Last Spring, I built a huge wildlife pond on tier four of my newly terraced hill. I’d seen a few frogs and toads hopping about on the hill and wanted to encourage them to breed. This Spring they sadly haven’t set up camp. I’ve shared my daily spawn watch on Instagram and through direct messages, realised that I’m definitely not the only frogless abode in Norfolk. The Guardian wrote two articles this Spring about the affect of last year’s drought on the British amphibian population and I’m left wondering how to rise to the challenge of growing flowers in our ever-changing climate.
In my first year of growing dahlias, I’d identified the need for organic pest control on tiers ten and eleven. The soil here is rich clay and there’s full sun for the best part of the day. I made paths between thickly mulched beds with woodchips laid on top of cardboard and planted the dahlias directly into the ground. Unwittingly I’d created a slug wildlife reserve – my fresh new dahlia shoots were gnawed down to sad little nubbins overnight and by day, the slugs curled up in the cool of the cardboard.
I did go out a once at night with a torch and a pair of scissors to try and address the imbalance, but it was like a scene from post-apocalyptic science fiction movie with mottled slugs as big as snakes writing up and down the paths and I was wearing sandals! FML. I decided to write it off as the year of the sacrificial dahlia and build a wildlife pond – a would-be haven for a healthy colony of slug-munching frogs. The soil on tier four is sandy and near big trees so plants can struggle – a pond would be a good use of this hard-to-grow space.
I’ve built wildlife ponds in my two previous gardens. My first pond, when I was still working as a consultant in Liverpool Street, became a daily source of wonder / therapeutic stress relief. When working from home, I’d take a stroll to the pond just to stare at it and calm down. True story – one day I was gazing into the pond when I noticed perfect cubes of white bread floating on the surface. Later I saw a magpie perched on the fence watching the pond. It was fishing, waiting to see if our goldfish – Rayaan and Bayard – would take the bait. They did. Sad times.
I find building a pond to be a mega easy process – I highly recommend it. Very basically, dig a hole with some shelving sides so things can climb in and out, put some sand at the bottom of the hole to cushion the pond liner, which goes in next and then edge it with rocks/things you dig up from the garden. You do need pond plants. I found an amazing little place near me called Pond Folk Pondfolk Ltd - Pond & Wetland Plants – their website is amazingly knowledgeable and you’ll find more detailed advice on pond life than I’ve given here.
Pond building is so rewarding. I always feel like a garden goddess when creatures move into the space I’ve built (less so when they move out so maybe don’t put goldfish in it). To quote Wayne’s World – if you build it, they will come. So, I’ve been a bit gutted that no frogs or newts or toads have arrived this year.
The Guardian articles reported a nationwide disastrous breeding year for frogs due to lack of rain and a change in weather patterns. In Norfolk, drought is a particular problem. In fact we are still officially in a drought as our rivers and boglands haven’t recovered over winter due to low rainfall. Last summer it was particularly dry, and the land was drained to feed crops - ditches were literally ditched. Frogs have lost their habitats at an exponential rate.
So, what to do? How to adapt? How to control slugs in an eco-friendly way? Firstly, if you have spawn in your pond, do not donate it to a spawn-less pond as this may spread diseases. It is illegal to move frogs / spawn from wild areas so don’t be tempted to do that either.
Do nurture the pond you have and make sure you top it up with saved rainwater if there’s a drought (I have some large plastic tubs out next to my pond to catch rain and I’m constantly topping it up). My new pond is still teeming with life – pond skaters dart about on the surface and there are loads of tiny black underwater snails. Little flowers have popped up on the surface and there are new and unusual flying insects about. If you haven’t already built a pond, I urge you to do so. Gardens may be the answer to rescuing our dwindling amphibian population.
With regards to slugs, it is likely their numbers have dwindled too. (I’m hoping this is the case as my dahlias are already in the ground. I have not laid paths of woodchip and cardboard in an attempt to discourage any resilient blighters from breeding). However, in some places such as small city gardens, slugs seem to thrive whatever the weather so plant your dahlia tubers in pots maybe with copper tape around the edges and only plant into the ground when the plants are big and able to cope with being nibbled.
