Watercress and Barley Straw?

[jaelen]

John- my pond is pretty much in full shade... especially at this time of the year, it hardly gets any light at all!
(This isn't only due to the trees that King Edward mentioned- it's the way the sun happens to trek this time of year in relation to the neighbour's roof and fence, so pruning wouldn't have much effect either.)
Even back in June/July it only got sun on one side for a few hours a day- the tadpoles would all congregate there and sunbathe!

I have put in fringed water lily, marsh pennywort, hornwort... all of these are in pond baskets, since there isn't anything for them to root in after our clean-out. (I am letting some of the leaves go to the bottom, to give the frogs something to hide under if they want it.) The watercress that Kayleigh recommended is in there, too.

King Edward, I don't know if we had any Daphnia before we dredged it or not- I didn't think to look for them, to be honest- there were thousands of mosquito larvae, though! Do you think I should add some? (Daphnia, not mosquitos.)

Today, some of the scum on one side seems to be breaking up a bit. Whether this is down to the windy weather we had today I don't know- but it actually looks clearer over where the water fringe lily is, but I think it would be miraculous if that's having any effect yet... the poor thing only had two leaves when I put it in!

Thanks for all the ideas and advice, everyone- it had been worrying me, the way it's gone all swampy again so quickly. I expect to go out there one morning and find a couple of gators floating around in it.

Mind you, that would sort out the cat problem.

[King Edward]

Marsh Pennywort is more of a marsh/bog plant than a pond plant (unlike the invasive alien Floating Pennywort, which is aquatic). Hornwort is rootless, so it should be fine just free floating. It's also meant to be quite shade tolerant, and seems to be fairly happy growing under other plants such as duckweed. Curled Pondweed (Potamogeton crispus) also seems to be somewhat shade tolerant, although that needs something to root into. As a last resort you could try either of the aliens Elodea canadensis or Lagarosiphon major.

If none of those succeed, it could just be that the pond is too shady for submerged aquatics to do well.

If there aren't any Daphnia then you could try adding some - wouldn't need to be a large quantity since they breed fast if the conditions are suitable - although they won't have much effect on surface scum.

[Billabong Karen]

I'm only a beginner with ponds (mine is now a year old), but for what it is worth I wouldnt worry too much at this time of year about the murkiness or otherwise of your water Jaelen. I certainly wouldnt bother planting, or putting in daphnia now, or messing around with watercress or barley straw. I would just leave the water alone, to settle down over the winter. That's what I did last year; dug the pond in the autumn (or rather, got my son to dig it for me ), let it fill up with rainwater, and then really just ignored it until the spring.

As soon as spring came, the first newts arrived, and I rescued some frogspawn from a drying puddle, and have had a whole load of froglets grow up and leave the pond. I started planting the pond up in around May; and it has been a great success, with dragonflies, damselflies, etc. Like you, my pond only gets partial sunlight (about 4-5 hours in the summer) and almost no sunlight during the winter. Apart from some blanketweed during the summer, the water has remained crystal clear over the whole year.

Leaving it alone worked for me... Karen

[Billabong Karen]

Oh - I forgot, I did put some Canadian pondweed in at the very beginning of spring. The newts loved it and used it to lay their eggs on.

[jaelen]

Ah, I'm just going to have to be patient, aren't I?

We moved in here last December, and I really hated it- the garden was a complete overgrown tip, and the pond ! The only word I can think to describe how it was is vile. And it is right outside my bedroom/sitting room window, so... I used to stand and look out at it, stinking and scummy- full of leaves and rubbish and I'd just cry, it was that bad.

I was determined to get that thing sorted out asap, but then before I could get started the frogs spawned- then the tadpoles all hatched and I spent the summer watching them grow and had to put off cleaning the pond until they became froglets and hopped off.

I have an image in my head of this lovely pond- dragonflies and yellow irises and frogs and newts happily living in this wonderful place:

http://home-and-gardening.info/wp-co...arden-Pond.jpg

and instead I basically have had this, for most of this year.

(The pond is just behind those reed-type plants in the foreground).


I guess I've just got this image in my head of a perfect pond, and I'm getting frustrated at the delays... I love gardens, and want mine to be beautiful, too. (sigh) Just have to give Mother Nature time to help it along in Her own way, I suppose!

I have put in some Elodea Crispa, however (cousin to your Canadian pondweed, Karen- and the one King Edward mentioned) and will try to leave it and the hornwort in peace until spring... I think then I'll know better which plants will do ok in such a shady pond.

[Billabong Karen]

Bogbean, pickerell, and water soldiers are all doing well in the partial shade, as is fringed water lily; but a dwarf white water lily nymphaea candida has not done very well at all (I think it requires more sunlight).

All I can say is - your pond will give you countless hours of enjoyment next year, to make up for the hours of headache and backache you have had to endure this year!! Looking forward to the photos once it is up and running.

[tom00_uk]

sounds like a end of season bloom,

a lot of the higher plants will have slowed or stopped their growth by now, but the week of warm, bright days will have been enough to get the simple algae growing at a rapid rate.

It will sort its self out and in the mean time its a pre winter food source for the pond life

[Kayleigh]

Remember newts love a shady pond, when you have had the pond a year you will have more of an idea what will thrive in your pond, I would be tempted to net it in the autumn as its under so many trees.

[jaelen]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

Remember newts love a shady pond, when you have had the pond a year you will have more of an idea what will thrive in your pond, I would be tempted to net it in the autumn as its under so many trees.

It's quite small, so doesn't take me any time at all to fish out the few leaves that do go in, (the poor fruit trees have been sorely neglected, and were overgrown with vines... they didn't really have many leaves once we pulled the vines off!)

Plus, I'm wary of netting because the sparrows drink from it so much- this is a photo I took back in the summer, but even now there is often a crowd of them like this... I'm concerned they'd tangle themselves in it.

[Billabong Karen]

Lovely photo Jaelen! so even in it's present form your pond is attracting lots of wildlife... Bodes well for next year, I would say.