Weeding the Web

Get your garden pond ready for winter

Icy Pond in Struie Wood by Sylvia Duckworth. Creative Commons. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Icy_pond_in_Struie_Wood_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1055578.jpg

Earlier this year I pondered adding a pond to the garden. As the temperature finally falls to winter levels, I'm wondering how much work I might be letting myself in for if I go ahead. Success with Your Garden Pond, a book published in 1994, would have me baling out water, catching fish, dredging sludge, refilling and covering with plastic for the winter months.

It all sounds rather exhausting.

Winter care for garden ponds with fish

But of course, it really depends on what you have in your pond. If you have fish, then you'll probably need to do more, use more equipment, and juggle decisions. Pumps, heaters and filters to keep water circulating and remove toxins are recommended, but a filter definitely should be removed before it freezes and a pump might have to be too.

You'll also have to keep an eye on the temperature and either feed fish a special wheatgerm diet (to aid digestion and reduce ammonia production) or stop feeding them completely. And, given that fish in ponds provide an easy target for predators, you might want to get a heron scarer.

Hmm. Not sure I'm ready for fish.

Winter care for garden ponds without fish

However, just because a pond doesn't contain fish, it doesn't mean you can ignore it till Spring. The important thing is to keep the water oxygenated. Oxygen diffuses into the pond from the air, but you should also grow oxygenating plants in the water. Foliage overshadowing the water needs to be trimmed back, so more light can enter and those underwater plants can breathe.

Cutting back foliage also reduces the amount of vegetation entering the water, where it would rot and release toxins. In fact, a pond net might be an idea to stop debris falling in, though I think I'd want to leave part of the water open so that wildlife could take a drink. You still need to inspect the net regularly to ensure that it's not completely covered (so blocking out light) or, without a net, inspect the water and remove floating leaves.

Frozen Ornamental Pond by James Allen. Creative Commons licence. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Icy_pond_in_Struie_Wood_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1055578.jpg

According to national charity Freshwater Habitats Trust, (formerly Pond Conservation), frogs often hibernate at the bottom of ponds. They tolerate low oxygen levels, but will die after a few days if the water is totally de-oxygenated. So, if snow falls on a frozen pond, it should be cleared from the surface; it blocks out all light beneath, preventing plants from doing their job.

Froggy hibernation also raises concerns about ponds freezing solid, as the amphibians certainly wouldn't survive.

The Trust launched its Big Pond Thaw Survey after the winter of 2009/10 caused ponds to freeze over and brought in numerous reports of dead fish and amphibians.

Much is usually made of having a pond deep enough not to freeze completely. However, the Trust reported:

"We know that most ponds didn't have more than a few centimetres of ice, even during the very coldest days of the 2009-10 winter - so freezing solid isn't the problem."

Results were not conclusive but indicated that, as fewer amphibians were found dead where a pump was running or plants were present, deaths might have resulted from reduced oxygen levels in the water. They add that a build-up of toxic gases might also be implicated.

Surprisingly, they add:

"We don't think that making a hole in the ice will affect the amount of oxygen diffusing into the water, since this is a naturally slow process."

It seems accepted that you shouldn't bang on ice to break it up, as this could have unwanted percussive effects on wildlife beneath. However, keeping an area of water open seems a good precaution. The research didn't gather evidence on the presence of toxic gasses (which need to escape), and it seems kinder to keep drinking water available for larger animals and birds. The Trust also adds:

"It may still be worth making a hole in the ice to allow more active animals like fish or newts to move to the surface to breathe air."

One solution is to float a ball on the surface, though in very cold weather this probably wouldn't stop ice forming. If you want to be absolutely sure your water doesn't freeze over completely, you need a pond heater. It doesn't have to be very powerful. Only if you've got a heavily stocked Koi pond do you need an 'in pond' heater. For my future pond, I can see that a surface heater would be enough to keep a small area of water open.

As the Freshwater Habitats Trust itself says:

"There's no harm in playing safe."

In association with Swell UK.

 

 

 

 

 

Garden Ponds: priming the pump of decision

"Just as a room without a mirror is dead, so a garden without water is never quite alive."

Of course, you could speculate on the personality that thinks that every room should have a mirror, but the moment I read this in Beverley Nichols' Merry Hall I felt he was right. And what that really tells you is that I've always wanted a garden pond.

