BCU - Water
Ponds Entrance
Contact B.Howe
The Frog Pond
May 23: This little project has been a great success so far. It is just teaming with life. All sorts of larva are swimming around in it, incuding a few tadpoles that were mysteriously dropped in. The kids got to see their first large (the size of the palm of my hand) green frog, and have been chasing toads around while I'm cutting the grass.When I set up the system I was concerned that it wouldn't get enough water, but the frog pond hasn't been dry since I first filled the barrels. I slowed the drip fountain even more, as I still want most of the water going to the veggie garden. To see it drip after a rainshower you have to watch patiently for a while. It's very slow, but it still manages to keep the pond wet. We'll see how it does during the hot summer months.
For more information on the plants surrounding the pond, see Area 1 of the Earth/Gardens/Beds Sections.
Thanks for stopping by,
Brett
Previous entries:
April 18: I am attempting to add a small 'drip-style' fountain to the pond. I discovered over the course of last year that the pond remained empty much of the time. Even when it rained water was not getting into it because of the dense canopy from the Oak and Black Walnuts close by. I have installed a short tube connected to my irrigation system which should get water into the pond each and every time it rains. That's the theory anyway, I'll keep you posted on how well it works. Right now, results look promising but it's still too early to be certain.
Initial: I'm one of those guys that looks at something and tries to find a purpose for it other than the one it was intended for. I also don't like unnecessary waste. Sounds like the makings of a bin diver/artist doesn't it :-) Every now and again it seems to come close to that. This frog pond is an example.
I had the kids out for a walk down one of those lovely backroads where everyone in town dumps the things they just can't get rid of, when we stumbled across a concrete clamshell fountain basin that someone had discarded. Well, I couldn't pass that up, but I also couldn't get it home. I had to wait patiently for a few months until my father came for a visit with his little half-ton pickup truck, and at the first chance I ran over, scooped the clamshell up and brought it home. What a brute of a thing to move.
I was going to do something with it, I just didn't know what yet :-) So it began the tour de backyard. First it was just in the way, then it was out of the way under a pile of twigs, then it was beside the firepit as a place to set aside coals for cooking and acted as mortar for grinding the charcoal down for the gardens. But after nearly two years of temporary services, it found a home in the back corner of the yard. It is a generally wet corner, and I had decided to stop fighting it and try to make it work for me. One of the additions was a Frog Pond.
So here it is. I had a whole whack of little (read: useless) rocks laying around, used many of them to form a bit of a foundation on the clay, then leveled the basin on top. The remainder of the rocks were simply stacked up the back of the basin and under the front lip, just to use them up. But looking at it, one has to think, "It's nearly 12" off the ground, how do the frogs get in?" Well, that was dealt with in the rest of the changes. I had selected this spot as the first bed to try Lasagna Gardening on. The surface level was raised to nearly 6" above the pond edge and has since settle back to about 4" under the edge. I'll be posting an updated pick of this after the gardens thaw this year.
As far as maintenance goes, there is none. For the time being if it's wet it's wet. We did notice a significant increase in the number and varieties of frogs/toads last summer. They even took to enjoying our patio awning.
In attracting other wildlife, we had chipmunks move into the rocks at the back, the birds were constantly in and out of it, the doves moved their nests closer to it, rabbits, racoons, squirrels, cats, opossums, we saw just about every animal that could find its way through the chainlink and into the yard.I do have more plans for that corner, but they are not high on Spring's Priority List. I'll keep you posted if I can get to any of them. Until then....