One of the best habitats that a gardener can create is one containing water. Ponds, bog gardens, streams or just a bird bath, all forms of water do their bit for the green gardener. ‘….ponds are one of the most appealing and vibrant small-scale wildlife habitats. Almost one in ten British gardens actually have a pond…’ according to Wildlife Trusts in their Wildlife Pond Handbook by Louise Bardsley

Who Uses a Pond Habitat

• Frogs, toads and newts use ponds to breed.
• Insects and worms use ponds for food and as dwelling places.
• Birds like a drink of water and an occasional bath and butterflies like a drink too.
• Fish add to the charm of a pond but unfortunately provide food for visiting herons in my garden.

Type of Pond Habitat

• The larger the expanse of water the better in terms of environmental impact.
• Preformed ponds are popular for the smaller garden. Made from rigid plastic or rubber they are long lasting and easy to install.
• You can make your own pond and shape it with butyl liner.
• Ensure your pond has an area where the depth is two feet or more to prevent a total freeze up.
• The pond should have at least one gentle slope or beach area where wildlife can access the pond.
• Fill the pond and let it stand for two weeks before adding fish and plants

Plants for your Pond

• Oxygenators such as Myriophyllum spicatum use up excess nutrients and supply oxygen to the pond.
• Floating plants can drift on the surface and curb the growth of unwanted algae. Try frogbit Hydrocharis morsus-ranae.
• Avoid balnket weed and invasive Myriophyllum aquaticum
• The choice of ornamental plants is large from Water lilies through to Iris

Organic Tips for your Pond

• Submerge a bag containing barley straw in the pond in early spring. This contains a natural algicide and will help control blanket weed which grows in the sun.
• Use a rake to remove excess blanket weed but leave it on the side of the pond so creatures can return to the water rather than ending up on the compost heap.
• A balanced pond without too many fish will not need any extra additional chemicals or food supply.
• Rocks and rounded pebbles can enhance the surrounding area and build island habitats. Use local and ‘found’ stone.

Other Interesting Pond Related matters

Frog Spawn hints and tips
More Tips on growing Water Lilies
Ecology of water in the garden
Dealing with weeds in ponds
Pond plants and pond care
Gardening with water features

Credits Garden Pond with fish by pnt103 CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

The press have had a field day talking about the reduction in the numbers of bees. It is a problem gardeners can do a bit about but bees are not the only pollinators that need a timely helping hand.

Habitat for Pollinators

• Health and safety are issues for insects just as they are for gardeners. Look after both.
• Often forgotten, but insects need a source of fresh water. A shallow sloping bowl will provide a landing place for safe drinking.
• Insects can be predatory but that is nature. Gardeners need to cater for all life and insects down the food chain to give beneficial insects the best chance of survival.
• Pollen and nectar are key food sources for insects. see below.
• Do not be obsessively tidy, leave places to hide, breed and sleep.
• A log pile, rough grass, bed of nettles, brambles, old plant stems and ivy are worth cultivation ( I mean having but not cultivating)

Health Issues for Pollinators

• Do not use insecticides!
• Do not use herbicides, they will kill off useful plants and chemical residues can alter the natural balance in a garden.
• The aim should be to have a balance with nature allowing all living things a space in the green garden.
• Pollination is less of an issue for the gardener who basically just wants healthy plants that are resistant to attack from all the environment can throw at them. In these cases optimum gardening can come from Integrated Pest Management or IPM.

Food Sources For Pollinators

• Flowers are key to feeding many insects.
• Single flowers where the centre is accessible are great. Asters, daisies, herbs, dahlias, sages and buddleia are known for attracting insects
• Native species of plant and wild flowers are likely to provide appropriate food sources rather than exotic imported or over bred or F1 plants.
• Grow flowers for July and August when nectar and pollen food sources are surprisingly scarce.
• Clover and lawn daisies can be encouraged in a lightly mown lawn.
• Pot plants can add to the food store via cosmos, marigolds, tagetes and toadflax.
• Grow plants that open sequentially up the stem like foxgloves so bees can feed without having to seek out new sources.

Pollinators Other than Bees

• Mites, Ants and creepy crawlies.
• Wind can blow pollen from one plant to another. Just look at the catkin pollen that gets blown around in spring or grass pollen on high pollen count days.
• Moths and butterflies, birds, bats and beetles can often be species specific pollinators. Plants attract the pollinators they need by scent, colour and a range of individual techniques.

