overgrown pond but home for toad!!
Mary Furnival
Posts: 7
this grass is taking over ! throttling irises and bugle in old pond. but toads live here. want to keep toads of course, do I just cut this all back or is now the right time to dug it all up?
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If you want rid of it - take it out Mary!
We have toads and we don't have that grass (which looks to me like some type of carex) - provide your toads with some hidey holes (we find that broken earthenware pots on their side to make little 'caves' in damp dark corners work well) and pull up the grass. You probably won't get rid of it all and it will make inroads again, but keeping it under control will work for you and not disadvantage the toads.
Toads spend most of their time on land and only need the pond for breeding - and they need fairly deep ponds for that so you'll be doing them a favour by clearing the pond at least partially
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Last edited: 22 October 2016 12:05:11
Thanks. will sort this this week.
let's see how you get one Mary. We love the whole before/ after photo thing.
What you have now is something of a bog garden. Toads love bog gardens and they can look great. You could either get some boggy plants like gunnera and bog beans and make the most of it or have a clear out and restore your pond. What your pond is going through is called pond succession. Quite natural in the wild. Ponds will only stay ponds if we clear them out every autumn - otherwise they all turn into bogs. I have one pond that I'm allowing to turn into a bog. It's densely vegitated and a magnet for toads.
If you provide other areas suitable for toads and frogs, they'll be more than happy. Old logs, foliage cover of any kind, upturned broken clay pots and pipes etc. Plenty of damp shady spots is the aim.
I think Mary's pond's filled in and planted, HH - but i may have misunderstood