Over the past year, reading URG has made it possible for me to get a
grip on the garden that goes with our house (an established garden
that had been neglected for a few years), and I am proud to say that
all the reading material on here has contributed to my now sprouting
carrots, parsnips, peas, cauliflower, lettuce, spinach and sprouts.
And the potatoes are chitting away as we speak.

It has also made it possible for me to get to grips with the necessary
maintenance and to get things sorted.

The penultimate project is the garden pond. We recently discovered the
natural waterinlet for it (from a stream) and overflow and have now
been able to reestablish the waterflow into and out of the pond.

I have drastically reduced the growth in the pond, and the water is
clearing up by the day. It is inundated with tadpoles, which I enjoy
watching greatly.

I would like to add some fish to this pond, preferably of the type
that will keep the plant growth down, but will leave the tadpoles in
peace. Can anyone point my nose in the right direction for the type of
fish that I would need for my pond, and whereabouts in North Wales I
might be able to get them?

Oh, I hope everyone likes Belgian chocolates, I've put them on the
bench overthere ggg


"My candle burns at both ends; it will not last the night
but ah my foes and oh my friends -- it gives a lovely light"

Gwenhyffar Milgi22/4/04 4:42

Over the past year, reading URG has made it possible for me to get a
grip on the garden that goes with our house (an established garden
that had been neglected for a few years), and I am proud to say that
all the reading material on here has contributed to my now sprouting
carrots, parsnips, peas, cauliflower, lettuce, spinach and sprouts.
And the potatoes are chitting away as we speak.

It has also made it possible for me to get to grips with the necessary
maintenance and to get things sorted.

The penultimate project is the garden pond. We recently discovered the
natural waterinlet for it (from a stream) and overflow and have now
been able to reestablish the waterflow into and out of the pond.

All this in a year? What a shame you don't want a job in S. Devon! ;-)
Seriously, it's always nice when someone comes back to tell us how they got
on, so both 'well done' and 'thank you'.

I have drastically reduced the growth in the pond, and the water is
clearing up by the day. It is inundated with tadpoles, which I enjoy
watching greatly.

I would like to add some fish to this pond, preferably of the type
that will keep the plant growth down, but will leave the tadpoles in
peace. Can anyone point my nose in the right direction for the type of
fish that I would need for my pond, and whereabouts in North Wales I
might be able to get them?

I'm not sure there are any fish that won't eat tads. We've realised that
we've lost loads this year to the fish and that we have to put more
over-wintering plants in to help the tads hide from the fish. We're also
thinking of making a sort of 'lagoon' within the pond just for the frogs.


Oh, I hope everyone likes Belgian chocolates, I've put them on the
bench overthere ggg

Too late - I found them!


--

Sacha
(remove the weeds to email me)

"Gwenhyffar Milgi" wrote in message
...
Over the past year, reading URG has made it possible for me to get a
grip on the garden that goes with our house (an established garden
that had been neglected for a few years), and I am proud to say that
all the reading material on here has contributed to my now sprouting
carrots, parsnips, peas, cauliflower, lettuce, spinach and sprouts.
And the potatoes are chitting away as we speak.

It has also made it possible for me to get to grips with the
necessary
maintenance and to get things sorted.

The penultimate project is the garden pond. We recently discovered
the
natural waterinlet for it (from a stream) and overflow and have now
been able to reestablish the waterflow into and out of the pond.

I have drastically reduced the growth in the pond, and the water is
clearing up by the day. It is inundated with tadpoles, which I enjoy
watching greatly.

I would like to add some fish to this pond, preferably of the type
that will keep the plant growth down, but will leave the tadpoles in
peace. Can anyone point my nose in the right direction for the type
of
fish that I would need for my pond, and whereabouts in North Wales I
might be able to get them?

Oh, I hope everyone likes Belgian chocolates, I've put them on the
bench overthere ggg

May you have many more happy gardening years.

Franz

In article , Gwenhyffar
Milgi writes

The penultimate project is the garden pond. We recently discovered the
natural waterinlet for it (from a stream) and overflow and have now
been able to reestablish the waterflow into and out of the pond.

