There's an old pond in my garden which for some years has been very neglected - surrounded and overhung by thick brambles, also overhung by some young trees (no idea what type), plenty of rotting leaves in it, etc.
The pond is about 20 feet across.
It's moderately shaded from a nearby building so doesn't get a huge amount of sun in the summer and barely any in the winter.
I've nearly finished removed the thick brambles (it's taken many weeks of on/off work to do this) and am currently in the process of using a net to remove as many rotting leaves and debris from the pond as I can.
There's no fish in it and I have no plans to add any, I just want it to be a good pond for wildlife.
There's some water lillies growing in it which look healthy (I'll leave those of course), and a type of pond plant with long thin tubular leaves (no idea what it's called but it too looks healthy). I'll leave that as well.
The pond itself smells okay, as does any undisturbed water if I scoop some up and sniff it, so I don't think it's stagnant. The leaves that I remove from the bottom smell a bit but that's to be expected. The water is surprisingly pretty clear when undisturbed (except when I remove the leaves of course, but any stirred up brown-ish sediment soon settles).
Some questions:
a) I know I'll never be able to remove all of the leaves without dredging it and I don't want to do that, there's bound to be quite a bit of debris and rotting matter at the bottom of the pond. But should I be adding anything to the water to restore any kind of chemical imbalance?
b) This is probably a laughable question, but given all of the above details, is the pond water 'dangerous'? I'm not of course intending to drink any! But should I be keeping it off my skin for any reason? Avoiding getting in my eyes? (not planning to do that either of course!). As it looks clear and plants are growing in it I assume that as long as I don't drink it there's no issues.
c) Should I be removing some or all of the young trees that overhang the pond?
d) Should I be adding any kind of pump or waterfall-like feature to aerate it? Something solar-powered perhaps?
e) There's a bit of pond weed covering maybe a third of the surface, I'll remove most of it but perhaps best to leave some?
Any advice please based on the above?
Thanks
The pond is about 20 feet across.
It's moderately shaded from a nearby building so doesn't get a huge amount of sun in the summer and barely any in the winter.
I've nearly finished removed the thick brambles (it's taken many weeks of on/off work to do this) and am currently in the process of using a net to remove as many rotting leaves and debris from the pond as I can.
There's no fish in it and I have no plans to add any, I just want it to be a good pond for wildlife.
There's some water lillies growing in it which look healthy (I'll leave those of course), and a type of pond plant with long thin tubular leaves (no idea what it's called but it too looks healthy). I'll leave that as well.
The pond itself smells okay, as does any undisturbed water if I scoop some up and sniff it, so I don't think it's stagnant. The leaves that I remove from the bottom smell a bit but that's to be expected. The water is surprisingly pretty clear when undisturbed (except when I remove the leaves of course, but any stirred up brown-ish sediment soon settles).
Some questions:
a) I know I'll never be able to remove all of the leaves without dredging it and I don't want to do that, there's bound to be quite a bit of debris and rotting matter at the bottom of the pond. But should I be adding anything to the water to restore any kind of chemical imbalance?
b) This is probably a laughable question, but given all of the above details, is the pond water 'dangerous'? I'm not of course intending to drink any! But should I be keeping it off my skin for any reason? Avoiding getting in my eyes? (not planning to do that either of course!). As it looks clear and plants are growing in it I assume that as long as I don't drink it there's no issues.
c) Should I be removing some or all of the young trees that overhang the pond?
d) Should I be adding any kind of pump or waterfall-like feature to aerate it? Something solar-powered perhaps?
e) There's a bit of pond weed covering maybe a third of the surface, I'll remove most of it but perhaps best to leave some?
Any advice please based on the above?
Thanks
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