Not a day of major changes in Pondland, but rather an update after a few days of small progressions both with the frog pond and other related sidetracks.
I’ve added more plants to the pondscape, but mostly not in the water itself. I did find some collapses of in-water plant supports yesterday. As a result, the Bacora Monniera is now on the pond floor level rather than a shelf, and has spilt unknown amounts of its potting medium (gravel, dirt etc) which are now contributed to the overall mysterious substrate. I think it will be OK – hopefully the plant will still find enough light to make its way towards the surface. The other plant (if I can call it that) on a shelf that collapsed was a tub of soil and weeds that I first added at the very beginning, never intending for it to stay. It was very heavy and I think I got most of it out.
I’ve also noticed severe disintegration of many water lily leaves. No idea if this is normal process, or an understandable shock response to the transplant they went through or what. The larger and more established ones seem OK, and maybe the smaller ones will grow new leaves up from below. Very little I can do I think – I’ve ordered fertiliser spikes from Amazon which I hope won’t be too long getting here. Also considering using a pump/filter to clarify the pond a bit – I don’t want it crystal clear as I don’t think that would be ideal for froggery. But a bit less murky might be a good balance.
With a hot weather period arriving, I’ve spent some time getting the pool up and running that is the replacement for the pool that became the pond. A smaller, more manageable pool was always the plan even before I discovered the tadpoles that set me off on the frog pond journey. I’d been rather dreading the process of cleaning out the pool in order to pass it on to a new home, so the frogs have just saved me that problem. Speaking of frogs, I’m also detecting an increase in number of them calling at night. Whereas before it was mainly one, plus at least 1 other a bit further away (who had a deeper voice but basically the same call), last night there were at least 2 almost identical calls in competition, and at one point I thought I heard another, totally different call as well. It may be the warmer weather has them out in force – I’ll listen again tonight.
I haven’t seen any sign of the fish for a while – hopefully they just like it deeper down, out of sight. Still no sign of ex-fish either, so I’m assuming they are OK.
Pics of pond changes, tadpoles, the new pool construction, etc in the fairly large gallery below. Some very neglected plants at the end are from the outdoor area at the back where they’ve been protected from sun as they require, but also had no rain access so they’re all in trouble. I will try to rescue them.
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