I have drastically reduced the growth in the pond, and the water is
clearing up by the day. It is inundated with tadpoles, which I enjoy
watching greatly.

You *lucky* thing! A natural pond :-)

I would like to add some fish to this pond, preferably of the type
that will keep the plant growth down, but will leave the tadpoles in
peace. Can anyone point my nose in the right direction for the type of
fish that I would need for my pond, and whereabouts in North Wales I
might be able to get them?

Sticklebacks are small and tough and will coexist with tadpoles.
Tench are larger and are mainly vegetarian. The two we have don't
interfere with the newt or frog tadpoles, and their now about 8 inches
long. I have to add that they're not very visible! We see big splashes
when we approach the pool suddenly, and sometimes we see them if we go
out with a powerful torch after dark, and in summer we see them lurking
under water lily leaves. I'm hoping they're just as invisible to the
heron that visited the other morning, otherwise we may have only one ;-)
In the front pond I have a couple of gudgeon who have been there for
about 8 years, and they didn't trouble the tadpoles - though for the
last 3 years the frogs have migrated to our newer and warmer ponds.

As to sources of these - if you find any, please let me know! I'd like
some more tench.

Oh, I hope everyone likes Belgian chocolates, I've put them on the
bench overthere ggg

No, I don't - but I'll take a couple for my son if that's OK?
--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 17:36:52 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote:

Oh, I hope everyone likes Belgian chocolates, I've put them on the
bench overthere ggg

May you have many more happy gardening years.

You sat on the bench?

"martin" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 17:36:52 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote:

Oh, I hope everyone likes Belgian chocolates, I've put them on
the
bench overthere ggg

May you have many more happy gardening years.

You sat on the bench?

I grunt while my better half heaves.

Franz

On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 06:21:53 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote:


"martin" wrote in message
.. .
On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 17:36:52 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote:

Oh, I hope everyone likes Belgian chocolates, I've put them on
the
bench overthere ggg

May you have many more happy gardening years.

You sat on the bench?

I grunt while my better half heaves.

I don't think we wish to know that :-)

On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 20:25:21 +0100, Kay Easton
wrote:

In article , Gwenhyffar
Milgi writes

The penultimate project is the garden pond. We recently discovered the
natural waterinlet for it (from a stream) and overflow and have now
been able to reestablish the waterflow into and out of the pond.

I have drastically reduced the growth in the pond, and the water is
clearing up by the day. It is inundated with tadpoles, which I enjoy
watching greatly.

You *lucky* thing! A natural pond :-)

Well, no. It's definitely a man made pond. At least I'm presuming that
pond lining doesn't grow on trees gggg.

However, there is a natural inlet and overflow for the pond. The inlet
is water diverted from a stream (this is the same stream that we take
our drinking water from, we have a private water supply. We take our
water from the top of the ridge, the farmer takes his from slightly
lower for the cattle, and we take our pondwater from the lowest part
of the stream). It enters the pond over a cascade of rocks. When the
water rises above a certain level, the water starts to overflow one
end of the pond which has deliberately been set a bit lower. This
water drains off into a gully, which runs across the field and then
empties into a drainage stream, which eventually ends up in the
estuary.

Since we got it up and running, the pondwater has cleared enough for
us to see down to the bottom. It is an extremely fertile pond though,
the plantlife is thriving to the extent that before we re-established
the watercourse, we had to remove about 2/3 of the plantlife to get
some watersurface back.

The size of the pond did surprise us though, once we started work on
it, removing grass, soil and other things that seemed to indicate dry
land, we realised that the entire pond was rocklined and was twice as
big as we thought it was.

The tadpoles are numerous, it seems every frog/toad/newt in the
neighbourhood deposits its spawn in it (yes, we have newts, and one of
those legless thingies). In the early part of February, the entire
pond was covered in spawn. Then the frost hit, and I thought we had
lost it all, but there are still uncountable numbers of tadpoles. And
lots of other goodies, bugs that run upside down, little white jumping
thingies, things that look like a stick with fins and much, much more.

