Common Garden Frogs?

[Purplepixii]

I'll cross everything for you Cazzie - both pond & pc-wise!

WAB without your posts = sad Pixii lol

[newfie2007]

I heard that the orange/brown frog can kill i dont know if its true or not but thats what i heard the only way to find out that kind it is to go on google or yahoo and look it up.

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by newfie2007

I heard that the orange/brown frog can kill i dont know if its true or not but thats what i heard the only way to find out that kind it is to go on google or yahoo and look it up.

The common frog Rana temporaria is 100% harmless to humans no matter what colour it is. Toads do have parotoid glands that cause frothing and sickness if you try and eat the toad other than that they are harmless too.

Perhaps you are thinking of some of the tropical species which do contain toxins and in some species such as the poison dart frog can be deadly, but these are NOT in the UK.

[Cazzie]

Hi - I'm back! Did ya miss me?!?

My hard-drive packed up completely apparently, but it's all fixed now thank gawd

Anyway, back to my pond....

It's finished - yeah!

Hubby and son crazy paved it after all, but there's a couple of things I'm not too happy about (but don't tell them that lol!). There's no overhanging lip from the slab pieces, so there's no shade for froggies and you can see the liner now and also the cement base is really thick as the soil, although compacted, was still quite soft and hubby reckoned the paving would shift eventually if he didn't make it that thick. Oh well, minor irritations really.

We also have another problem, the water level keeps dropping (even though it's raining and we've filled it up to the top a couple of times) it keeps dropping to about an inch below the top of the liner. Therefore the top of my plant pots are showing and the liner even more now I've not had a wetland before, so could it be sucking up the water do you think I'm pretty sure the liner isn't punctured as I was so carefull about putting the pots and pebbles in and the level isn't dropping any further - any ideas anyone?

Well on Thursday I got permission to gather sludge and weed from the Nature Reserve Pond in the village - what a result! Trouble was there wasn't any sludge to be had (well that I could reach with a ladel lol!) just a good soup as the pond is obviously so well balanced and healthy the water was crystal clear but heaving with life forms as well I snaffled a bucket of soup and a bucket of weed including frogtbit, hornwort and a few others. It's obviously working well as the water in my pond is now clearing nicely I've planted a marsh marigold, water avens and ivy in the wetland (front to back) and some grasses at the far edge. All the plants are native in and around the pond so I hope the wildlife appreciates it lol!

So here's the latest piccy of our efforts....



Has anyone got any ideas about how I can make/construct some shady areas in the pond, and what materials I could use? I was wondering if I could lay a long log/branch along the right-hand side which would hide the liner and also be a perch for froggies etc. If so, can I use any wood for this? I was also thinking of using some thin slate to try and shade the corners a bit, or would that look naff?

If anyone could varify if the wetland would be sucking up the water, that would put my mind at rest that the liner isn't infact punctured

Thankies in advance!

[Tursiops2]

Hi cazzie and purplepixii. I've been up to my ears in paint for the last week so I haven't had time to add to this. All done now, thank goodness

Cazzie, that pond looks stunning! A really neat job, shame about the overhang, never mind, it would have been harder to do with "crazy paving" anyway. It doesn't look too bad and I've certainly seen much worse.

About the water level - I doubt if its anything to do with the wetland, you must have a leak near the top, or maybe it's your overflow channel? Either way there's not much you can do about it now, and it could have been much worse.

By all means experiment with slates, logs etc for shade - you can always remove if you don't like the results (any old logs will do as long as they haven't been chemically treated in any way). Are you still going to try the "bug hotel" idea?

That's a good job well done , I'd say. By this time next year it's going to be overflowing with life, don't forget to post an update

All the best
Tursiops2

[Cazzie]

Hi T2!

Glad you've got your painting done now and thanks for you comments on my pond!

Yes it is a neat job, but now I have to try and 'rough it up a bit' lol! I might well try and log or two to soften the edges and try and make it look a bit more natural.

As for the water level - it was raining/drizzling all day yesterday and through the night and it's now got back up to the top! I'm sure it's not the drainage channel as it wasn't high enough to reach it. I'm wondering if a small stone has got inbetween the double liner I put in the wetland and maybe made a hole, but like you say there's not much I can do about it now and at least the problem seems to be somewhere along the top of the pond.

Yes, I'm still thinking about the bug hotel but want to fiddle with the pond edges a bit more first and get it looking a bit more 'wilder' lol!

The water has cleared even more now and I can just see the plants I put right in the bottom, so in the next few days it should look even better. Have I got enough weed in there do you think? or should I snaffle a bit more from the nature reserve pond? Doesn't it have to be about 80% covered?

I spied a froggie on my lawn last night heading towards the pond from next doors garden but sadly I can't see it in there this morning. I'm sure it won't be too long before they actually find it!!!

Thanks to everyone who's helped me with advice for my pond project - it's been greatly appreciated!

So it's down to Pixii now to sort hers out next month - keep us posted on it won't ya?!?

[Cazzie]

Had a jolly to the garden centre this affy seeing as it was raining again What a coop! I found these eucalyptus tree stakes (untreated) and have cut them down to cover the ugly edges of my pond. They serve two purposes - one, to hide the depth of cement and two, to help shade the exposed liner from the sun and give it a longer life. The two sides that I've done get the sun nearly all day btw

So what d'ya think then?!?



I'm next on the hunt for some flat slate (probably roof tiles) to cover the corners on the right hand side (as you look at the pic). Will probably put a pot/tub/trough of something trailing on them to stabilise the slate and soften up the exposed edges some more Is there anything I could use in a pot/tub other than ivy that will keep it's leaves all year round? Any ideas

Btw, the water level still hasn't dropped today, but then that's probably because it's been raining all day... maybe it's just stabilized now?

[Tursiops2]

Cazzie

Sticks look great - I wasn't sure quite what you had in mind, now you've done it I think it looks good. I think you've probably got enough pond plants in there for now - most of them reproduce freely, you might find you have to start thinning them by the end of next year.

I'll have a think about possible trailing plants.

T2

[Purplepixii]

Wow Cazzie that looks fab - I'm so jealous! You should do this for a living hehe

I'll try to work out what the name of the plant is that I've got hanging over my pond - it's in one of my pics and reminds me of chives (but it isn't lol).

*goes googling*

[Purplepixii]

Grrr I can't find it. Think it shows on one of my pond pics (it's by the waterfall) but if not I can take some better pics. I like it because I believe it looks natural and not out-of-place by a pond and it hangs nicely / looks great.

Pixii