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Post by rowanberry on Oct 23, 2017 19:28:38 GMT
Most of the other pond plants have started to die back, (other than the duckweed, which carries on regardless) but the watercress is still growing quite well. The mare's tail have all fallen over, and the fringed water lily is turning yellow- time to get out there with my litter-picking stick and do a bit of weeding before they all sink to the bottom.  Watercress Oct2017 by Wabi Gallery, on Flickr |
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Post by NellyDee on Oct 24, 2017 8:23:43 GMT
Oh I wonder if i should get some Watercress for my pond? At the moment it is covered in fallen leaves, so cannot see what is going on in there.
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Post by rowanberry on Oct 25, 2017 21:40:50 GMT
I got mine the easy way... I bought a bag of it from Tescos, and tossed in a few handfuls. It grows and roots itself without too much trouble; although I don't know if it would this time of year? You might have better luck with it in the spring.
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Post by NellyDee on Oct 26, 2017 12:53:42 GMT
I will try and also put some in the spring. As a bye the bye I had huge success with Tesco's parsley in a pot. I planted it out and every year(4 years now) up it pops again giving me lots of parsley. I let it flower this year, but the flowers did not actually open which was a shame.
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Post by alexis on Oct 28, 2017 10:57:47 GMT
My watercress is still looking healthy too, I threw a few clumps in the wildlife pond during the summer and one of them took root in a submerged pot containing a sweet gallingale reed (cyperus longus). The pickerel weed is also still green as is my favourite rafter, the brooklime, which is a great all-year-round water plant. We're expecting morning frosts this coming week as the temps start to drop and the clocks go back so I'll be doing some more pruning in the ponds and garden tomorrow.
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Post by rowanberry on Oct 28, 2017 19:14:30 GMT
I like Brooklime, but mine didn't do so well this year- it's been squeezed out by the creeping Jenny. I need to thin that out before next year- it grows in the soil around the pond, not actually in it. I was too overambitious with pond plants, wanting to have as many different ones as possible. I've learned my lesson and have started taking some out now- it's just too small of a pond to have as many as I do. I shall have a think over the winter, and come spring will concentrate on having no more than my five favourites. I do love fringed water lily, but it wasn't happy this year- might not be getting enough light and it got spindly... plus, it makes it nearly impossible to sieve out the duckweed. Floating pond plants do make that difficult. Next summer I think it will be hornwort, watercress, water forget-me-not, brooklime and water plantain. I wish I could get the mare's tail out completely, but that always comes back no matter what I do. The best I can do is keep it under control until we are forced to dredge the pond again... then I can remove its basket, (which is propping up the cascade at the moment!) There are a few water soldiers, but they are easy-to-remove floaters and slow growing... I can keep lift them out, clear the duckweed and toss them in again.  |
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Post by alexis on Oct 29, 2017 10:41:46 GMT
They say not to prune brooklime in autumn/winter as the newer shoots are next years growth so I wait until spring. I wanted to plant creeping jenny around my wildlife pond but couldn't find any at the time, maybe that was lucky! I also have far too many plants in there, over a dozen I believe, so I too will continue thinning them out, I already moved the marsh marigold into my ornamental fish pond because the water mint was crowding it out and I have all kinds of containers with cuttings growing in them as I hate throwing healthy plants in the compost bin. Water forget-me-not is another favourite of mine which I have in both ponds along with frogbit. I'll post some pics of my ponds and garden as soon as I create a Flickr account.
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