We'd like something that is mainly vegetarian, as the plantlife is
really, really well established and needs a herd of little somethings
in there.

I've been doing a websearch, and lots of places recommend goldfish or
something called Tench as a bottomfeeder. There's a place in Conwy
that looks on the surface of it as if it could supply what I need.

"My candle burns at both ends; it will not last the night
but ah my foes and oh my friends -- it gives a lovely light"

On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 17:18:24 +0100, Sacha
wrote:

Gwenhyffar Milgi22/4/04 4:42


Over the past year, reading URG has made it possible for me to get a
grip on the garden that goes with our house (an established garden
that had been neglected for a few years), and I am proud to say that
all the reading material on here has contributed to my now sprouting
carrots, parsnips, peas, cauliflower, lettuce, spinach and sprouts.
And the potatoes are chitting away as we speak.

It has also made it possible for me to get to grips with the necessary
maintenance and to get things sorted.

The penultimate project is the garden pond. We recently discovered the
natural waterinlet for it (from a stream) and overflow and have now
been able to reestablish the waterflow into and out of the pond.

All this in a year? What a shame you don't want a job in S. Devon! ;-)

gggg Well I did say it's the penultimate project. I've managed to
get the herb garden, vegetable patch and display bit of the garden at
the front of the house back into shape. The ultimate project will be
the rise at the back of the house, which is about three times the size
of all we've done now, and which also used to be an established
garden, albeit a "wild" one. We've discovered pondlets, streams and
lots of obviously planted greens (as opposed to naturally occuring)
and we're still in the process of figuring out the exact lay out of it
all so that we can restore it.

Seriously, it's always nice when someone comes back to tell us how they got
on, so both 'well done' and 'thank you'.

I couldn't have done it without all the excellent reading material on
this group, it made it so much easier to come to grips with what
needed doing!

"My candle burns at both ends; it will not last the night
but ah my foes and oh my friends -- it gives a lovely light"

On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 22:42:31 +0100, "Bob Hobden"
wrote:


There is one fish that I know is a strict vegetarian and will eat lots of
greenstuff and that is Grass Carp. The problem is they get huge and will eat
anything green starting with your choicest plants first. So don't even think
along those lines.

Ah no, we can't do with anything huge in it.

On thinking further, whatever you choose it may breed and the young get
washed back into the river so it may be best to use local fish from the
stream not buy in something alien.

The outlet to the gully is too small for anything but the smallest fry
to escape from, and they'd die before they'd get to any kind of water
where they would be able to survive. The gully that the pond drains
into is dry most of the year and only carries water in the foulest of
weather, like the downpours we had earlier this year. So anything I do
get would be contained in asmuch as it wouldn't stand a chance outside
the pond unless it also happened to be raining like there's no
tomorrow.

Still, I like the idea of getting naturally occuring fish, because it
just seems to fit better with the surrounding area and the type of
garden we have.

"My candle burns at both ends; it will not last the night
but ah my foes and oh my friends -- it gives a lovely light"

"Gwenhyffar Milgi" wrote in message ...((snip))


I've been doing a websearch, and lots of places recommend goldfish or
something called Tench as a bottomfeeder. There's a place in Conwy
that looks on the surface of it as if it could supply what I need.

Tench are bottom feeders, they root about in the mud looking for worms etc,
and also get to a large size, (4 lb is common) especially in a pond that is
flushed through so there is not a buildup of size limiting hormones, so they
will happily make your pond into a permanently muddy puddle.

Goldfish are OK but in a pond like yours they will, in a few years, get
quite large too and certainly easily large enough to eat tadpoles, and the
other wildlife in there.
Stick to Minnows, Gudgeon and Loach with a few Sticklebacks.

--
Regards
Bob

Use a useful Screen Saver...
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
and find intelligent life amongst the stars

The message
from Gwenhyffar Milgi contains these words:

The tadpoles are numerous, it seems every frog/toad/newt in the
neighbourhood deposits its spawn in it (yes, we have newts, and one of
those legless thingies).

We find our legless thingies in the local towns, mainly between eleven
pm and midnight.

