Live with cloudy water and filamentaceous algae. Or "use organic Sludge Buster treatment, also Blanket weed remover". And be always on the wrong side of nature's balance.
You won't be enjoying your new pond for long before the realities hit you.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
I’m not joining the “lazy brigade” @bédé I have just been outside dragging my net across the pond and plunging my arm into the pond pulling out what I could reach. I don’t want to endanger any wildlife with nets, I have a little wren that creeps out like a mouse to drink, she would be under the net if I covered the pond, I also have a grey wagtail that bobs it tails up and down and I don’t think it would visit if I had a plastic net. I certainly don’t want to discourage diving beetles, pond skaters, or risk getting a grass snake strangled or have to release an entrapped blackbird. If you think that is a successful method, I’d rather not receive your comments as we obviously garden in a very different way.
I think most people will be agreeing with you @CDouch. Saw a little pied wagtail this morning when I was out. They don't visit the garden very often as we have so many water sources all around us for them. Gorgeous little birds. The grey ones are really pretty. The wrens in our garden are all called Sophia.
Sophia 'le Wren'...
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I shall call my wren Sophia now @Fairygirl, brilliant name 😁 We get pied wagtails and a grey wagtail, they love our thatched roof as it attracts bugs and insects so they flit around up there and then the grey wagtail also comes down to the pond, beautiful birds.
I used to regularly see one grey and one pied along at the farm nearby. I always wondered if they were 'experimenting' -if you know what I mean Lovely to have a thatched roof too. Brilliant for all sorts of reasons. Is it a big upkeep though?
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
CDouch said: I’d rather not receive your comments as we obviously garden in a very different way.
You might be wrong. But if that's the way you think you are free either not to read my comments, or to select just the advice that suits your thinking. As always.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
We’ve only lived here for 3 years @Fairygirl and no problems so far. The house was only built in 2008 but it was designed to look like an old Devon longhouse. The thatch should last for about 30 years, we’ve had it checked and apparently it’s in good nick. It hasn’t let rain in or blown away yet!! I was a bit worried when we had the horrendous gales last year in case it blew away but they’re obviously a good design and are a brilliant insulator. We certainly didn’t go looking for a thatched house but fell in love with it.
I can understand that you fell in love with it @CDouch. They're probably better constructed too, than most bog standard roofs - and much better for insulation, as you say. We need all the help we can get just now in saving money on heat!
It's an incredible skill too - a real art form. It's lovely that it doesn't seem to be dying out either- it often gets passed on in families, from what I can understand. It's like dry stone walling - another lovely skill.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I have a very large cherry tree partly overhanging the pond, and a few other trees nearby, so a lot of leaves find their way in. I just get down on my hands and knees and pull out as many as I can, most weekends at this time of year. My pond is just about small enough to reach most if it (but not most of the bottom). I clear the whole surface of leaves, and as many as I can that have sunk (where I can reach).
But I don't stress over getting them all out. I like to imagine I probably manage to remove around two-thirds. The rest will eventually form part of a silt at the bottom and yes they will put unwanted nutrients into the pond, but I don't think it's more than the pond can deal with - as I didn't have a big problem with algae last spring and summer.
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I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Live with cloudy water and filamentaceous algae. Or "use organic Sludge Buster treatment, also Blanket weed remover". And be always on the wrong side of nature's balance.
You won't be enjoying your new pond for long before the realities hit you.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
Saw a little pied wagtail this morning when I was out. They don't visit the garden very often as we have so many water sources all around us for them. Gorgeous little birds. The grey ones are really pretty.
The wrens in our garden are all called Sophia.
Sophia 'le Wren'...
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Lovely to have a thatched roof too. Brilliant for all sorts of reasons. Is it a big upkeep though?
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
It's an incredible skill too - a real art form. It's lovely that it doesn't seem to be dying out either- it often gets passed on in families, from what I can understand.
It's like dry stone walling - another lovely skill.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
But I don't stress over getting them all out. I like to imagine I probably manage to remove around two-thirds. The rest will eventually form part of a silt at the bottom and yes they will put unwanted nutrients into the pond, but I don't think it's more than the pond can deal with - as I didn't have a big problem with algae last spring and summer.