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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Pond Plantings

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  • From: John Schinnerer <eco_living@yahoo.com>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Pond Plantings
  • Date: Sun, 15 Sep 2002 22:02:46 -0700 (PDT)

Aloha,

> I know there are frogs, toads , etc., and I do see a blue heron at
> times of
> day when cattle, dogs are not nearby. So there must be something
> positive happening.

Yep - hard to keep critters down (even with dogs and cows ;-). A
friend's improperly built, never-quite-finished-as-intended very small
pond has through several years of benign neglect acquired a nice
population of frogs, some happy plant life and insects and no doubt all
kinds of good stuff not visible to our naked eyes.

First two things I'd do if your pond were my pond, knowning only the
details you've posted thus far:

1) Keep the cattle out of it (you've already noticed the heron isn't
around when the cattle and dogs are there...now apply that
observation...).

2) Go find a nearby pond in a relatively 'natural' setting that's full
of diverse life and seems 'healthy' as ponds in your area go, and
inoculate your pond with bucketfuls of water and life (visible and
microscopic flora and fauna) scooped from the nearby pond. Claude can
tell you how well this has worked for his (albeit much smaller) yard
pond. If there are specific known invasives in your area, find out
what they are and avoid inoculating from ponds full of them.

Third thing I'd do would be to add some stuff that couldn't be so
easily scooped up in buckets - larger water plants for the shallows
around the edges (what exactly would depend on your climate, can't give
specific recommendations).

And, as my paternal grandmother used to say, "if at first you don't
succeed, try, try again." :-)


=====
John Schinnerer, MA
-------------------------
- Eco-Living -
Cultural & Ecological Designing
Food - Water - Shelter - Community - Technology
john@eco-living.net
http://eco-living.net

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