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Credits
Pollination Makes The World Go Around
Sympathy Planting and Vegetable Pollination
Grow Seedheads for Wild Life
Pollination of Crocus by Insects
Sarah Raven and Daily Telegraph for some of the food plant ideas.

What is Integrated Pest Management
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is an effective and environmentally sensitive approach to pest management that relies on a combination of common-sense practices. IPM programs use current, comprehensive information on the life cycles of pests and their interaction with the environment. This information, in combination with available pest control methods, is used to manage pest damage by the most economical means, and with the least possible hazard to people, property, and the environment. Read more USA gov

Integrated Pest Management books from Amazon

Feeding and Feeders

• I like the use of a candle or tea light holder to carry a suet ball or piece of fruit on the spike that normally holds the candle.
• Seed feeders come in various shapes. Look for one that allows the seed to run freely and not get wet in a sump. Wet seed will germinate and block the hole.
• Include special feeds for special birds like meal worms, fruit even pasta as well as nuts seeds and your usual bird mix.
• Put some feed on the ground. I put a cover over the seed and bird food. You can get different sized spaces for larger or smaller birds.
• Make or buy a feeder that will stop seed falling on the ground in the slightest puff of wind.
• Make your own fat ball food with seed and fat or suet.

Grow Plants That Help Wildlife

• Grow bushes which produce berries.
• Grow plants that produce plenty of seedheads for winter food. Leave them all winter if necessary.
• Plant perennials that provide all year around habitats rather than short lived annuals.
• Select plants that are rich in pollen and nectar chives nettles and Monardia for example.
• Plant native species and not exotics and F1 plants

Special help for Special Visitors

• Have more than one supply of water for drinking.
• Add some sugar to water to attract butterflies.
• keep water and food away from cats and predators.
• Do not be too tidy, leave an area where wood can rot and feed insects.
• Avoid chemical sprays.
• Plant up winter hanging baskets to provide habitat and varied food sources.
• Think vertically as well as horizontally. Birds like to be above ground for feeding and safety.
• Keep feeders, water and food areas clean.
• Donot bother feeding the sea birds in our picture.

Sources.
Ten Plants from BBC’s suggestions read full article

‘ * Centaura scabiosa – the seeds provide food for birds and other wildlife
* Taxus baccata – this native evergreen shrub produces berries which provide food for birds and other wildlife
* Campanula carpatica – a compact nectar-rich variety that sits well in gaps between paving
* Fagus sylvatica – a native tree that supports a number of insects and food for animals
* Anthriscus sylvestris – a nectar-rich plant attracting lacewings and hoverflies which eat aphids
* Ilex aquifolium – this evergreen shrub produces winter berries which provide food for birds and other wildlife
* Cotoneaster horizontalis – this deciduous shrub produces brilliant red berries in autumn which provide food for birds and other wildlife
* Buddleja davidii – the ultimate attraction for butterflies
* Achillea millefolium – nectar-rich plants which are wonderful for attracting bees and hoverflies
* Lonicera fragrantissima – a fragrant shrub which makes a nesting site for birds and a refuge for insects’

They are not making ‘Carbon’ anymore nor is carbon ever totally destroyed. Carbon is one of natures greatest recycling projects. Carbon is present in gaseous form like Methane(CH4), Carbon dioxide(CO2) and Carbon monoxide(CO). Carbon is also dissolved in water particularly the oceans but is naturally present most notably as a solid in rocks such as limestone, minerals like oil and coal plus trees and plant matter.

Do you think about the carbon cycle?

Is your garden carbon neutral?

Are you offsetting your own carbon emissions?

Environmental Benefits of Planting Trees

Common Sense Carbon Neutral

Do you think about the carbon cycle?

As a conservationist or concerned gardener you probably don’t burn trees, twigs and garden waste any longer. – Burning creates greenhouse gases by converting solid carbon into gaseous carbon. This is done by releasing as heat all the years of sun that have been soaked up by the trees and plants changing the solid carbon into a gas. Carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide help create the greenhouse effect and global warming. However burning only changes the carbon from a solid to a gas it is always there in one form or another.

As solid carbon can help control global warming grow longer lived hardwood trees if you have the space. Hardwood trees are usually deciduous such as Oak, Ash and Beech. They lock up the carbon in solid form for a long time and create wood that can be used for furniture, construction and other environmentally friendly purposes.

Is your garden carbon neutral?

