often?

With me its all about staying in tune with the particular season. Spring here in West TN fluctuates from sweaty 80’s weather to 60 mile an hour winds with frost and snow ❄️ BUT, that relationship you form with the seasons and the changes is where the Zen lies…
But, its tough to wait! As soon as the forsythia and the daffodil 🌼 blooms I’m already setting up my planters and pots 🪴 And, I try to be ready for people coming in to my Nursery early, which means we spend a month or more moving plants in and out of the greenhouse… 😊

All these things we do, hoping to solve the ‘Riddle of Spring’! 😊

Finding balance and Zen within ourselves is found within our own Gardens…

PS: The good news is, I think we are past Frost now for real!

“The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month.”

~ Henry Van Dyke


Have a great Tuesday!

Mark Carter
Carter’s Nursery, Pond & Patio
2846 Old Medina Rd.
Jackson, Tn. 38305
Ph.# 731-424-2206
http://www.cartercountry.com

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Pond Tip Tuesday | Koi Pond Tips | Carters Nursery Pond & Patio | Jackson, TN

Spring is in full swing! We are approaching our last frost date and the whole world is greening up, I LOVE it! ❤️ So do my Koi! They have been tearing up the Cool Season Koi Food and the veggies I have been feeding them. In fact, many of my customers and fellow Koi enthusiasts have been feeding their Koi Cool Season Food & have started asking me the all important question…

– When can I start feeding regular Koi Food and Color Enhancing Koi Food?

– My Answer- Remember the rule of 60!

When the water temperature has stabilized above 60 degrees Fahrenheit you can switch to a Higher Protein or a Color Enhancing Koi Food. We like to call it the ‘Rule Of 60’… | Carters Nursery, Pond & Patio | Jackson, TN

We have covered The Rule of 50 in previous Blogs, when coming out of Winter into Spring, you must let the water temp stabilize for at least a week at 50+ degrees Fahrenheit before you start to feed your koi, AND, when you do start back to feeding, you should use a quality, Cool Season Koi Food! And don’t over feed! Gradually reintroduce food to them in small amounts.

Oh yea! Spring has arrived and the water is steadily warming. Time to feed your Pond Fish!

Now, at least for me (check your thermometer) it’s time to make the transition to a regular Koi Food. In fact, I will start to feed both high protein and color enhancing feed, alternating weekly between the two.

Every Pond should have a floating Pond thermometer. Our finned friends are cold blooded & water temperature is very important when it comes to seasonal feeding times. Pick one up at Carters Nursery, Pond & Patio | Jackson, TN

So, lets wrap it up… check your water temp & when your above 60 degrees for several days in a row and climbing, you can transition to warm season Koi Food. That’s the “Rule of 60”…

Viva La’ Spring!

Happy Pondering!


Mark Carter
Carter’s Nursery, Pond & Patio
2846 Old Medina Rd.
Jackson, Tn. 38305
Ph.# 731-424-2206
http://www.cartercountry.com

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Waterfall Wednesday | Carters Nursery Pond & Patio | Jackson, TN

Here we are in a whole New Year! 2022 is looking up 🙄! Its “full on winter time” out there and some might wonder what there is to celebrate or feature in the garden…? Well, your Waterfalls for a start! 💥 Your Waterfalls are always beautiful regardless of the season! I can always find beauty and inspiration in my Pond and in my Waterfalls❤️ Here are a few Winter shots to warm your heart!

Do these speak to you? Do they inspire you to put your coat on and walk outside? To feed the birds? To dream about the coming Spring? They sure do for me 😊

Enjoy the Winter, and know that Spring follows Winter and will be here soon to bring you a completely different look and feeling ❤️

Have a Great #Waterfallwednesday!


Mark Carter
Carter’s Nursery, Pond & Patio
2846 Old Medina Rd.
Jackson, Tn. 38305
Ph.# 731-424-2206
http://www.cartercountry.com

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