HOW CAN I GET FROGS AND TOADS IN MY GARDEN?

You need a pond. It doesn’t have to be a big one. Even a small one will be a valuable resource for frogs and toads. It should have areas with sloping sides so that the frogs can climb out, when they grow out of being tadpoles. Also it needs plenty of places for them to hide. If it dries out in high summer, that doesn’t matter that much. The pond is needed for frogspawn in spring.
In most places frogs or toads will turn up. Don't take spawn from the wild and put it in your pond. There are now two frog diseases and you might be spreading it. However if you are putting a pond in a completely walled garden, or if no amphibians have turned up after 2 or 3 years, consult your local wildlife trust. They may be able to help if they know that a pond is being built over.

Read on for more details....

Don't put goldfish or koi or any kind of fish in the pond. They will eat the tadpoles. Don’t be in a hurry to put in water plants because you need to make sure you are putting in native plants. People with ponds will offer you plants. Check first. Garden centres are not reliable sources of information. They sell foreign plants and often claim they are native.
BAD PLANTS: Most garden centres sell invasive ones like lCanadian waterweed (Elodea Canadensis) or Esthwaite waterweed (Elodea nuttali). Other plants to avoid are water fern (Azolla filiculoides), Water primrose (Ludwigia granfiflora) New Zealand pigymy weed (Crassula helmsii), parrot’s feather (Myriphyllum aquaticum),and Curly waterweed (Lagarosiphon major). If these get into your pond, take every single little bit out by hand and warn the garden centre about them. Do not put them down a drain or in the rubbish. Burn them or bury them. They are dangerous invaders.
Duckweed is invasive too and often comes along with bought plants like water lilies. It is worth picking out every single bit of it (should you get any) just because a pond looks better without it. Check what kind you have. The worst is the least duckweed (Lemna minuta), an alien species. But there are three kinds of rare duckweed which are interesting – rootless duckweed (Wolffia arrhiza), fat duckweed (lemna gibba) or great duckweed (Spirodela polyrrhiza). If you’ve got these kinds, tell your local wildlife trust. But you are most likely just to have common duckweed (Lemna minor).
GOOD PLANTS are hornwort or Ceratophyllum Demersum, water milfoil or Myriophyllum spicatum and similar, any of the native pondweeds. There’s also an underwater crowfoot, Rananculus aaquatili.
Margin plants which are useful incude water mint, water forget-me-not, articulated rush, common spike rush, watercress, fool’s watercress (don’t eat it!), marsh pennywort, marsh marigold, purple loosestrife, marsh woundwort, sedges like carex pendula, ivy-leaved crowfoot, and ragged robin. Bulrushes are too large and invasive for garden ponds. Yellow iris is also invasive but they look so great it may be worth planting them and cutting them back each year. Water lilies are difficult to resist even in small ponds - the fringed water lily, Mymphoides peltata is good for small ponds. Larger lilies like Mymphaea alba or Nuphar lutea get pretty huge. But it would be better to have amphibious bistort (Pericaria amphibia) or broadleaved pondweed (Pogamogeton natans). The ideal pond should have some areas of clear water. So if you’ve planted water lilies, cut them back each year.
Blanket weed of filamentous algae looks bad but is quite good for pond animals. It usually results from pollution – fertiliser run-off form agricultural land, tap water, ducks, food for ducks etc. Water quality can be improved by barley straw in nets, sold by garden centres. Fallen branches, particularly willow, also reduce algae.
The surroundings of the pond matter too. Long grass should be directly around the pond for the new tiny frogs and toads to hide in. Let the grass to grow right into the pond covering the sides. (This will protect the rubber liner). Toads and frogs need places to hibernate so think about building a log pile or a stone pile near the ponds.
Finally, if your pond dries out in high summer, don’t worry. Frogs and toads don’t need it then!