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Gardening Specials "Fish Ponds" |
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By Alan J Hartley SPRING
CLEANING YOUR POND After going to the expense of buying a pool some
people are inclined to throw in one or two plants, a couple of goldfish
and then leave them to fend for themselves. After a year or two the fish
may be dead and the plants a tangled unsightly mess, whereas with just a
little attention for a few days in the spring and the autumn the pool
can be turned into the focal point of interest for the whole garden.
Next remove all the pots of plants and keep them
out of the sun while the water is siphoned, bucketed or pumped out.
There is no point in scrubbing the pool spotlessly clean because in a
few weeks it will be green again anyway, but do remove all the foul
smelling sludge before refilling with tap water. The tap water will
contain chlorine and may contain flourine that can harm the delicate
membranes in the fish’s gills. This problem can be removed by adding a
chemical that is designed to neutralize all halogens and is widely
available from aquatic retailers. Alternatively the pool can be filled
and the water left to stand for a few weeks before adding the fish.
However, in practice if plants are added to the pool, the fish can be
introduced straight away with no real harm, as the chemicals and
organisms in the pots of plants will naturalise the water. After cleaning your pond your attention may turn to the plants that should now be starting to shoot. Clean off all the dead vegetation and trim back any untidy foliage. Some of the larger clump forming plants may be divided and potted to increase the number of plants or simply put into a larger planting crate. The easiest way to divide lilies is to use a large sharp knife or even a spade. Special planting crates are available that are
perforated to allow the roots to leave the pot and obtain the necessary
nutrients from the water and the sludge that accumulates at the bottom
of all pools. Planting crates come in a wide range of sizes from small
round marginal baskets to monster lily baskets and contoured ones that
will hold 2 or 3 plants. The newer designs of baskets have a very fine
mesh that is said to stop soil seepage, but lining them with Hessian or
cloth of some sort is always advisable as is a top dressing of pebbles. Specially formulated fertilizer packets are also
available for pond plants along with liquid and granular feeds. Aquatic
compost is available but any compost such as well rotted turfs is
suitable as long as it hasn’t had any chemicals, such as weedkiller or
fertilizer added to it, because these will harm the fish and ordinary
garden fertilizer will turn the pond green as well. After the plants have been repotted they should quickly be returned to the pool so that they don’t dry out. This is easiest done when the pool is empty, but can be done afterwards if great care is taken. Then all you have to do is get a nice cold drink, a deck chair and sit back and watch the life returning to your pond.
Scented
Fish Ponds The family fish pond may be a part of the garden that you don’t normally get involved with but it can with a little thought bring some pleasure to all. Perhaps the main aim of the pond was to keep fish for the children, but it can also become part of the flower garden. More and more plants are being added to the list of those available to plant in ponds all the time. New hybrids are constantly bred with new colour cultivars and some of them not only add a splash of colour to the pond such as Marsh Marrigolds, Forget-Me-Nots, Pickerel Weed, Water Mint, Lobelia, Veronica and so on but some of them are scented as well bringing a new depth to water gardening. Perhaps the most striking flower is that of Lysichiton or Skunk Cabbage. There are two varieties, a white and a yellow that both have a very large flower. Unfortunately as the name suggests the powerful scent from the flowers is not very pleasant as it is highly reminiscent of rotting cabbages!!!
Bright Colourful Ponds When
you have a late night barbecue and all your friends come around to
admire your patio lights why not bring life to your pond at night as
well by installing lights around the pond. External spotlights can be
mounted in a high place such as a tree to shine down into the water or
on the ground to shine up on to the fountain. For safety all garden lights should operate off a transformer which gives out low voltage, so
that if anything goes wrong there isn’t enough power to cause any
harm. The
only drawback to low voltage systems is that the transformer has to be
kept near the lights and kept cool and dry. A nearby garage or shed is
ideal, but not a greenhouse. This is because the transformer may
overheat. Another alternative is to build a small brick box, to house the
transformer and then place a slab over the top to keep it dry and make a seat
out of it. Nowadays
an alternative to mains powered lights are those that are solar powered.
This may seem a contradiction in terms because there is no sunlight at
night when you want the lights on. They work by the sun charging them up
in the day and then they can be switched on and operate off their
batteries at night. The drawback with this sort of lighting system is
that they are very low power and are best used for marking out the edges
of dark paths which can be a good safety feature. Well
placed lighting on a fish pond can have a quite magical effect
especially on a sparkling fountain. Lit properly the fish pond will
become the focal point of your garden in the evening and the envy of all
your friends. If
in any doubt over installing lights in your garden consult a qualified
electrician because water can get into badly fitted systems and cause a
danger of electrocution. Furthermore cables should be buried in metal
conduit to prevent accidental piercing with forks and the like or even
being chewed by pets. BREAKING THE ICE.
You
can buy low voltage pool heaters that run off a transformer for added
safety, but these are less popular. One of the newer ideas for preventing
the whole pond from freezing over is to use a large air pump to blow
bubbles into the water. The constant agitation of the water keeps a
patch free of ice. If you have a pond pump you could leave it running
with just a pipe feeding the water back into the pool. The problem with
this is that if it freezes solid it will ruin your pump. If
you have not got an electricity supply close to your pond then you can
buy a polystyrene dome which will keep a hole free of ice or you can
resort to the old tried and trusted kettle method. This involves boiling
some water and then pouring it onto one spot on the ice to melt it. It
may need to be done several times a day in very cold weather as the
water will chill and quickly refreeze. |
Whether your pool is neglected or not, Spring is
the time to give it a clean. Carefully catch any fish and place them in
clean buckets or bowls, (NOT GALVANISED) remembering that the water
absorbs oxygen through the surface of the water, so a deep receptacle
will not hold any more fish than a shallow one. You may also like to
save a little frogspawn, if any visiting frogs have obliged, as it can be
a useful addition to the pool. The frogs spawn itself is good fish food
and any tadpoles that hatch will provide valuable nutrition for the
larger fish as they start feeding in the warmer waters of the spring.
The tadpoles also clean the pool eating any dead vegetation and decaying
fish food.
Water lilies can be very showy but not many are scented and most are
very expensive to buy. There is one exception to this and that is the
Nuphar Lutea. The Nuphar is the common European water lily and can be a
little vigorous for a small pond, but they have the advantage of being
tolerant of moving water which most lilies do not like. Nuphars have
large lily pads that are a lighter shade of green than Nympahaeas and
the flower of the Nuphar is less spectacular than a conventional lily
looking more like a large marsh marigold flower floating on the surface
of the pond. However it does have one thing that is lacking in so many
flowers today and that is a scent. The popular name for the Nuphar is
the Brandy Bottle because it has a heady scent that reminds you of
brandy. What more could you ask for whilst sitting next to the pond in
the afternoon sipping a cold lemonade than to imagine you had a bottle
of brandy next to you as the scent wafts over you from the lily in the
middle of the pond
