Top 10 steps to a healthy pond
Help to get your pond shipshape and thriving for the summer with these straightforward steps
Be careful with fish
1 Fish are lovely to watch, and with good upkeep make great additions to ponds. Many people find they can have fish living side by side with tadpoles, for example, if they create enough hiding places, but the reality is, if you want a thriving wildlife pond, full o of animals and insects, fish arear predators and will mostly eat
them all up! Natural biodiverse ponds aren’t really compatible with fish. They even produce nitrogen, which algae and pond weed love. Of course, they look great but it’s worth remembering that you introduce them – they are not there naturally.
Go for a natural look
2 You ou don’t need a pristine, perfect pond – it’s okay to leave things a little wild and woolly. It’s the sign of a thriving pond if something so thoroughly man-made in your garden looks like a natural landscape! Don’t worry about the natural green hue of your pond water either – it’s a sign of healthy, biological activity. It’s only too much surface algae and weed that you should curb by lifting out clumps with a net or stick. If you need to fill up the pond, try to use collected rainwater if possible – tap water is too nutrient-rich, meaning algae will love it.
Mix up your planting
3 May’s the perfect time for buying pond plants. They’re all readily available and itching to leap into new growth now the water’s warming up. So you need to make sure you incorporate a range of different plants for different purposes. Submerged plants provide oxygen and cover for wildlife, and water cress and milfoil ( Myriophyllum spicatum) are perfect. Next are the floating plants, which give shade to stem algae growth and keep the water cooler. Water lilies and a similar plant called frogbit ( Hydrocharis morsus-ranae), with little white blooms, are recommended. Thirdly, marginal plants are those that like boggy soil around the water’s edge and give shelter, shade and a myriad of life. They include a whole host of beautiful species such as bog bean, arum lilies, marsh marigolds and Japanese water irises.
Site it well
4 You might want to be able to see your pond well, and feel that a reasonably sunny site is a good idea for it – your pond will need good light but too much sun means pesky algae and weeds will go berserk! Site your pond in a bit of shade, and help cover the water by growing lots of plants around it. Water lilies grown on the surface will reduce the amount of sunlight reaching these problem pest plants.
Shallow and deep
5 You don’t need to have a really deep pond for anything to thrive – deep sections as well as shallow ones mean all sorts of wildlife can thrive in different nooks and crannies. Your pond only need be around 30cm (12in) deep or more for all sorts to be happy at home there.
Leave off the chemicals
6 Spraying chemicals or using too many fertilisers near your pond can be harmful to the wildlife and plants that reside there, so restrict usage nearby. Cover over your pond area and its plants if need be to stem the drift of the spray onto them and the pond water. www.greatmagazines.co.uk/gn
Encourage wildlife
7 Ponds are important places for wildlife to thrive, and if you can fit one in your garden, all the better. In fact, it’s almost vital, as many wild pond spaces are being removed. UseUs rainwater to replenish water stocks, and add ledges, slopes and rocks so visitors can get in and out easily. A full array of plants provides newts, frogs, toads and dragonflies all they need for shelter and nesting space.
Plant care
8 Don’t neglect your pond plants. Deadhead and remove old foliage often through summer, and if any pests attack your marginals, try and wash them away with a hose. Congested plants benefit from being divided and repotted separately every couple of years to boost health. Pull apart or cut with a knife it the roots are tough.
Beware of invaders!
9 It’s been illegal to sell certain plants on the government’s invasive list for three years now. If they’re present or introduced to your pond, they’ll take over. Five banned problem plants are fairy moss ( Azolla filiculoides), a species of pond stonecrop ( Crassula helmsii), water primrose ( Jussiaea grandiflora, , or Ludwigia grandiflora), ), floating pennywort ( Hydrocotyle ranunculoides), and parrot’s feather ( Myriophyllum aquaticum). And as of August, curly waterweed ( Elodea crispa), water hyacinth ( Eichornia crassipes) and skunk cabbage ( Lysichiton
americanus) will be banned for sale in UK. If you already have them it’s fine, but compost them well so they don’t spread.
Clean carefully
10 Leaving a natural pond to flourish with plants is great but you still have to clean it well! Left to its own devices, it’ll become overgrown, leached of water and resembling a jungle than a pond. Thick, surface-covering greenery needs to be cut back every few weeks through the summer, as well as thick underwater growth. Incessant algae and pond weed
growth can be remedied often through summer by simply netting out the worst of it. Leave it by the pond for a few hours in case there are any creatures lurking that can leap out and get back to their home, or be placed back there. Scoop out fallen fruit and leaves often.