The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Gardens => Topic started by: Dizzycow on November 24, 2011, 04:00:09 pm
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My husband has dug a large pond which is fed from a field drain. At the moment it's just a muddy pond which the ducks are loving, however I want to plant oxygenating plants to keep it clean and hospitable to wildlife, but I don't know what to put in it which is native, duck proof (!) and inexpensive, and what time of year to put the plants in. I'd be very grateful for any advice!
Thank you!
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when i made a small pond for my veg plot i raided a nearby wild pond for some water mint, im not sure if its duck proof but it is lovely in a salad!
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I think you'll find that nothing is duck proof - if it's edible they'll eat it! I have a burn running through my garden which the ducks go in when I let them out of their run, and it has loads of ferns along its length which they don't seem to bother with, nor the mint I planted on the bank to help keep the rats at bay. ::)
Edited - just found this website which seems to answer the question. Keep birds off plants till mature or plant mature ones, plus an article from British Waterfowl Association - http://www.wildflower.org/expert/show.php?id=3610 (http://www.wildflower.org/expert/show.php?id=3610)
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My husband has dug a large pond which is fed from a field drain. At the moment it's just a muddy pond which the ducks are loving, however I want to plant oxygenating plants to keep it clean and hospitable to wildlife, but I don't know what to put in it which is native, duck proof (!) and inexpensive, and what time of year to put the plants in. I'd be very grateful for any advice!
Thank you!
Dizzy,
Santa sent me a wee book called " The rockery and garden pond expert " it is an interesting read.
However the best advice I found in it was get some plants off a neighbour who has a pond or stream running through their property as these will be able to cope with the local conditions. They don't seem go much on what you can get out of garden centres as they are usually not the healthiest of specimens .
My small buytl lined pond 12 x 8 by 2.5 feet deep is now so stocked , with a few more mid marginals arriving in spring.
I put a wanted request on the local freecycle for anyone clearing their pond who had any excess plants to please let me have some as I was making up a new settled & weathered pond . Lots of people were only too happy to help me out with a bit of this a bit of that even though most did not know what the plants wee called.
One guy gave me several buckets of established water with loads of differing weeds in it , we also saw it held several newts and dragonfly lave as well as a couple of very small baby carp.
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If you have the patience, it's very helpful to let the pond colonise naturally :)
http://www.pondconservation.org.uk/millionponds/pondcreationtoolkit (http://www.pondconservation.org.uk/millionponds/pondcreationtoolkit)
:thumbsup:
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Thank you all, good advice. Particularly the freecycle. I'll try preloved and gumtree too. Thank you all! ;)