Benign neglect
7th September 2009, MondayGarden ponds can be great wildlife habitats, but with their butyl liners and plastic plant containers can look horribly artificial. They don’t have to be that way though as this photo shows. This believe it or not is a pond with a butyl liner and under the mound of moss is a planting basket that was established in 1986. It became covered in a layer of moss that has been allowed to grow since then to form a natural looking hummock, through which lesser pond sedge and purple loosestrife grow.
I’m so taken with this mound that on the two occasions when I have moved house I have taken it with me intact. In 1992 I scattered southern marsh and common spotted seeds over the moss. Five years later they gave rise to young orchids which continue to thrive to this day.
The pond liner is covered in pond underlay which has also become covered in moss, giving a natural looking to the pond. I’m quite keen on ponds that behave naturally, therefore as the water level falls I don’t top it up, and at this time of year I impersonate a herd of cattle and massacre the fen vegetation, producing the scene in the photgraph, minus the cow-pats though! As the autumn rains raise water levels again the mound will rapidly come back to life again ready for next season.