Pond Progress in the Hot Weather

During the past few weeks we have made some progress on the landscaping around the pond during exceptionally hot weather. My parents came up for a weekend and helped get on top of the problem weeds around the top end of the pond, which was much appreciated. We found the weather to be too hot for much hard manual labour, so progress on the landscaping has been slower than we expected. But we are slowly getting the ground levelled along the side of the pond, and the gravel path laid. We are re-using the gravel which was originally covering the whole area of the pond, but it requires sifting out all the soil and washing before it can go down on the new path. We are collecting all the muddy water from this operation and using it to water the garden, so it is not wasted.

The bog garden is looking well established now, and we have really enjoyed the flowering plants. Most of the plants appear to be happy in their new location, and the hundreds of tiny frogs which have emerged from the pond are certainly happy in the damp shade around the plants. A lot of water has evaporated in the hot weather and we are hoping for some rain soon. I have had to put some tap water in the pond to keep the level from dropping too far, but I want to keep this to a minimum because the mineral content can cause the blanket weed and other algae to take over the pond.

Caroline has created the pebble beach area in the shallow bay of the pond, to blend into the gravel path. This is to provide easy access to the pond for small mammals and birds (as well as us!). She has also positioned various larger rocks in the water.

The results at the end of another weekend