UK gardening - Mini wildlife pond

Author

Mini wildlife pond

MarkA

2005-09-30, 11:21 am

Kay Wrote:
> You'll use more space by having a substrate - you'll take away depth.
> You should use the special aquatic pots which are like plastic
> baskets.
> they don't need to be large - you may be able to get away with 2
> inches
> square. Aquatic compost - low nutrient, too.
>
> Some of the water weeds don't need soil as such - they just throw
> roots
> into the water. Then you'll also want something to cover some of the
> surface - you could use a floating plant.
>
> If you want wildlife, then you'll be best sticking to UK natives. A
> lot
> of plants will be too big or too vigorous. Watercress grows if you
> just
> chuck a bundle in, but grows too quickly - you'll be forever weeding
> out
> the surplus. Water forget-me-not is a good bet and again just throw in
> a
> rooted cutting, also Mimulus (monkey musk). You won't need a lot of
> plants.
> --
> Kay
> "Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

Thank you Kay. That's just what I needed to know. I will be using
natives, and constructing an escape route for froglets.
I was thinking of Water f-m-n, also Water Crowfoot and Water Plantain -
any comments? Mimulus - guttatus? moschatus? Isn't it a wetland plant?
Aquatic compost - from garden centres?

thanks
Mark

--
MarkA

Kay

2005-09-30, 5:21 pm

In article <MarkA.1w6djy@gardenbanter.co.uk>, MarkA <MarkA.1w6djy@garden
banter.co.uk> writes
>
>
>Thank you Kay. That's just what I needed to know. I will be using
>natives, and constructing an escape route for froglets.
>I was thinking of Water f-m-n, also Water Crowfoot and Water Plantain -
>any comments?

OK, both, but get the water f-m-n first as it gives more flowers for a
longer period. Water plantain is a bit larger scale - might be a bit big
for you. Fitter et al describe it as medium/tall ie 1 ft to over 2ft. I
haven't got much experience of UK natives - my home ponds are all bigger
than yours, and the ones at the Nature Park much bigger, so we go for
large things.

> Mimulus - guttatus? moschatus? Isn't it a wetland plant?

I've got it growing in the middle of a pond. Slugs are fond of it and
they have more difficulty getting to it there.

>Aquatic compost - from garden centres?

Yep.
>
The other thing is not to stick the pond out in the middle of nowhere -
have at least one side (the side with the ramp) hard up against dense
moist vegetation or damp grass that you don't cut at all in the summer.
If you do get frogspawn, then the emerging frogs will need cover and
somewhere to forage.
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

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