Garden Tripod 12

Temp ~ Water At one point, I had a couple of gorgeous wood-ducks in my pond. That was so much fun!

Especially when they started to lay eggs. It was fun observing the male duck protecting the female on the nest, with nothing to defend with but his colors and his hissing. He did a great job, my dogs wouldn’t come near it.

Then the eggs hatched an 9 of the cutest little baby duckies provided an adorable sight for months. Daddy duck went into a submissive state and lost his colors. Another neat invention of nature, in this state he would not harm the babies.

As always, babies grow up too fast. I saw them turn into teenagers, and then adults, and before long I realized I had 11 full grown ducks in my pond, and my pond was paying the ultimate price. The plants were eaten, the water looked like bad coffee and eventually the fish started to get sick. I thought maybe having ducks in your pond wasn’t such a good idea after all. I caught them all and gave them to a guy who had special duck ponds and started over with my pond. New water, new plants. It’ll take years before its back to how it was.

Turtles on the other hand, have proven to be great inhabitants of my pond. They do very well in the natural environment, because they eat mosquito larves, and other little insects that live in the water. And also they eat leftovers from dead fish, frogs and the occasional bird that falls in. I never have to feed them, all I did was put in large stones and a few branches to give them a place to sunbath, because they need that.

So when you consider adding turtles to your pond, be careful with choosing the species.

Not all species can live though cold winters when the pond freezes up.

For those not blessed with enough room for a pond could consider an ornament. They are available in all size- and price ranges as well as in modern- fun- and more country styles.

Just think about where you want to put it, consider the maximum size and go shop! If you choose the right one, it may attract birds too, they always want a nice calm flow of water to take a bath or to drink from. And think of what it would look like in the dark with a nice light on it…. Just remember….the sound of dripping water might make you want to pee more often.

So far the fun side of water. Now let’s take a quick look at practicality. Because your garden may have plants in it, and plants need water.

For years I used precious drinking water and a hose to provide water when rain wouldn’t.

Until I realized only the smaller plants needed it. My trees and large bushes seemed ok after a day of extreme heat. So that had to mean they had access to water and soon it occurred to me how….. Groundwater!

So what had I been doing all those years? Tapping drinking water and adding it to the groundwater. There just had to be a better way, so I contacted a farmer with the right equipment and he used a tractor and a high pressure installation and he drilled a well for me, in my garden. Just for a few euros. I purchased a strong pump that creates a lot more pressure than your average kitchen tap, and now im spraying the entire garden from one spot and I’m not spilling any precious drinking water.

Now I was lucky because groundwater is never far down in this area. This might not be the solution for all of you. But if it would be, I recommend you take the opportunity.

Don’t think it might save you money. Sure, you don’t use gallons of drinking water, but your pump needs power.

For those with very low underground water levels, there’s always the possibility to harvest rain. Use a rain barrel, catch the water coming from your roof and use it to water your plants, and make sure water can get between your garden flooring, whatever it’s made of.

By keeping as much rainwater in your garden as you can, you help managing water in the whole country. In the wet parts of the world, that means you help preventing streams and rivers from flooding.

Nicole W . Office Temp