Talkback: Blanket weed in garden ponds

Posts

• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  September 2008

  I have just done a wildlife pond on the allotment i have put some plants in it it is starting to look good now. we have seen a few frogs i put two fish in it to keep the gnats down i have put a lot of plants around it so the wildlife can hide we have a lot of slugs and snails so we need a lot of frogs to help so come spring i will take out some frog spawn out of my pond in my own garden and put it in i just hope that does the trick.

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  September 2008

  Joey may regret putting 2 fish in the allotments wildlife pond. My pond is just over a year old and so clear you can clearly see to the 3 ft deep bottom, I have not had a problem with gnats as the newts etc keep them in check. The fish will eat young frogs

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  February 2009

  I built a pond using an old plastic baby bath and pond liner. Put a few plants and stones in it and in its first year we had 7 frogs at one point, a pregnant newt, which left early one evening I presume to have its young. It has given my whole family much pleasure - and cut down the number of slugs! always good news!!

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  February 2009

  Thanks for the tip I really appreciate it!!

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  February 2009

  Thank you very much for the information I really appreciate it!!
  I found this useful site for gardening seeds

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  April 2009

  i would not put fish in a wildlife pond for the simple reason that they will eat any frog spawn, newt eggs etc,the newts eat blood worms & other insect lave that inhabit the pond, so keeping natures balence.

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  April 2009

  newts lay their eggs under aquatic plant leaves(one at a time & the leaf is folded around it for protection.the eggs look like very small white balls, & are sticky so the leaves dont uncurl untill the baby newts emerge.

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  February 2010

  http://roostershamblin.wordpress.com/ would you please spend a few minutes checking out my chicken blog because it is very informative about all things chicken related. I have been raising more than 50 breeds of chickens 40 years.

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  May 2010

  I recently replaced my old leaking pond with a new pond. This new pond has a ph of 10 does anyone know how to get the level down so it is suitable for gold fish?
  
  The pond has a liner.
  
  Thank you

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  November 2011

  I have a 4 sq metre wildlife pond in my garden (in west-central France) which gives me hours of time-wasting pleasure ('What is this life, if full of care...'). I find that I have to clear the pond of blanket weed regularly throughout the summer, especially if we've had a sunny spell, of which we have had a few anyway this year. I use the corner of a (plastic, to avoid potential damage to the liner) upturned leaf rake and gently lift off small amounts of surface weed - never go deep, for fear of bringing up wildlife - examine it in any case for tadpoles etc, and then squeeze out the handful, letting the water and its microscopic life back into the pond. The blanket weed goes onto the compost heap.
  I had a fabulous experience the other day. I couldn't understand why one particular frog (one of the 'green' varieties) was so fascinated by what I was doing, and why, when I moved to the 'beach' area, he moved towards me. Then I remembered how they seem to love the rain. So I squeezed the water on to his back - how he appeared to enjoy it! And what a thrilling interaction for me!

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