Have you got a pond? If not, perhaps Beverley's description of his pond explains why:

It's the sort of thing the Daily Herald will tell you can be dug over a weekend by a not very bright child with a not very sharp spade. I need hardly say that in fact it required an army of workmen and cost the earth.

My fear, exactly. Except I'd be doing all the work.

Positioning a Garden Pond

Still, that was written in the days before butyl liners and pre-formed plastic, and a pond doesn't have to be big. In his excellent book How to Create an Eco Garden, John Walker makes one out of a container 16 ins diameter by 12 ins deep (picture of pond) and suggests putting one in a flower border. 

Personally, I fancy something a bit larger, though. Where to put it?

General consensus recommends a site away from trees (to avoid falling leaves in autumn) and in the sunniest space available to attract the greatest variety of wildlife and ensure that your waterlilies flower well. According to H L V Fletcher (The Feature Garden, 1960), it should also be south or south-west of any shrubs that will form a windbreak against the coldest air.

So, not under the apple tree and not near the back of the house (north-facing). Which pretty much leaves us mid-lawn.

Choosing the shape

Now, formal shape (meaning rectilinear or round) or informal (uneven edges)?

G C Taylor advises in Gardening by Example:

Generally speaking, the formal pool is the type best suited to the well-defined outlines of the small garden. Possibly its best position...is in an axial line with any doors or windows on the garden front of the house, steps, a gateway or archway, or borders.

Sounds plausible, but turn to the photographs and you find that the author's idea of a small garden (book first published 1932 by Country Life) is an expanse that, these days, would be sold to developers for a large housing estate.

Besides, there are enough straight lines in my garden. I'll leave those formal ponds to London courtyards and gardens like the one at Morville Dower House (pictured).

So, we have an informal pond, mid-lawn.

Wildlife-friendly ponds

Water should be deep enough not to freeze solid in winter, and we surely all know now that stones should be placed in the water, allowing amphibians and wayward hedgehogs a way to scramble out.

But how about baked frogs? That's the horrible experience related by Gillian Dunkley in her helpful guide to pond-making. Ensure that there's plenty of vegetation for baby frogs to crawl into when they leave the water for the first time - wide expanses of sun-hot stone just won't do it for them.

Frivolous fountains

The Garden of Solitude, Hampton Court Flower Show 2014

And the finishing touch for me would be a fountain. It adds the lovely dimension of sound (would you happen to know if they draw in wildlife by alerting creatures to the presence of water?) but the downside is that they're not, according to Mr Fletcher, good for plants (which prefer a constant temperature not supplied by sprayed water) and waterlilies in particular, which resent being spat on. His ingenious solution is to create a pond within a pond, with the fountain playing in the central one.

Still, a water feature doesn't have to feature fat cherubs or dribbling dolphins. And I certainly wouldn't want a thunderous waterfall like that in Garden of Solitude at this year's Hampton Court. That Gold-winning design would drown out extraneous noise, but would surely drive your neighbours potty.

A gentle ripple over stones, giving the appearance of a spring is what I'd aim for, to go with the somewhat blowsy, overgrown look of the rest of the garden.

And here's another reason I'm so far pond-less. Because I don't want the hassle of connecting a water feature to the mains.  But pond pumps no longer have to be mains-powered. In fact, the idea of solar-powered pumps rather appeals. No, they're not (so far) as powerful as plugged-in pumps, and even with a battery to store energy they won't work all the time, but the cooling sound of gurgling water is most welcome is when the weather's sunniest, so that's no hardship.

Autumn is a good time to start a pond. Have I just talked myself into it?  If you have experience (good or bad) with ponds, I'd love to hear your advice.

In association with Swell UK.

 

Pond-ering Kids in the Gardens

If your children’s school holidays haven’t yet started, they’re certainly just about to. and you are possibly wondering how on earth you’re going to get any gardening done and keep the kids happy.

It might seem unlikely, but this could be the ideal time to tackle that pond project you’ve had in mind. Over at Dallas Arboretum and Gardens, research found that water features created the most excitement for visiting children. Digging a pond in the garden could add just that dimension of interest which gets them out into yours. And getting them to help build it should give your powerhouses some exercise.

There are clear and helpful instructions for a weekend pond project at Wild About Gardens, which also warns you about such things as too much hard landscaping near the pond as young amphibians can cook in seconds.  

You might also like Getting Children Interested in Gardening and, for pond-making: Garden Ponds: Priming the Pump of Decision