Water Gardening, Spring and Toads

reprinted by kind permission of Peter J May, the Perfect Pond Detective

Things are getting busy. Old clients are ringing me up with this and that problem. As the biological activity creeps into life in the their pools, so do they –some of them the are very old – the pools and the clients.

Here in the UK we have had the sunniest March that I can ever remember. It hasn’t been particularly warm but it has been bright. The effect on the gardens has been pretty much the same as last year when it was incredibly dull, but warm. Weathermen, or the meteorologists reckon that most things have been emerging at approximately two weeks prior to what they would have done 20 years ago. Pondwise that figures, because back in 1982, I remember building a pond on a very grand estate that was surrounded by a wall. This wall, at the lady client’s request, was hollow and was designed to be a ‘Toad Hotel’! It had cat proof entrances on the lawn side and pond side. It had recreation areas and sleeping areas and general lounging around doing toady things areas. All areas were duly checked for cleanliness and removal of builder’s rubble by her ladyship before the ‘hotel’ was capped before the deadly deadline of March 19th . This was the date, she insisted was the day that the toads went on the march for their annual gross orgy. But as you who have been receiving earlier newsletters know, that I have been reporting amphibious activity as early as February, so I should think there have been some pretty early bookings at that old ‘Toad Hotel’.



But what are these problems that seem to be affecting ponds in the UK? Well most of them are like the ‘lawn mower syndrome’, where the lawn mower sits in the garden shed for 5 months having been put away after the last mow of the season with all the good intentions of giving it a good clean and service before Christmas. Well, Christmas comes and goes and so does the opportune time for the first cut of the year. Eventually it emerges squeakily from the garden shed and if it doesn’t just manage one or two bronchial coughs in response to your efforts to get it started, but instead bursts into life with all the eagerness of the of the promise of spring, it suddenly dies a death the moment it is put face to face with the task at hand.

Yep, machinery and Sod’s law walk hand in hand through the history of our tormented lives, and pond pumps, filters and U/V clarifiers are that sort of machinery. Waterfalls and fountains can be included. If you didn’t put your pool or pond ‘to bed’ at the end of the year by cleaning and checking the pump, the filter and the U/V then you’ve only got yourself to blame when you switch it on and “ it don’t work!” So of you didn’t do it then, and even if you seemed to have escaped the hand of fate for this year, still give it a thorough check out. Check the trip switch on the outside electrics first. Then have a look at the pump. Take it apart and give it good clean. If it is one of those cylindrical cellar type pumps with the open grill round the bottom, you will probably find it gunged up with tadpoles. Not a pretty site. (You might want to devise a sort of prefilter - but that’s a story for another day). Work your way to the U/V and change the bulb. From thence to the filtration unit and see what delights have been nestling in that through the winter. The very least it will need is a backflush. If you haven’t got this facility, you will have to get all the filter medium out and give it a quick wash through, with rain water or pond water. I have a leaky bucket that is almost like a colander that I rinse the filter medium in.



If the filter has been working fairly non-stop through the winter you will be surprised at how dirty it is. This was because the biological activity in the filter would have slowed to virtually nothing at low temperatures, but the filter would still be working effectively mechanically. This would mean a build up of sludge without it being digested.



If you have a stream or waterfall, check this for leaf litter and silt build up. The dry spell we have just experienced is a great time for spotting leaks and overspill in the surrounding soil. People with preformed waterfall units will need to check that their units are still well supported underneath as they very often get undermined in heavy rain. If the stream or waterfall has been constructed on made up ground, before the undergrowth around the stream build up, check around the inlet to make sure there is no overspill or consolidation that has caused the back of the waterfall to drop down.



Apart from maintenance (or lack of it) problems, the main thing is the blanket weed, spirogya, cotton weed – whatever. It is the candyfloss type of algae that gets a start on the rest of the plantlife in the pool and just loves that bright sunlight. It also loves water with a high pH. So if you reduce that with proprietary chemicals, although I have a client experimenting with vinegar, you will find that any other treatments are a lot more effective. Most aquatic suppliers have some remedy. Barley straw is effective for certain periods as long as the water is very well oxygenated and the straw is changed at regular intervals of not more than 10weeks. Certain of my colleagues tell me that Bartley straw actually ‘pollutes’ the water in order to clear it and that there are compounds on the market that remove nutritional elements that blanket weed in particular thrive on. Phosphates are the main culprits and many of these come from ‘run off’ from the surrounding soil. Once again these remedies wont work in situations where the pH is above 8.5. When the product comes at well over £30 a tub for one seasons treatment, you don’t want to be effectively pouring money down the drain just because you pool has got ‘hard’ water.





Plants of the month.

On the margins

The Marsh Marigolds (Caltha palustris and all the species and varieties) are still at it. Brilliant.

The Water Forgetmenot (Myosotis palustris) is also making waves of blue around the pond.

Also there is the Golden Club (Oronitium aquaticum)

In the deep water

The old South African stew ingredient, the Water Hawthorn, Aponogeton distachyos, is flowering its socks off. An amazing plants that comes up from unlimited stygian depths to perform at the most ludicrous times of the year. It still thinks its down in the Cape, nestled in the fynbos looking up at Table Mountain.

Thinking of bogs, the the American Skunk Cabbage is up. Lysichiton Americanum, it looks almost too alien for our water gardens. Its big spathe of a flower is like a starters flag in a motor race and a timely reminder that things have got into gear and now we’re cruising!



Seasonal Tips

If you are contemplating a major clean out, this is one of the best times to do it, although personally I’d have done it before the tadpole explosion. If you do it. rescue as much wildlife as possible and leave any debris draining away on the side over night so that beasties can make their way back into the pool. Also treat any fresh tapwater with pool conditioner.

The plants will be coming into new growth. There is still time to divide and replant if you want. You can also feed with a slow release pellet in each basket.

Pool lights can come back out now.

Check the water quality. Many serious fish keepers will do a partial water change of up to one third in order to dilute any build up of salts and chemicals they may have been adding.

As the water temperature gets nearer to 10°C (50° F) you can start feed the fish their normal food. A bit of live daphne would be a special treat or chopped worms, yummy!

That’s got me thinking about my lunch.