{"id":12278,"date":"2015-01-25T02:27:33","date_gmt":"2015-01-25T09:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/?p=12278"},"modified":"2015-01-19T02:32:57","modified_gmt":"2015-01-19T09:32:57","slug":"organic-pond-habitats-for-green-gardeners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/gardening\/environmental-gardening\/organic-pond-habitats-for-green-gardeners\/","title":{"rendered":"Organic Pond Habitats for Green Gardeners"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/1845171411\/richardpettin-21\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.amazon.com\/images\/P\/1845171411.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg\" alt=\"Book Cover\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>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. &#8216;&#8230;.<em>ponds are<\/em> one of the most appealing and vibrant small-scale wildlife habitats. Almost one in ten British gardens actually have a pond&#8230;&#8217; according to Wildlife Trusts in their Wildlife Pond Handbook by Louise Bardsley<\/p>\n<h2>Who Uses a Pond Habitat<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Frogs, toads and newts use ponds to breed.<\/li>\n<li>Insects and worms use ponds for food and as dwelling places.<\/li>\n<li>Birds like a drink of water and an occasional bath and butterflies like a drink too.<\/li>\n<li>Fish add to the charm of a pond but unfortunately provide food for visiting herons in my garden.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Type of Pond Habitat<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The larger the expanse of water the better in terms of environmental impact.<\/li>\n<li>Preformed ponds are popular for the smaller garden. Made from rigid plastic or rubber they are long lasting and easy to install.<\/li>\n<li>You can make your own pond and shape it with butyl liner.<\/li>\n<li>Ensure your pond has an area where the depth is two feet or more to prevent a total freeze up.<\/li>\n<li>The pond should have at least one gentle slope or beach area where wildlife can access the pond.<\/li>\n<li>Fill the pond and let it stand for two weeks before adding fish and plants<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a title=\"Garden Pond with fish by pnt103, on Flickr\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/pnt103\/4019744346\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.staticflickr.com\/2641\/4019744346_860040ccd5.jpg\" alt=\"Garden Pond with fish\" width=\"500\" height=\"334\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Plants for your Pond<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Oxygenators such as Myriophyllum spicatum use up excess nutrients and supply oxygen to the pond.<\/li>\n<li>Floating plants can drift on the surface and curb the growth of unwanted algae. Try frogbit Hydrocharis morsus-ranae.<\/li>\n<li>Avoid balnket weed and invasive Myriophyllum aquaticum<\/li>\n<li>The choice of ornamental plants is large from Water lilies through to Iris<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Organic Tips for your Pond<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>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.<\/li>\n<li>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.<\/li>\n<li>A balanced pond without too many fish will not need any extra additional chemicals or food supply.<\/li>\n<li>Rocks and rounded pebbles can enhance the surrounding area and build island habitats. Use local and &#8216;found&#8217; stone.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/1843303787\/richardpettin-21\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.amazon.com\/images\/P\/1843303787.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg\" alt=\"Book Cover\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Other Interesting Pond Related matters<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1968\">Frog Spawn hints and tips<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/?p=9638\">More Tips on growing Water Lilies<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/?p=11542\">Ecology of water in the garden<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/?p=604\">Dealing with weeds in ponds<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/?p=9382\">Pond plants and pond care<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/?p=5860\">Gardening with water features<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Credits Garden Pond with fish by pnt103 CC BY-NC-SA 2.0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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. &#8216;&#8230;.ponds are one of the most appealing and vibrant small-scale wildlife habitats. Almost one in ten British gardens actually have a pond&#8230;&#8217; according to Wildlife Trusts in their Wildlife Pond Handbook by Louise Bardsley Who Uses a Pond Habitat Frogs, toads and newts use ponds to&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/gardening\/environmental-gardening\/organic-pond-habitats-for-green-gardeners\/\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environmental-gardening"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}