The Pond Keepers Guide To Northern Hemisphere Spring Water Garden Ponds
Fish Pond Water Gardens And Spring Time Pond Life Activity
Spring is the time of year that 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 your fish pond has stayed pretty much below 10 Celsius or 50 Fahrenheit you may be under the illusion that nothing is going on. In fact it has been warm enough for the blanket weed or Spirogyra to take advantage of the early increased sunlight and increased nutrients in the pond water. Tip! If you are looking for an excellent product to remove blanketweed and other forms of filamentous string algae then take a look at Viresco Koi and Viresco Aqua string algae stranglers ... Beats the hell out of using a rake to remove this pond nuisance.
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.
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 you haven't 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, they've got their eyes on your fish pond. Plastic herons won't deter them at this time of year. In fact they may do the opposite. Get out there yourself and mount an irregular patrol.
Thanks to Peter J May pond solutions ...