Carbon in the forms of fossil fuels such as coal, gas, oil and wood are converted into energy and CO2 by consumption at the point of use, say in a petrol driven mower or via electricity. To be carbon neutral you need to convert CO2 back into a solid in equal quantities to that you have consumed.

Transport is one of the big fuel consumers. Consider the import of plants, from say Holland, which are grown in hot houses, shipped and trucked to a garden center for you to visit in a car. Worse still may be the flowers grown in Columbia or South Africa that are airfreighted.

Packaging uses energy in its production and often in its destruction. I am not totally against plastic in the garden as the carbon is locked in but I detest the disposable nature of thin plastic pots that can’t be reused. Reuse and recycling are two of the best ways to contribute to a friendlier environment in the garden. I buy fresh seed usually in paper packets without a glossy printed picture on the front and a foil wrapped internal packet. Both these later two items the foil and the print are to help retailers sell more and increase the shelf life rather than help the gardener or the environment.

Energy use directly in the garden is not normallyso heavy but a heated greenhouse will have a large carbon footprint. Insulate the greenhouse with bubble wrap in winter and keep the heated area to a minimum by partition or division. You may be able to move plants indoors where it is already frost proof and maintain a cool greenhouse. Where practical locate the greenhouse so maximise solar gain and minimise winter heat loss. Old greenhouses were often against north facing walls or had a solid rear wall. Consider heat pumps or reusing heat from composting or sub soil heat.

Water use if from a mains supply has to be pumped filtered and treated so it is more effective to conserve your water in a rain butt. Hard landscape creates water run off and cement costs energy in production whereas soft landscaping can be carbon footprint reducing.

Are you offsetting your own carbon emissions?

So you have reduced your carbon emissions. You have recycled, composted and reused to the best of your ability. Your buying habits have been tuned to local production that is environmentally sensitive. What is left to do? Big companies can ‘trade carbon credits’ a hot air generating scam in my view. We can join pressure groups, support charities and try maintain rain forests and support replanting schemes.

Above all we can plant our own mini forest. There are schemes for those who do not have the space at home but even small gardens should be able to find somewhere for a small tree or shrub.

Environmental Benefits of Planting Trees

• Trees are like the lungs of the planet. They breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen.
• Additionally, they provide habitat for birds and other wildlife.
• Trees trap CO2 from the atmosphere and make carbohydrates that are used for plant growth. They give us oxygen in return.
• CO2 is one of the major contributing elements to the greenhouse effect
• Trees also help to reduce ozone levels and pollution
• Trees reduce urban runoff and erosion by storing water and breaking the force of rain as it falls.
• Trees can absorb or deflect sound and reduce noise pollution.
• Planting trees can also help cool your home in the summer avoiding the need for air conditioning (with our summers we should be so lucky).
• In the winter, trees can act as windbreaks and can help you save on heating costs. If enough trees are planted the overall microclimate improves and total energy use for heating and cooling is reduced.

Common Sense Carbon Neutral

• Growing your own vegetables and food crops cuts transport, packaging and often chemical treatments of the crop.
• Read more about the subject and think through the cause and effect particularly of the big issues
• Do what works for you economically and socially
• Do not get too stressed out – the carbon cycle balances out – you should retain your natural balance

Organic Tips

• Well you could try mix your own but test them on single plants first, monitoring effects for a couple of days.

• Several DIY recipes are available but I use a very weak solution of Comfrey water as a foliar feed. I put a good bunch of leaves in an old water butt for a fortnight then dilute the liquid to a weak tea colour.

• For insect infestation try a stew brewed from rhubarb leaves and a bit of vegetable oil. Crush the leaves then poor boiling water over it and let is soak for a day or two then drain off and dilute to look like weak tea and spray of water it on after adding the oil to help it stick to the plants.
• Recommended for Roses is a pyrethrum base home made from Chrysanthemum cinerariefolium or Dalmatian chrysanthemums. They are safe to use on vegetables and they are safe to eat after 24 hours if washed.
• The soil association will allow farmers to use copper compounds on potatoes and sulphur isn’t totally banned.
• ‘Organic’ products from garden supply companies can be bought from Amazon
• Milk is a mild acid and has some fungicidal properties if you want to spray a 50% solution on mildew.

