Backyard Frog Pond

Host Casey Hentges visits a backyard frog pond that uses aquatic plants to create an inviting landscape.
Airdate (10/15/22) #4916
Questions?
To find out more information about show topics as well as recipes, articles, videos, fact sheets and other resources, including the directory of local Extension offices, be sure to visit our website. oklahomagardening.okstate.edu/
You can also find us on:
Facebook: / oklahomagardening
Twitter: / okgardening @okgardening
Instagram: / oklahomagardening
Oklahoma Gardening is a production of the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Oklahoma State University and is produced by the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture and Agricultural Communications Services.
All products featured on this program are for demonstration purposes only.
No commercial endorsement is intended.

[@Jboost412]

Pumps typically kill off the tadpoles so one would never want to add a pump if the intended use of your pond is for frogs just wanted to mention that

[@raed.awlakey]

Where’s the Frogs ?

[@FayeVert]

Eaten by the goldfish

[@joerunyan9344]

Great Backyard frog pond! I hope to have one someday! Thank You for Sharing 😊

[@mariofilippi3539]

Thanks for the video, enjoyed seeing it. Am inspired now and will make one mysellf.

[@GoldenGoddessGaming]

where were the frogs?!

[@karenlynnrobson5984]

Lovely

[@LZH13067]

I'm told frogs also like some type of lighting.

[@Jakub_Andrzejewski]

Nice. What is the winter temperature in Oklahoma? I plan to do such a pond in Poland and thinking about best depth for it.

[@markfigueroa2549]

It does get below freezing I’m sure, so I’d imagine 6 inches of water would freeze over

[@Jakub_Andrzejewski]

@@markfigueroa2549 Thx

[@merk9569]

In my area of the South, USA the winter temperatures rarely get below 15F (-9.44C). A typical winter night is 37F (2.78C). It is recommended that we have a section at least 3’ in depth for the animals to overwinter. The large ornamental pond I had previously was 4’ because that’s what we were advised to have. We don’t get really cold weather until January and it lasts 2-3 months, depending on the year. Friends from the UK told me how to set it up- that was 30+ years ago. It was hard to find information about building a backyard garden pond, aka a koi pond. Now you can find so much information online- and there are different types. This time I will be combining a typical koi pond design with a wildlife pond design. Wildlife ponds have sloped sides and are open to the land around them so that frogs, turtles and other animals can access them more easily. The koi pond I had was beautiful but lacking in the wildlife! I had expected lots of creatures to be residents because we lived in the country near a large river and ponds. I now realize that it was not “friendly.” It had lots of vegetation, the proper depth but no way to get in and out. It was surrounded by boulders to hide the rubber liner. My new pond will be different. Half of it will be sloped upwards to the yard and the other half will have ledges at different depths for water plants. I will not be using liner but trying to use a combination of packed clay, (which is our natural substrate), bentonite clay which swells and seals and fresh duck poop, of all things! The bacteria in duck poop works with the clay to make it impervious. (Or so it is claimed!) My new town has a small lake with lots of obliging residents to help with the bacteria! I lived near the ocean before where the soil is porous because of the high sand content. A liner was necessary. Now, I am concerned about the environmental impact of using plastic liners long term. If I can make a pond with a clay bottom and plants native to my area, I hope to see more creatures sharing my property. I plan to harvest seeds, not plants, from the local ponds and streams to seed the pond. We have some nurseries online that sell native plants too. I hope Poland is not experiencing what we are in the US. We have invasive species that are taking over our land, waterways, lakes and the ocean. Some are native to the US but have been introduced to areas where they do not belong and they are out competing the native species who should reside there. Others, like the lion fish, were never here and now have spread from the tropics northward. I hope that your pond has become a reality! I missed the cool weather and now must wait until the cooler weather arrives in the fall. When it gets into the 90’s, it is too hot to be outside.

[@merk9569]

Our pond became a buffet for a Great Blue Heron. He was feasting on my koi. I was not happy with him. There was a lake across the street and a river a quarter of a mile away. Someone told me he was being lazy!

[@Jakub_Andrzejewski]

@@merk9569 Hi and thank you for your response. Time ago I spent over 2 years down in Texas and Tennessee and I can tell you in Poland is not as hot. June, July and August we get over 90F. But only in July nights are hot. Besides nights get chilly so you can easely cool down. I'm fixing to go more for a wildlife pond with sloped edges. Unfortunately we also have some invasive species. But the same as you I use natives. Sorry to hear about heron and your koi.

[@taramansion]

I genuinely like this pond, but a few things make it misleading. All that stone surface is not appealing to frogs (nor are the goldfish that will eat the small ones, eggs, and tadpoles). Put another pond out by that shed out there! You will constantly have to fill this due to how shallow it is (if you made a deeper center part that would alleviate this). The poor goldfish, maybe they'll make it, maybe they won't, ugh. If they do, they will outgrow this area. Any time you get pets, you should plan for these things. That being said, you're probably doing much more than most ppl with all these 'dead zone' yards and at least you're trying. Also, thank you for doing mostly native plants!

[@wallys7016]

What do you do with the plants in the winter?

[@GaspardHausers]

If you choose the right plants, they die back and come again in the spring. I've had the same water lilies for more than 20 years.

[@fredm9510]

What a lame video I watched because it’s a frog pond but there was no mention of frogs It should be captioned gold fish pond

[@jasoncarretino1121]

No frogs lame