I did my last 10 laps, then started the winter shut-down. Vacuumed and drained the pool to below the jets, pulled out the solid winter tarp and remembered that the last of my blue water bags had sprung a leak last winter and were thrown out with Spring cleaning. For the last few years every time a blue water bag sprang a leak I replaced with a bag of black top soil... which I would then use in the garden the following Spring.
So here we are, Sept 22, I needed an estimated 15 new bags of top soil. These are sometimes on sale for as little as $2 a bag ... so I needed to fork out $30.Below are photos of the solid black tarp with 15 black earth bags. I make sure they are far from the edge and so far none have ever opened or fallen into the pool.
I let the water collect on the tarp then in March I scoop off whatever leaves and debris have fallen in, sprinkle a 1/2 bag of shock, and then simply pull the tarp off letting the water go into my pool. It is surprisingly clean. I am in Ottawa Canada so we get a lot of snow and Free cold clean water every winter.