Types of Sprayer

• End of Hose sprayers are the simplest and least expensive of the category but not very suitable for organic sprays.
• Compression sprayers use concentrated material added to the tank with water to a marked fill line. The remaining air is pressurized by pumping a handle. A wand then allows the fluid to be sprayed close to the problem
• A two pint sprayer is probably suitable for many jobs – this large one is £10 from Ebay shops
• Backpack sprayers or powered sprayers are better for farmers and small holdings

Homemade Insecticide & Repellant

Take an entire garlic bulb and two cups of water and mash it up together. Sieve or strain the liquid to remove dross.
Allow to settle in a container and for a couple of days.
Mix liquid with one gallon of water and spray liberally on top and bottom of leaves.
Unless you like the smell keep the spray away from your clothes.
A teaspoon of washing up liquid in a gallon of spray helps the spray to adhere to the plants leaves and stems.

Pond Weed

A small wild life pond doesn’t have to be weedy in either sense. This pond in our park for example is a fairly large size. However as you can see it is ‘Weedy’ in the gardening sense.

Removing Blanket Weed

• Oxygenating plants are the best and organic method but may fill half the pond.
• For a small pond you can try the winding it around a stick method but roots regrow and small critters may be thrown on the compost heap with the weed.
• Sun causes growth of blanket weed and a covering of water lilies will help keep it down
• Hydrogen peroxide inhibits all algae growth and this can be created organically using straw bales made from Barley – Put some in a stocking for a smaller pond or try a chemical concentrate
• UV filters are expensive but if you want to be sure to see your fish hang the expense.

Algae and Other Pond Weeds

• One easy way to get rid of an algae mess is to dredge or empty your pond. This is obviously impractical in many circumstances.
• Increased circulation in the pond will stop algae.
• Grass carp love to eat pond weeds and plants whilst young grass carp will feed on algae.
• Biocides and special herbicides can also control pond weed
• Some weeds can be lifted out or twisted around a stick and pulled out. Leave on the side to let creatures return to the pond before composting.
• Cover the pond so leaves do not accumulate. They will rot and gases given off will damage oxygen levels for fish.

Get blanket weed buster from Amazon as a Christmas present

See our report on ‘Organic pond habitats for green gardeners’.

Another wet and rainy day and all I can think about is the compost heap (well may be not all).
We all slip up, drop clangers and get it wrong so I thought I would list some of my own compost errors or lash-ups.

Gardening can be like that so I try not to beat myself up when things go wrong. There is always another season and a worse clanger elsewhere.

Soggy Compost Mistakes

• An over wet compost heap will smell something rotten, really stink and I mean badly.
• Nutrients will be washed out at the bottom of the heap and lost.
• The composting process will be slowed almost to a stop.
• I wish I had covered my heap before all this heavy rain.
• Good compost needs air so it may help to turn and drain the wet heap.
• Belatedly I have been putting some torn up newspaper in the heap as roughage and to soak up some excess fluids.
• Because this time I have built the heap on soil I can reclaim some of the goodness by taking a level of soil when I spread the compost.

Construction Mistakes

• In the past I have relied on a heap with no sides just a pile. This flattens out and spreads without ever getting to a good heat except perhaps in the center
• As you may see from the picture below some wood has rotted. You need to use tanalised or treated wood to prevent the structure from rotting.
• A plastic bin where ‘you can draw clean compost from the bottom whilst refilling at the top’ was an unmitigated, uncomposted disaster but I may not have followed the rules
• For the first time I have two discrete piles. For too many years I made do and mended with one. Now I wish I had three piles – ho hum!
• Compost heaped on a concrete base is easy to work, turn and collect for spreading.
• Leave room for your barrow so you can unload and reload comfortably
• Do not build too near your neighbors kitchen window or cover your own air grates (mistakes I have previously made).

Compost Content Mistakes

• I do not put meat products on the heap but last winter a family of rats made a nest in the warm pile
• For several years I did not compost rhubarb leaves as I heard they were toxic. Of course they rot down and are quite safe.
• Everyone must have tried to compost too much of the same vegetation and I have had too many grass mowings in a dry clump or a wet mess more times than I should mention. I now try to aerate the pile or turn it over regularly.
• Leaves from trees take longer to rot, contain less nutrients and are better in a leaf pile or punctured plastic bag. Twigs need to be shredded or cut very small.
• Seeds from weeds and plants including fox gloves and forget-me-nots do not rot they survive
• After the mistake of too much water do not forget a dry heap will not rot either – you need some damp or add water when very dry.

