In your flower garden
It will help to create a healthy eco-system in your garden
Ponds are a sure-fire way to entice wildlife to your plot. Build it and they will come! Not everyone has space to dig a large pond but even a small patio can host a container pond. So add a beneficial wildlife water feature with a freestanding mini pond.
Use a barrel, a metal, stone or plastic planter, tub or a Belfast sink, sunk into the ground or sited at ground level with logs and bricks built up around the sides to make access platforms for frogs and newts or a resting spot for thirsty birds.
Ensure your container is watertight; if in any doubt, seal with a pond liner. Aim for an open spot, away from overhanging trees and continuous full sunlight. Part shade is better.
Plant pond plants in aquatic baskets; covered with fine holes, these pots retain soil, stopping it leaking into the water. Line large-holed pots with hessian. Use aquatic compost; it holds water and nutrients, anchors plant roots and often contains a low-level, slow-release fertiliser. Top dress the pots with grit. Vary plant heights by combining submerged, floating and marginal plants at the edge; include oxygenators such as water violet (Hottonia palustris) or water starwort (Callitriche stagnalis) which absorb impurities and release oxygen. Try to keep your mini pond pesticide and herbicide-free.
TOP TIPS
1 Place logs, bricks or stones at different depths in the container’s base. These landing platforms provide wildlife access in and out of the pond.
2 Ideally fill the container with rainwater but you can use tap water if necessary; chemicals such as chlorine dissipate after 24 hours.
3 Add two or three aquatic plants like barred horsetail, pygmy waterlily, lesser spearwort or oxygenating spiked water milfoil. Don’t overcrowd.
4 Look out for new residents in your pond, such as pond skaters, water snails, damselflies, dragonflies, newts, frogs and frog spawn.
Trim tips of cuttings
To encourage more bushy plants and more flowers later, snip or pinch out the tips of cuttings taken in autumn, along with any tall seedlings. The tips of fuchsias and pelargoniums can also be used as cuttings to make more plants. Young plants kept on windowsills often become tall and ‘unsteady’ and removing the tops will result in better plants to put out next month. Repot into slightly bigger pots to encourage strong growth or apply a liquid fertiliser once a week to replenish the nutrients in the compost and to get them growing well.
Divide primroses
Perennial primroses and polyanthus are valuable for their colourful flowers in spring. As the flowers fade it’s the ideal tim
