Slacky41's Inbox

not to mention stickleback lol quite often you can catch them with a net along the river bank wear its a bit quieter

the pond is a bit small for british natives really but rudd and roach would cope. as an aside we have a 28yr old tench a good foot long, that came into our possesion as a hatchling. we rarely see her as she is dark against the pond liner.

stickle backs are ideal and very interesting especialy if you have a little glass tank handy when there breeding as the males are stunning

If you want a wildlife pond for frogs and newts etc, it's best to have no fish at all, but if you really want fish, have small ones and hope they don't grow to a size where they eay all the frog and toadspawn as happened in my pond. Then a heron came and cleared out all the fish so now I have a widlife pond, plain and simple.

good thinking seaburn

lilies dont like alot of water movement though so perhaps plant away from the waterfall/fountain.

if you want to stop the alge cover the pond but a couple of good size lillies will do.i would stick to goldfish type size or smaller.your pump will stop blocking if you take the sponge out.you then put the pump in a large lilly basket or tub with holes drilled in the sides.put the pump in and cover it with small gebbles or large gravel ,about 1" diameter.put it on a couple of bricks to as it will keep the mulm on the bottem from being sucked in.herons will totaly clear your pond even at night.cats can be a slight problem but not as commen as you would imagine.a dog will get rid of the heron or one of them wild life sensers that the human ear cant pick up.herons have to feal comfertable standing so you can make that difficult with wire or naturaly with plant.good luck any questions dont hesitate to ask.

i have had a ponds for the last 30 yrs. i find the less you faff with it the better it is. let nature take its course and they usually settle well. there will be phases ie spring when it will go green then clear as if by magic.
we clean ours out every 5 yrs but do remove surface leaves in the autumn.
we remove oxygnators regularly through the summer and most of it in the autumn. we let the weed stand on the side to allow many of the creepy crawlies to escape back into the pond.
what other info were you after?
we dont suffer from herons but they do fly overhead to a local fishing pond.

The best way to find out is to lift some. Are you growing in pots or open ground. I grow in pots and just put my hand down the side to check. When did you plant them....rule of thumb is about 14/16 weeks. Pinch flowers off....the energy is best given to the tubers.

all goldfish what ever there shape,colour or finidge come from the crusion carp which can get up to 5 pounds in wieght..all koi,leather carp.mirrors come from the comen carp and in france get over a 100 pounds in weight.goldfish handle being stunted like rud and perch because they are pond,small lake fish so can handle very extreme changes in tempereture and oxygen levels as long as you have plenty of plants or water movement.the exseption to this is the grass or asian carp that also gets huge.

when looking in sales area remember they often have fish in a pale background and when you see dark fish they look good but they become 'lost' in a typical black liner pond. in a small pond i'd avoid Koi as they will grow too large, similarly with some of the ghost carp. orfe can grow more than a foot long in a pond this size and the biggest draw back is the amount of waste they produce.
i have a few photos of the goldfish types in my pond the biggest is about a foot long.

shabunkins,commets etc have for want of better words beab bread for there colour more than goldfish have so though they will be ok are not as tough.how about getting a net out and going and catching some stickleback.the males are stunning in there breeding colours.you dont say if your going to have a bit of water movement which id advise if your going to have the more inbread shabunkins,commets.the little fat goldfish that i personaly hate with like double tails will have trouble even living outside.its winter and very hot days that are going to weed them out.goldfish origionate from crusion carp.mirror carp and leather carp were bread for food bye monks so there were less scaLES TO SCRAPE OF TO EAT THEM THEY IN TURN COME FROM THE COMMEN CARP.BOTHE TO BIG FOr your pond.oops i pressed caps lock sorry.goldfish can reach 4.5 pounds or two kilos though they stunt well .rud do well as they stunt quite readily.there are yellow minnows you can buy but you dont see them very often.i would personaly stick with goldfish as the nature your going to atraked is going to be incredible and any that dont change from the goldfish basic shape like shabunkins,commets etc like nariz sais.

Shubunkins are lovely - they are a little shorter and fatter than goldfish but have "piebald" markings, along with floaty tails. Golden Orfe tend to swim in a small shoal and look magnificent sweeping around a pond together. Sarasa Comets are similar to goldfish but are "splodged" white and gold - I once had a white one with a gold splodge on his head like a little cap. Beware - once you start choosing fish (and giving them names!) you'll never get out of the garden!

Spuds like rich soil, but not to fertile or else the spuds can be damaged. Try earthing them up. Plant the spuds, when the shoots appear above soil by about 4-6 inch, carefully put more soil around the foliage untill its covered. Do this as much as the space allows.
Water wehn the flowers appear and dont let them dry out. When harvesting, there will be a lot more spuds because of this.

Carrots dont like fertile soil, but soil thats loose ish and have no stones ni. Fertiltiy will cause them to fork and become difficult to peel, ston and they wont grow striaght down and be short.

cabbages and things need a large area and probably wouldnt want to be in bins or boxes, could try sprouting brocolli if you can fing plug plants as you can keep harvesting the spears and it makes better use of space.
Tomatoes in hanging baskets, lettuce from seed around the base of the sprouts as it will be ready before the sprouts have got much bigger. Regular sowings will mean a continuos supply esp cut n come again.
Salad onions same, radish same, winter veg- mainly chinese veg mix, some winter lettuce you can over winter if kept frost free ish. You could grow sald veg in the used spud soil in the bins, just perhaps add some more compost and feed. Marshalls Seeds deal in veg and seeds, aslo find winter crops in there too.

ow id love to know how you get on please

These water lily seeds are on sale on ebay France. Follow this link: (highlight the text of the link, copy it (ctrl-C) and then paste it (Ctrl-V) into the address bar in your browser. Just explained that as some people don't know how to copy a link! Sorry if you are familiar with doing it.)

http://cgi.ebay.fr/10-GRAINES-SEEDS-NYMPHEA-CAERULEA-"BLUE"-Water-Lily_W0QQitemZ180367758166QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20090612?IMSfp=TL090612173001r30462

If you google ( search ) 'water Lily Seeds'

you will find that it is possible to grow them from seed but everything I read came from America.

I would love to do the same but can not find any on offer in England.
If you have any luck,please let us know.
Good luck

ow i dont know but try asking a big seed company like chiltern seeds as they mite be able to point you in the right direction though i dont think theres much of a market so good luck.