Attracting Wildlife into Your Garden

As well as beautiful flowers, attracting wildlife into your garden can make it more interesting and provide extra all year round interest. If you attract the right kind of visitors, you will also be able to help defeat some of the common garden pests.
Aim for a balance with nature, slugs eat waste, frogs eat slugs, some birds eat insects and all have a place in a wildlife friendly garden.

How To Encourage Wildlife Into Your Garden

• Good Source of Water. A good source of water will attract many visitors who will come to rely on this source of vital commodity. Water can help attract butterflies, frogs, toads, birds and many more.
• Provide Shelter. A key issue is making wildlife feel at home. This involves having some tall trees and bushes for birds to feel safe in.
• Don’t Keep garden too tidy. It is tempting to always want to clean things up. But, a few well placed plants and objects will encourage wildlife to stay.
• Bird Tables. Bird tables need to be protected from predators and so need to be high up off ground, well away from jumping cats.
• Year Long Round Mix of nectar rich flowers. Attracting wildlife is complementary with growing some of our most popular flowers. Flowers rich in nectar will attract butterflies and hoverflies. Try growing plants such as buddleja, Foxgloves, Lilac, Michaelmas Daisy. Some less popular plants like Globe Thistle are also very good for wildlife.
• At the end of the growing season, don’t cut everything back. Old Sunflower stems and seeds will provide valuable food during early winter and other stems provide shelter.
• Don’t harm wildlife, through slug pellets. At least, scatter them properly under the surface (overkilling slugs and wildlife).
• Grow Some Nettles in back of garden. Nettles are a great plant for making compost and attracting wildlife.

Related Posts

• How To Attract Wildlife into the Garden
• How To Attract Butterflies into Your Garden
• How To Make Your Garden Eco Friendly

A mulch is a layer of material covering the soil surface. ‘Organic mulches’ are made from material that has been alive as opposed to inorganic mulches which are stone or man made.

Organic Mulches

• Commonest organic mulches are wet straw, peat, garden compost, leaf mould, rotted animal manure, coir or bark chippings.
• Organic mulches can be used to apply nutrients via compost, manures or with additives like blood and bone.
• Semi-composted bark chippings do not add any real food value but look good and rot down more evenly than fresh bark.
• A thick organic mulch will keep the soil temperature even and provide a layer for surface rooting plants like Rhododendrons.
• Wood chippings can be used as a fresh mulch but they take nitrogen from the soil to rot so compost them first.

Uses for Mulch and Mulches

• Prevents the loss of moisture from the underlying soil whilst allowing rainwater to percolate.
• Mulch smothers weeds and deprives weed seeds of light to germinate.
• Enables fertiliser in liquid or granular form to be applied.
• Mulch improves the soil condition particularly for specific plants
• Some mulch is used as a background to display plants for example grit for Alpines.
• Winter mulch can protect roots from frost.

How to Mulch

• Put your mulch on clean soil after removing obvious weeds.
• Put 2-4 inches of mulch down and expect worms to pull some of the lower mulch into the soil. Do not pile mulch against trunks and stems to avoid rotting but cover the area where roots are growing.
• Regular top dressing further mulch will add to the depth to help it last 1-4 years.

Other Mulches

• Inorganic mulches have their place. Small grade gravel or washed shingle can be used as a mulch.
• Depending on the requirement from the mulch you can use black polythene, roofing felt or woven nylon. These tend to heat up and warm the soil and are used to keep out light.
• You can plant through these mulches by cutting a cross in the fabric and folding it back. I do this for Strawberries.
• Coloured stone, slate and bark mulching can be used for decorative purposes.
• Granulated rubber chippings from old tyres can be used but are best used in children’s play areas.

Strulch is a proprietary organic mulch.

Best Mulch to Use

Organic mulches at Amazon

Children can learn from watching bees buzz around the open flowers on a warm spring day.
The sun encourages the crocus flowers to open. This releases a scent that attracts the bees. The bees drink the nectar and get pollen on their legs and backs. When they fly off to the next flower they transfer some pollen from the first flower to the second flower and this causes pollination.

Some flowers are pollinated by beetles rather than bees and flies.

How Pollination Works and Why Insects are So Important The First Flowers A book explaining how pollination works as a light and funny children’s story available from Amazon at £9.99

At the other end of the educational spectrum is Pollination and Floral Ecology by Pat Willmer costing around £61.75

Read Pollinators for Green Gardening