Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi

Last summer I dug a very small pond which is about 3 feet deep and a plastic barrel round. I had read that even a small pond like that will attract frogs. I put a tower of bricks up one side so frogs can get out.

I've no plants in it, I chucked a small amount of soil in the bottom when I put it in and a bucket of water from an established pond.
The only things in there now are duck weed, water snails, mosquito larve and assorted insects. Btw did you know spiders prey on mosquito larve? fascinating, they wait near the waterline or on small leaves on the water.

Anyway....... I've no frogs! No spawn this year. Strange when we moved in we had frogs in the garden, but no more. Next door has a pond and they seem to have lost all their frogs as well.
We back onto a small brook, but we do have a cat, so not sure if that would scare them away, the cat does use the pool as a drinking fountain.

So what do I do, what plants could I plant is the most important question I suppose.

Just a matter of waiting, Womble. My pond isn't much bigger than yours. Last year, it had frogspawn for the first time. This year, none. Frogs prefer to return to where they were hatched to lay their own eggs, but most experts don't recommend transplanting frogspawn to get the whole process started. Wildlife is finding your pond, so the frogs will probably get there eventually. It'll help the froglets if you establish some plants near the pond, so they've got a safe route away from the water - birds will eat spawn, tadpoles and froglets, given half a chance.

Thanks Rowan, it is at the back of the garden right next to an overgrown blackberry hedge and I've let nettles grow all around it (the pond) to create a sort of wildlife retreat.
I'm just so disappointed that we haven't got any frogs! I did tell my daughter we would have some next year when I dug it Feel like a bit of a failure of a Dad now

I have no frogs in mine either......but it's only been there a fortnight since I sunk the bath!

One of the allotments has a huge pond full of froglets. I may have to wage a guerilla campaign at dusk and liberate a few for my pond! Now where did I put that cammo paint?

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I don't know if it will help but I made a small pond from a plant trough.........I went on ebay & got some oxygenating plants to create a liveable water environment & also a couple of taller ones that come out the water & shade it. I also covered the top with pond moss to disguise any wildlife from predators. Like you I also put bricks at the side to help them in & out. "Frodo" moved in within the month & has been with us for his 3 years (assuming it's still him!)

here are some links........hope they're useful:

Plants For Ponds at Focus

Royal Horticultural Society - Advice: Wildlife ponds

Paul Bromfield Aquatics - Pond Plants,Aquatic Plants,Pond Equipment

sorry, the moss I put on the top is either "fairy moss" or "large duckwood" that you'll find under the heading floating plants on the last link.

all the frogs have disappeared??
Maybe, I don't want to spoil anything but there is maybe a disease that wiped them out...which would explain why you have no frogs around.

"Chytridiomycosis and ranavirus may prove as devastating in the UK as they have globally...BBC website"

My daughter just asked what i want for fathers day. told her a pond. Her face was a picture :-) Thing is i know her well. She'll get me one so it looks like i'll be looking for advice as well.

Cats will hunt and kill frogs. The screaming is terrible, if you are unlucky enough to hear it.
Frogs don't require any particular plants ~ they just need some cover to hide in. I have a pile of logs and stuff beside my pond, with ferns and hostas growing over those.

BTW. don't put garden soil in your pond... it is likely to be too rich (nitrates). If you put plants in, use that special low-nutrient pond-plant compost.

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

yes, my friend was telling me yesterday that her cat brings frogs in & the screaming is a really heartbreaking noise :0(

I guess if you keep cats it's not fair to tempt frogs into your garden or they'll just be fair game.

Thankyou everyone for the advice, I do have a pile of logs next to the pond, I will get some water covering plants, I was thinking of the frogbit and let the plants grow up again round the pond, I destroyed them a couple of weeks ago by walking on them building a raised bed.