In the early part of February, the entire
pond was covered in spawn. Then the frost hit, and I thought we had
lost it all, but there are still uncountable numbers of tadpoles. And
lots of other goodies, bugs that run upside down, little white jumping
thingies, things that look like a stick with fins and much, much more.

We'd like something that is mainly vegetarian, as the plantlife is
really, really well established and needs a herd of little somethings
in there.

I've been doing a websearch, and lots of places recommend goldfish or
something called Tench as a bottomfeeder. There's a place in Conwy
that looks on the surface of it as if it could supply what I need.

Rather than let your pond overflow when the water flows in, I'd be
inclined to make a sluice to prevent too much water getting in. With the
present arrangement you risk losing all your fish.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

"Gwenhyffar Milgi" wrote in message ...
Over the past year, reading URG has made it possible for me to get a
grip on the garden that goes with our house (an established garden
that had been neglected for a few years), and I am proud to say that
all the reading material on here has contributed to my now sprouting
carrots, parsnips, peas, cauliflower, lettuce, spinach and sprouts.
And the potatoes are chitting away as we speak.

It has also made it possible for me to get to grips with the necessary
maintenance and to get things sorted.

The penultimate project is the garden pond. We recently discovered the
natural waterinlet for it (from a stream) and overflow and have now
been able to reestablish the waterflow into and out of the pond.

I have drastically reduced the growth in the pond, and the water is
clearing up by the day. It is inundated with tadpoles, which I enjoy
watching greatly.

I would like to add some fish to this pond, preferably of the type
that will keep the plant growth down, but will leave the tadpoles in
peace. Can anyone point my nose in the right direction for the type of
fish that I would need for my pond, and whereabouts in North Wales I
might be able to get them?


There is one fish that I know is a strict vegetarian and will eat lots of
greenstuff and that is Grass Carp. The problem is they get huge and will eat
anything green starting with your choicest plants first. So don't even think
along those lines.

Tadpoles are a nice tidy packed lunch to most fish so unless you introduce
something rather small, Minnows or Sticklebacks (or even White Cloud
Mountain Minnows) you will lose some Tads. With running water Minnows are a
possibility and they do live together in large numbers whereas Stickleback
are a bit territorial.
On thinking further, whatever you choose it may breed and the young get
washed back into the river so it may be best to use local fish from the
stream not buy in something alien.

--
Regards
Bob

Use a useful Screen Saver...
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
and find intelligent life amongst the stars

On Sun, 25 Apr 2004 17:40:19 +0100, Jaques d'Alltrades
wrote:

The message
from Gwenhyffar Milgi contains these words:

The tadpoles are numerous, it seems every frog/toad/newt in the
neighbourhood deposits its spawn in it (yes, we have newts, and one of
those legless thingies).

We find our legless thingies in the local towns, mainly between eleven
pm and midnight.

ggg we get a few of those here as well. What I mean is a legless
amphibian though. I don't know what they're called!

Rather than let your pond overflow when the water flows in, I'd be
inclined to make a sluice to prevent too much water getting in. With the
present arrangement you risk losing all your fish.

Well, it would be a risk, if a fish could get out through the
overflow. The overflow is about 1 cm deep and about 3 mm wide. Since
the influx of water is very slow, the overflow is also a trickle.
Although I could increase the flow of water through the pond, this is
the way it was originally set up, and judging by the garden, these
people knew what they were doing there.


"My candle burns at both ends; it will not last the night
but ah my foes and oh my friends -- it gives a lovely light"

On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 22:24:26 +0000 (UTC), Gwenhyffar Milgi
wrote:

On Sun, 25 Apr 2004 17:40:19 +0100, Jaques d'Alltrades
wrote:

The message
from Gwenhyffar Milgi contains these words:

The tadpoles are numerous, it seems every frog/toad/newt in the
neighbourhood deposits its spawn in it (yes, we have newts, and one of
those legless thingies).

We find our legless thingies in the local towns, mainly between eleven
pm and midnight.

ggg we get a few of those here as well. What I mean is a legless
amphibian though. I don't know what they're called!

****ed as a newt?