Saturday 30 May 2015

A Pond In A Pot.

'What are you up to now, Suzzie?' Davy asked me, suspiciously, the other day.
          Not what I'm doing, note, but what 'I'm up to.'
          I'm reminded of the old joke where the mother says, 'Go and find out what your brother's doing and tell him to stop at once.'

          This (below) is what I'm up to.

Pond in a pot
          See that big black pot at the edge of the gravel? That's my garden pond, viewed from my kitchen door.
          I don't often watch gardening programmes, but when I do, I quite often get up to something as a result. It's probably just as well I don't watch them very often. I caught Diarmuid Gavin telling the nation that the single most effective thing you can do, to increase wildlife in your garden, is make a pond. You don't even have to dig a hole. You can put the pond in a pot.

          Something about having a pond in a pot appealed to me (not least, the bit about not digging a hole.) I started reading up on garden ponds, about how they increase the eco-variety in your garden. They increase the number of insects and the habitat for insects - and so attract more of the birds and animals who eat those insects.
          I went out and acquired a large pot. I found one on sale.It's not pretty, but it was big and inexpensive.


For days, I moved the pot about, trying to decide where to place it. For weeks, I set out buckets to catch rainwater to fill it. And then - oh, the thrill - I was able to add a water-lily - a miniature red one - and an oxengenating plant.

A pond also needs margin plants, to shelter and attract insects, and a bank for birds to land - and also to provide a way out for creatures that fall in. It's hard to provide that in a deep pot, so I slung a basket of marginal plants from the side.


There's a reed, and a couple of flowering plants, all native to Britain. It looks a bit bare at the moment, but I'm hoping other plants will come in and root on the 'bank.'

I've arranged other potted plants around it, both to soften the big black pot, and also to give animals a leg up and a leg down. I may grow a 'tier' of herbs along side it, to make them a step-ladder.

Already, I've seen more insects and birds taking an interest, and it's only been full and planted up for a day (as I write.) Only this morning there was a big wood-pigeon hopping about from line-post, to rose-arch, to fence and back again. He seemed to be trying to find a way down to the pool pot. So I'm thinking about adding some lower perches nearer to it. Not that I much want to attract thumping big wood pigeons. We have no shortage of them. But it's a start!


14 comments:

Sue Purkiss said...

Good luck with your pond - very ingenious!

Susan Price said...

Thanks Sue, but all the ingenuity belongs to other people. I just followed their instructions.

Joan Lennon said...

So cool - a tiny world!

jenny alexander said...

What a brilliant idea - and lovely pictures!

madwippitt said...

Lovely to see Project pond pot coming to fruition at last! They do give lots of pleasure and are very low maintenance. Why not do the pigeons a favour -they are great bathers and love to splosh around - by putting a large pot tray out filled with water for them? This will also be perfect for birds to drink from with no risk of them falling into and drowning in your pond pot, and also for wildlife such as hedgehogs (who need all the help they can get - have you got your hoggy hole in your fence yet? LOL)
And you'll enjoy your pigeons much more when you watching them having their daily baths - its surprisingly entertaining! (And did you know they are self-aware - they can recognise themselves in a mirror?)

Katherine Roberts said...

Are there any miniature mermaids yet? You should keep a 'pond pot diary'... just in case!

Susan Price said...

Thanks for all the comments - I've been away on RLF business and couldn't answer immediately. Madwippit - I've made a smaller, lower pond by putting out the bottom half of a tagine, which I never used, with a couple of stones in it. It hasn't seen much attentio so far. The pigeons have drunk from it a couple of times - but they seem to prefer perching on the edge of the big pot and performing a courtly bow to drink from it - which is amusing to watch.
I quite enjoy going out each morning to fish the leaves out of the pond and keep an eye on the water-lily.
No mermaids sighted so far, Kath, but will keep an eye open.

manxli said...

Hi Sue
Why are we all so drawn to water and why do we find it so relaxing? Nothing better than sitting on the 'dock of the bay' or admiring the sun set over Peel Harbour on the Isle of Man or just soaking up the 'negative ions' emmited by a small ornamental water feature. Even a pot full of water. Go for it!

Is it race memory. After all, evolutionists reckon we all crawled out of the sea originally.

Manxli

Susan Price said...

That's a good point, Manxli. Why are we so drawn to the sea. Davy and I love trips on ferries - and I was talking with another friend at the weekend - Max Adams, whose just completed a series of 'Dark Age walks.' He said that his favourite journeys were 'the ones that begin and end on a boat.'

Madwippit - I would love hedgehogs in my garden, but there are difficulties. A very steep bank at the back and to the right - would the innocent hoggy survive the plummet if they struggled through a hole only to find the ground ran out?
Also. the lodger is very down on cats. Because they kill the birds he wants to encourage. So holes have been blocked, to keep cats out. It's worked too - cats use to stroll through my garden hourly. Hardly ever see one now.
Could a hole admit a hedgehog while keeping a cat out? Cats can get through tiny spaces.

Susan Price said...

That's a good point, Manxli. Why are we so drawn to the sea. Davy and I love trips on ferries - and I was talking with another friend at the weekend - Max Adams, whose just completed a series of 'Dark Age walks.' He said that his favourite journeys were 'the ones that begin and end on a boat.'

Madwippit - I would love hedgehogs in my garden, but there are difficulties. A very steep bank at the back and to the right - would the innocent hoggy survive the plummet if they struggled through a hole only to find the ground ran out?
Also. the lodger is very down on cats. Because they kill the birds he wants to encourage. So holes have been blocked, to keep cats out. It's worked too - cats use to stroll through my garden hourly. Hardly ever see one now.
Could a hole admit a hedgehog while keeping a cat out? Cats can get through tiny spaces.

Leslie Wilson said...

Your garden looks delightful!

Susan Price said...

Thanks Leslie, but it looks far more delightful in photos than it does in reality, I' afraid.

Leslie Wilson said...

Or perhaps you look at it too critically? I have to stop myself from just looking at what needs to be done, sometimes...

madwippitt said...

I think they suggest 15cm square holes for hogs - could a cat get through that? A tunnel under would be as good. And they re amazing climbers - can shin up a chain link fence so I'm sure they'd cope with a slope. Your garden looks like a real wildlife haven :-)