Transform your garden with a pond
The Queen's Green Canopy
Mark the momentous occasion of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with a garden or landscape project that will be enjoyed and benefit the environment for many years to come. The Queen’s Green Canopy is a marvellous initiative that encourages everyone to become involved to ‘plant a tree for the Jubilee’, although do bear in mind that any planted in spring or summer must be kept watered during any dry spells so if this is in doubt, wait until this coming autumn. Creating a pond, however, is a marvellous project that can be done at any time of year. Water is vital to life and a pond is a lifeline to a multitude of creatures, from birds and mammals to amphibians and the wealth of smaller creatures that live in the water.
Pond Life
By introducing a pond, you’ll be making a valuable habitat for wildlife: during the 20th century, half the ponds in the UK were lost and of those that remain, 80% are in poor condition, yet two-thirds of all freshwater species are supported by ponds. The Freshwater Habitats Trusts’ ‘Million Ponds’ project, which began in 2012, aims to encourage gardeners, schools and landowners to create new ponds for people and wildlife. Their website includes an excellent ‘pond creation toolkit’ with a range of free downloadable factsheets and advice.
The easiest material for making a pond is a flexible liner as it moulds to fit whatever shape of hole you make – and do buy the best you can afford. Site a pond in a fair amount of sun and away from overhanging trees. Slopes can be tackled by banking up soil or using stone or sleepers on the lower section. Shape the hole to give a variety of depths, from around 45cm deep to gently shelving, with plenty of shallow water for easy access by visiting wildlife and where amphibians (frogs, toads and newts) can get in and out. If you have very young children or grandchildren, site your pond where it can be fenced off, because toddlers can drown in even a few inches of water.
Ponds with steep sides and stone edges are death traps for wildlife as hedgehogs can fall in and drown, and even amphibians (frogs, toads, newts) need to get in and out. An existing pond in this style can be made more wildlife friendly by replacing some of the stone with plants, grass, or rounded pebbles, and with marginal plants in the shallow water so the wildlife has ‘green corridors’. Near your pond, make a seating spot or a decking platform to sit in comfort and watch the fascinating world within the water.
Plants for ponds
Ponds need plants: not only to look fabulous from spring to autumn and to entice and support wildlife, but also to maintain healthy water without chemicals or filters. Choose plants to suit the different water depths. Water lilies with sumptuous, aristocratic flowers, and white-flowered water hawthorn that blooms for many months, need water over 30cm deep. So-called ‘marginal’ plants need shallow water or permanently boggy soil around pond edges, and here there’s a fabulous choice of flowers, form, and attractive foliage, including irises, flowering rush, water mint, and kingcup or marsh marigold. We’re lucky to have the wonderful pond plant specialist Tor Garden Plants nearby at Brentor. For more information visit torgardenplants.co.uk
A balance of planting maintains a healthy pond and avoids common problems such as green water and blanketweed, caused by different types of algae. Don’t be tempted to empty out and refill your pond, which is damaging to wildlife and should only be done as a last resort. Use water lilies to shade about a third of the surface and put in oxygenating plants that absorb nutrients and starve out algae. Do make sure to avoid invasive pond plants (see further information): while these should no longer be on sale, you may be offered some by a well-meaning friend or neighbour.
For further information visit:
wildlifetrusts.org/habitats/freshwater/ponds
wwt.org.uk/discover-wetlands/gardening-for-wetlands/invasive-plant-species
Seasonal gardening jobs
- Prune hydrangeas. On mature plants, take out several of the thickest, oldest stems, at or near to ground level. Lightly prune the whole plant, taking off last year’s dead flower heads and cutting stems back to a fat pair of buds.
- Sow annual climbers: their speedy growth quickly clambers up supports and through other plants. As well as ever-popular sweet peas, try morning glory (Ipomoea tricolor), quamoclit (I. lobata) and cup-and-saucer plant (Cobaea).
- In a greenhouse or on a sunny windowsill indoors, pot up dahlia tubers to get a flying start on the year and enjoy an early display of sumptuous summer flowers. Take care not to over-water as dahlias are prone to rot.
- Feed spring bulbs after they’ve flowered but before the leaves die back. A natural seaweed-based liquid fertilizer is my preference, but any high-potash fertilizer will do. Now’s the ideal time to divide and transplant crowded clumps of snowdrops, too.
Sue Fisher