Peter J May's Water Garden Chronicles
Hello,
Peter May here with the first installment of the Water Garden Chronicles.
This will be more or less a diary of events that relates to the pond or water garden or some related factor at the particular time of year it is written. So for some of you who may be reading this from the southern hemisphere, you may think they may be out of date or irrelevant for your seasonal experience.
Well, you could always hang on to them for 6 months and read them then. But Im sure there will be plenty to relate to whatever the time of year, because the healthy pond or pool is an active balanced environment whatever the time of year, and even in the depths of winter, its health and balance is a result how it has grown and developed in the previous warmer months.
As time goes on, hopefully you will gain a feel for what is right and wrong in your water garden world. Water gardens are pretty easy things to look after and don't involve a vast amount of work as long as the owner is aware of what is going on all of the time. The all seeing eye can spot a problem developing before it becomes a problem that requires a lot of work or expense to put right.
Here the dismal UK the sun has begun to shine but it has come with cold air from the north and a thick layer of ice is back on all the pools. You would think the little world that seemed so active during the summer months was completely dormant.
Not so, I was reminded of that three times this week.
First of all, one of the local district councils has put up its road signs warning of Toads Crossing. Suddenly, I realised that its the time of year those little amphibious monsters crawl out of their leaf heaps to get it on. One of the gardeners best friends, they migrate in startling numbers to the place they developed as tadpoles to miniature toads.
Females are always in short supply, so the adult males will attempt to mate with anything that moves including docile fish or another pair of mating toads. Sometimes there can be more than a dozen of males in a rolling ball in the pool - somewhere in the middle is a suffocating female. It is not surprising that the collective term for toads is A BUNDLE of TOADS.
Although the water in pool has stayed pretty much below 10C or 50F and you might assume nothing was going on. In fact it has been warm enough for the blanket weed or Spirogyra to take advantage of the lack of competition.
An old client of mine with a wildlife pond was inundated with this green cotton woolly thread form of algae. He has no filtration or even moving water and his pool is surrounded by chalky limestone that produces very hard water in the pool, which blanket weed just loves.
His only resort is to keep hooking it out with a lawn rake until the spring, when the rest of the pool plants kick into activity. The rest of the higher plant life will then prevent the blanket weed from getting a look in on the resources.
Even if you have many of the resources of modern technology at your disposal, filters, chemical, U/V clarifiers and magnets on the water supply to the filter, once you have blanket weed you have got it for life.
It does have its advantages if you can keep it under control, because it is always a ready vitamin rich snack for any of the vegetarians in the pool, especially the fish, and if you've got it, you will rarely get any other form of algae or if you do, there is something seriously wrong in that environment.
The Marsh Marigold, Caltha palustris is resolutely pushing its way up. Whether it is a rock hard frozen bog area or sitting with its neck through an inch of ice in the margins, it is determined it going to get out and about before the rest of the mayhem starts in the water garden. In fact its new growth for the following season starts in October when everything else is dying down, and despite the trials of winter, its little fleshy stems still manage to produce a golden display right at the beginning of spring at the end of March. The weather is usually still pretty dire then, so it is no wonder this has always been such a popular plant in this country, its bonny display encourages wishful thinking about warm balmy summers.
SEASONAL WATER GARDENS TIPS:
If you do have a filter in operation, make sure the pump is only turning over the surface water of the pool. Put the pump on the marginal shelf.
Keep it going until the temperature drops to 1 or 2C. Then turn the pumps off. If the water freezes, don't be too worried for a couple days unless the pool is really dirty or overpopulated with fish. Rotting organic matter in the bottom of the pool will produce toxic gases that if they are trapped under the ice will poison the water.
If this is the case melt a hole in the ice with hot water poured into a saucepan sitting on the ice. A hole in the ice will allow gaseous exchange.
Never smash a hole in the ice. Unfortunately this is a favourite pastime for kids, especially other peoples. Ah well, Ill let you deal with that.
If you havent already done so, clear up dead leaves especially in the bottom of the pool before all amphibians start to spawn. Leave the detritus on the side of the pool for the sleepy beasties you've dredged up to make their way back home again.
Cut back, the marginal plants, trim the planting baskets from excessive growth. If all the growth seems on the outside and nothing in the basket, get ready to replant next month.
Look out for Herons, theyve got their eyes on your pool. Plastic herons wont deter them at this time of year. In fact they may do the opposite. Get out there yourself and mount an irregular patrol.
All right?
Speak to you soon.
Pete
Peter J May is the Perfect Pond Detective - here to help you