Introducing a pond into your garden is great for so many reasons. They bring the relaxing sound and appearance of water, and they also are a perfect way to attract wildlife to your garden. So, find out how to attract frogs to your pond.
Popular ponds
A pond adds a whole new dimension to your outdoor space, as well as attracting beneficial wildlife into the garden.
Frogs and toads live on slugs and snails, so a pond is also an eco-friendly way to minimise slug damage to your plants in spring.
Dozens of other native wildlife species will be attracted to a garden pond, including newts, mayflies, hoverflies, dragonflies, pond skaters and water beetles.
Making a pond
Once you install a pond, it’s difficult to move it, so give plenty of thought to where you put it in your garden.
A pond needs a certain amount of sunshine to allow aquatic plants to flower. Also, take into account the type of pond for your style of garden. Decide whether you want a formal rectangular one, or a more informal shape for a naturalistic garden.
Natural-style ponds usually have a shallow shelf around the edge for growing bog and marginal plants in baskets. This will disguise the edges of the pond, making it look more natural as well as attracting beneficial insects to the garden.
Submerged oxygenating plants should be placed in the deeper centre of the pond to help keep the water clear. Other types of deep water aquatic plants keep their roots in the water and their leaves on the surface. Floating plants such as water lilies provide sunshade for wildlife as well as being decorative.
Attracting frogs to the pond
Frogs are incredibly beneficial creatures to have in your garden because they eat thousands of insects.
One of the most important things you can do to welcome them into your pond is to go organic. Chemical pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides are all poisonous to frogs.
But what about pest control, you ask? Let the frogs take care of them! If you stop using pesticides, a host of other hungry wildlife including birds and insects such as ladybugs and dragonflies will also move in to the area, eager to munch on any pests that show up.
Fish or frogs?
Bear in mind when adding fish to ponds that they might feast on the other creatures that you want to attract to the space.
Especially in smaller ponds, fish can compete with amphibians for space, so if you are wanting to attract frogs, it’s recommended that fish aren’t added.
Make your garden accessible and inviting to wildlife by building a garden pond. Adding plants that will shelter them is a great way of making them feel at home.
David Domoney is a Chartered Horticulturalist, Broadcaster, and Author. David has worked with a number of the UK’s leading garden retailers as a plant buyer and strategic consultant. With more than 30 years experience, in horticulture, David is as passionate about plants now as he was when he bought his first plant at a village fete.
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