Building a "wildlife pond"
Discussion
Started digging the deep section, and almost immediately encountered something mysterious that threatened the whole project:
It's a ceramic material, in sections about 12" long and not really joined together - I could move a section with my foot.
It's times like these that having an amateur archaeologist as a father-in-law is rather handy. A quick call to him, and he didn't even look at the picture before telling me what it is: a land drain. Probably put in 100 years or more ago, when this land was farmland - which also explains why my topsoil is so deep (you can see that I'm only just reaching the subsoil now at about 18" depth).
So according to my f-in-law it's perfectly safe to rip it out and isn't likely to cause any problems.
Onwards and downwards!
It's a ceramic material, in sections about 12" long and not really joined together - I could move a section with my foot.
It's times like these that having an amateur archaeologist as a father-in-law is rather handy. A quick call to him, and he didn't even look at the picture before telling me what it is: a land drain. Probably put in 100 years or more ago, when this land was farmland - which also explains why my topsoil is so deep (you can see that I'm only just reaching the subsoil now at about 18" depth).
So according to my f-in-law it's perfectly safe to rip it out and isn't likely to cause any problems.
Onwards and downwards!
Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Sunday 6th July 10:58
The deep section is now dug down to about 30", although I've left a section at about 20" in addition to a shelf at 12" on one side and about 5" on the other side.
f
k me, the heavy, sticky clay subsoil was a nightmare to dig through!
This picture shows that there's also a new bed nearby, to be planted with shrubs - should provide a bit of cover for wildlife transiting to/from the pond.
f
k me, the heavy, sticky clay subsoil was a nightmare to dig through!This picture shows that there's also a new bed nearby, to be planted with shrubs - should provide a bit of cover for wildlife transiting to/from the pond.
Looks good to me. A few fish won't bother your pond wildlife too much though goldfish do have a habit of breeding in suitable ponds and before you know it you've got 20+ fish instead of 4 and they will impact a bit. Having said that our pond is probably smaller than the one you're digging, has about 15 goldfish and yet still has very healthy populations of frogs and newts.
Make other areas of your garden newt/frog friendly would be my best advice. If you can build an attractive looking log pile or two (possibly even directly next to the pond) it'll give the various creatures room to hide, eat etc away from the pond. And leave rougher areas of longer grass. That kind of thing.
Sand/carpet under the liner will be fine. Garden soil as your pond substrate is really not recommended unless you take the really low nutrient stuff or clay from the bottom of the hole.
I'd personally keep the plants in containers, they'll find their way out anyway but at least you'll get a year or two before they've completely taken over everything!
Plants are a personal choice, a lilly is a given, I like Water forget-me-not (delicate, nice flowers), water mint 9makes lovely tea and smells nice whenever you brush past it), water cress (eating, creates a nice wildlife friendly carpet - newts/frogs like it).
Make other areas of your garden newt/frog friendly would be my best advice. If you can build an attractive looking log pile or two (possibly even directly next to the pond) it'll give the various creatures room to hide, eat etc away from the pond. And leave rougher areas of longer grass. That kind of thing.
Sand/carpet under the liner will be fine. Garden soil as your pond substrate is really not recommended unless you take the really low nutrient stuff or clay from the bottom of the hole.
I'd personally keep the plants in containers, they'll find their way out anyway but at least you'll get a year or two before they've completely taken over everything!
Plants are a personal choice, a lilly is a given, I like Water forget-me-not (delicate, nice flowers), water mint 9makes lovely tea and smells nice whenever you brush past it), water cress (eating, creates a nice wildlife friendly carpet - newts/frogs like it).
Built the retaining ridge yesterday, which will prevent soil from the shallow bog section from migrating into the rest of the pond. Dug a small channel and filled it with mortar so that the ridge is keyed into the soil below, then heaped the mortar up using a trowel. Finally, I made some slightly sloppier mortar and "buttered" the woven backing of a piece of old carpet, then stuck it on top of the ridge to protect the liner from the mortar. Quite pleased with how firmly the carpet has stuck:
Today I'm hoping to get the lawn edging done, and if time allows I'll actually get the liner in!
The deepest section of the pond keeps filling up with water, but I've discovered there's little point in bailing it out because it just fills up again over a period of a few hours. I'll simply have to bail it out just before I fit the liner, then get water into the liner as quickly as possible to counteract the seepage of water from the surrounding clay.
Edited to add: Just realised it might seem a bit back-to-front talking about doing the edging before the liner goes in. What I meant was that I'm inserting the spade under the turf and cutting into sections that can be lifted individually. Doing this requires me to stand inside the pond - hence doing it before the liner.
Today I'm hoping to get the lawn edging done, and if time allows I'll actually get the liner in!
The deepest section of the pond keeps filling up with water, but I've discovered there's little point in bailing it out because it just fills up again over a period of a few hours. I'll simply have to bail it out just before I fit the liner, then get water into the liner as quickly as possible to counteract the seepage of water from the surrounding clay.
Edited to add: Just realised it might seem a bit back-to-front talking about doing the edging before the liner goes in. What I meant was that I'm inserting the spade under the turf and cutting into sections that can be lifted individually. Doing this requires me to stand inside the pond - hence doing it before the liner.
Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Saturday 12th July 09:43
And the liner is in, and it's full!
I reckon it took about 1,000 litres, based on the filling time. Just got to trim the liner and tuck the edges under the turf, which is today's job. I have a feeling that won't be as easy as I'm imagining. I'll probably cut the excess liner into "fingers" before tucking it under the turf, so that the grass roots can root around and through it - otherwise I imagine the grass around the pond will always appear weak and feeble.
Slightly cross with myself for damaging a large rectangle of the lawn. I unrolled the liner and left it spread out for slightly too long, and the grass got very warm underneath and wilted badly. So, top tip: a black liner on a sunny day will get hot very quickly! I put the sprinkler on straight away, so hopefully the grass will recover soon. In the picture, the excess liner is propped up on flower pots to stop this happening again.
The floating stuff came from the soil I put at the shallow end. I realised too late what I should have done: soak bucketsful of soil and strain off the floating material before adding to the pond.
I reckon it took about 1,000 litres, based on the filling time. Just got to trim the liner and tuck the edges under the turf, which is today's job. I have a feeling that won't be as easy as I'm imagining. I'll probably cut the excess liner into "fingers" before tucking it under the turf, so that the grass roots can root around and through it - otherwise I imagine the grass around the pond will always appear weak and feeble.
Slightly cross with myself for damaging a large rectangle of the lawn. I unrolled the liner and left it spread out for slightly too long, and the grass got very warm underneath and wilted badly. So, top tip: a black liner on a sunny day will get hot very quickly! I put the sprinkler on straight away, so hopefully the grass will recover soon. In the picture, the excess liner is propped up on flower pots to stop this happening again.
The floating stuff came from the soil I put at the shallow end. I realised too late what I should have done: soak bucketsful of soil and strain off the floating material before adding to the pond.
Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Sunday 13th July 07:33
And the edging mostly done (except the bit in the middle - I'm planning on getting some stones to hide that bit). Reasonably pleased with how the edging meets the lawn - it'll look better once the lawn has grown into it a bit.
We've also bought a handful of plants to get it started - though obviously we need many more!
The yellow hose is just a temporary outflow from the pump. I intend to pile up some pebbles at one end of the shallow section (far end) and have the outflow bubbling up through the pebbles. I need to make an extension cable too - I'm not paying Hozelock £20 for their official one!
Pleasingly, within minutes of putting the plants in a bright blue damselfly came in and settled on one of the flowers.
How long before the water goes bright green?
We've also bought a handful of plants to get it started - though obviously we need many more!
The yellow hose is just a temporary outflow from the pump. I intend to pile up some pebbles at one end of the shallow section (far end) and have the outflow bubbling up through the pebbles. I need to make an extension cable too - I'm not paying Hozelock £20 for their official one!
Pleasingly, within minutes of putting the plants in a bright blue damselfly came in and settled on one of the flowers.
How long before the water goes bright green?
Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Sunday 13th July 15:16
Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Sunday 13th July 15:17
"If you build it, they will come."
It's not just advice given to the wives of architecture fetishists, it applies to ponds too!
My pond has only had water in it for just over a week, and already we have pond skaters, water boatmen; we've been visited briefly by damselflies and a dragonfly the size of a 737.
And, at the risk of sounding like Rolf Harris, there's this little fella...
He's just a common frog. We tried to get Waitrose frogs, but they were out of stock.
It's not just advice given to the wives of architecture fetishists, it applies to ponds too!
My pond has only had water in it for just over a week, and already we have pond skaters, water boatmen; we've been visited briefly by damselflies and a dragonfly the size of a 737.
And, at the risk of sounding like Rolf Harris, there's this little fella...
He's just a common frog. We tried to get Waitrose frogs, but they were out of stock.
Sadly we are frog free. Sometime in the late eighties the deadly disease arrived. The lawn used to be alive with frogs after summer rain, now there's none.
As soon as the temperature gets above about 25C for a few days running, the disease becomes active and all the frogs hemorrhage to death. The smell the first time with about 120 dead frogs in the pond was disgusting. I tried reintroducing them a few years ago, but it's the same story. They appear healthy for several years, until we get a warm spell and they all die. The newts are unaffected and have filled the void though!
As soon as the temperature gets above about 25C for a few days running, the disease becomes active and all the frogs hemorrhage to death. The smell the first time with about 120 dead frogs in the pond was disgusting. I tried reintroducing them a few years ago, but it's the same story. They appear healthy for several years, until we get a warm spell and they all die. The newts are unaffected and have filled the void though!
Dr Mike Oxgreen said:
Is it ranavirus?
That's the main suspect. Unfortunately without deliberately introducing some more to die, I can't send any off for study (there was no internet/program to study it back then). Some other species must be unaffected but act as a reservoir for the disease. I've another house 8 miles away that has frogs in the garden and has always been 'plague' free. So hopefully some populations are immune or well enough isolated. I deliberately never take anything from the infected garden anywhere else with a pond, just in case.Good job on the pond by the way. I'm amazed how flat your site was!
Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff