A simple garden pond.

[Johnny Vodka]

First frog I've seen in my new pond. Just a Jnr by the size of it! (And, yes, my pond is a bit buckled in places. )

 

[RubyToogood]

First frog I've seen in my new pond. Just a Jnr by the size of it! (And, yes, my pond is a bit buckled in places. )View attachment 230732View attachment 230733

If you build it, they will come.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

If you build it, they will come.

Not been back since, but uncovered a froglet while moving garden rubbish yesterday.

 

[Southlondon]

Not true, based on my small pond, which has a waterfall and a fountain and was full of toad spawn earlier this year.

A lot of the ‘wriggles’ that form the lower part of the food chain will not survive moving water. If you have sufficient oxygenators you won’t need artificial oxuygenation

 

[Southlondon]

First frog I've seen in my new pond. Just a Jnr by the size of it! (And, yes, my pond is a bit buckled in places. )View attachment 230732View attachment 230733

I’ve got same pond as you. During lockdown I converted my tiny estate garden into a nature garden. Pond is buckled to fuck but I’ve had newts, dragonflies, water boatmen 2 types of snails and a whole host of little beasties. The pond is going through cycles of algae Then clearing As plants establish so I’m hoping it will be Perfect next spring. It’s also imports to provide some wild habitat in the garden as newts and roads spend the majority of their lives on land in damp long grass and under leaf litter and logs etc. Also I’m only planting native plants in and around the pond with an emphasis on pollinating plants to give insects food . It’s been amazing watching dragonflies hunting in the garden and laying eggs in the pond. Mine is buckled as well but the wildlife doesn’t care and nor do I. If I can attract wildlife to a tiny garden in middle of a large estate then Anyone can .

 

[Johnny Vodka]

Fingers crossed for some spawn this year. I assume there's a frog still hibernating at the bottom of my pond, though it was frozen over for the best part of a fortnight.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

First good frog pic of the year. Sadly no spawn so far!

 

[Johnny Vodka]

Officially a two frog pond!

 

[Saul Goodman]

Officially a two frog pond! View attachment 263721

Looks like it'll be a 22 frog pond soon.

 

[campanula]

I have never managed to get any frogs in my pond (apart from fleeting visitors and a large toad which has a hibernaculum at the back of the allotment) because my plot is fucking infested with rabid blackbirds who hang around, ready to pounce on anything vaguely edible. Suspect there are various invertabrates lurking in the depths but I have enough with the immortal goldfish at home, to pay the pond much attention. I do have some nice pondy plants though.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

Looks like it'll be a 22 frog pond soon.

Too late for spawn, I think. Loads of croaking from a pond in an adjacent garden in March, but no action in mine.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

I have never managed to get any frogs in my pond (apart from fleeting visitors and a large toad which has a hibernaculum at the back of the allotment) because my plot is fucking infested with rabid blackbirds who hang around, ready to pounce on anything vaguely edible. Suspect there are various invertabrates lurking in the depths but I have enough with the immortal goldfish at home, to pay the pond much attention. I do have some nice pondy plants though.

Really? I didn't know blackbirds were such a menace. I get loads of blackbirds in my garden. I love blackbirds almost as much as frogs.

 

[campanula]

Yep, Johnny Vodka - I love them too...but for sure, they hang about the pond, poking their beaks in. continually. In all truth, I haven't actually seen them scarfing frog spawn, but several attempts at introducing spawn from other, more fortunate pond owners, have been depleted to zero within a matter of hours. They eat all my bloody fruit too. Every last scrap because I can't bear the idea of netting and trapping. It's a love hate thing.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

Yep, Johnny Vodka - I love them too...but for sure, they hang about the pond, poking their beaks in. continually. In all truth, I haven't actually seen them scarfing frog spawn, but several attempts at introducing spawn from other, more fortunate pond owners, have been depleted to zero within a matter of hours. They eat all my bloody fruit too. Every last scrap because I can't bear the idea of netting and trapping. It's a love hate thing.

They do definitely make a mess. I put down some bark chippings as mulch and they've thrown them all over the place. I know some people are dead against it, but I use netting in my garden when necessary. Touch wood, never seen anything caught in it and, on balance, it seems better eating my own organically grown fruit over supermarket stuff.

 

[campanula]

Ah no, I would use netting if everything wasn't so huge. I have 2 large cherry trees which are robbed every year, plus all the redcurrants,blackcurrants, strawberries.plums. I did build a raised strawberry 'tower' so may have a netting attempt this year as my strawbs are 3 years old and at peak production.
I escaped fruit thieves for a few years...but once they know, it's game over. The squirrels discovered the hazels a couple of years ago and not a single nut now gets spared. Plenty of apples (but problems with teeth means I no longer look forward to the apple harvest so much.

 

[mx wcfc]

Plenty of apples (but problems with teeth means I no longer look forward to the apple harvest so much.

I used to think cutting an apple up before eating it in small chunks was ridiculous.

Now I have "teeth issues" too.

 

[campanula]

Cutting it up! I have to grate it, mx wcfc ...or boil it to a suitable pulp.

 

[BristolEcho]

Officially a two frog pond! View attachment 263721

What plants are they?

 

[Johnny Vodka]

What plants are they?

It's an excellent plant - some leaves lie on the water surface, some emerge, and you get small yellow flowers on long stems. Grows really quickly too - bit of a pond bully, but easy enough to snip.

 

[BristolEcho]

We only have duckweed at the moment which is also a pond bully so they can fight it out.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

We only have duckweed at the moment which is also a pond bully so they can fight it out.

I've just started to get duckweed. Not really a problem so far. Doesn't it just scoop out? The main pain in the arse for me is blanket weed, but the frogs seem to like it!

 

[BristolEcho]

I've just started to get duckweed. Not really a problem so far. Doesn't it just scoop out? The main pain in the arse for me is blanket weed, but the frogs seem to like it!

I read it was and it it's the only thing we have so far. We are very slow gardeners.

 

[TopCat]

I dug a pond hole yesterday and am having a lining delivered later today. I am going to make the hole bigger and deeper. This will involve digging clay out a little at a time.

I know I should line the hole with sand somehow?

 

[Mumbles274]

I dug a pond hole yesterday and am having a lining delivered later today. I am going to make the hole bigger and deeper. This will involve digging clay out a little at a time.

I know I should line the hole with sand somehow?

Sand can be used but an underlay is easier.

 

[TopCat]

Sand can be used but an underlay is easier.

Like carpet underlay?

 

[Mumbles274]

Like carpet underlay?

Yeah, although I think the stuff you can get for ponds is likely to be just as cheap

 

[TopCat]

Got some underlay for ponds coming. Probably should have cut up a blanket.

 

[Mumbles274]

I dug a pond hole yesterday and am having a lining delivered later today. I am going to make the hole bigger and deeper. This will involve digging clay out a little at a time.

I know I should line the hole with sand somehow?

This may sound glaringly obvious but make sure the top of the pond edge is as level as level can be. Despite spending ages trying to make sure mine was I somehow got a slightly low spot that means when I full it to the top now there is a place where water can get out and its a pain. It's under a load of rock that is mortared in so a huge job to solve now. It means my pond max fill level is now a few cm below what it should be

 

[Badgers]

 

[Johnny Vodka]

Look at these two.