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| Toads are friends of gardeners because every day they eat vast quantities of insects that would otherwise roam your garden at will, chomping up anything they fancied. You can help the toads in your garden by creating a habitat for them--a pond where they can lay their eggs and raise their tadpoles. Just remember, if your aim is to attract toads (and frogs), don't put fish in the pond as they will eat the toad/frog eggs! 
A great project for parents or teachersGardenToad has created a Flash movie tutorial which you can watch (as many times as you like!) to see how to build the pond. |
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 Take me to the movie!You can also print out this page with the more detailed instructions below: GardenToad's Instructions for Building the Pond The pond can be built in four to six hours or so-and once it's built, they will come. Here are the materials you will need. Remember, as with any recipe, you can improvise and substitute within reason. |
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| Materials required | |
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| Pick a site in your garden for your toad pond. It should be at least as big across as the diameter of the half-barrel which you can find at many garden centers. Dig a hole big enough for the barrel. Place the barrel in the hole and tamp in the excavated soil. Pack a few inches of sand around the edges of the barrel. This will keep the area around the pond from becoming too soggy. Wet the area around the barrel and let it settle. Check the area for a few days to make sure the soil level doesn't sink far below the edge of the barrel. If it does, fill in with more soil and sand. Shovel some soil into the bottom of the barrel as a base for water plants. Stack the bricks inside the barrel. The bricks will provide a platform for plants in clay pots. You may want to use large rocks instead. Just make sure they are stacked solidly. Place the clay pots containing water-loving plants, on top of the brick or rock platform you created. The rim of the pots should show slightly over the edge of the barrel. Fill the barrel with water and let everything settle for a few days. You can add water and grasses to your toad pond as well as water plants such as certain grasses, Lilies or Japanese iris. |
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