MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
We’re thinking of putting one in.
Has anyone on here had one, or have one still?
What are the hazards? What makes them a pita? What makes them worth it?
Having to drain it cause its sprung a leak. Use the thickest most durable membrane you can afford and follow the instructions for correct instillation.
Watching the wildlife or ornamental fish on a summers day is worth the effort.
My wife put one in our front garden a few years ago now. It’s nice. She loves it. Really loves it. It attracts a lot of butterflies, insects etc. One problem she has is that a lot of birds drink from it, along with cats and foxes - unfortunately they have put small holes in the lining and hence it doesn’t fill to the top anymore.
Are you going wildlife or fish pond ?
It adds to the cost, but I think it makes things far more interesting to have at least part of a pond where you can clearly see what is going on under the surface, with a glass viewing window.
We had one years ago when I was growing up. I remember it getting overgrown with some sort of algae, it was a constant battle to remove it all. Proved too much of a PIA for my folks in the end. It attracted frogs which was cool. My sister fell in once which was also cool.
My then 2yo fell in it. I filled it in.
The house we live in had a great pond in the garden when we bought it, stream running down from the top to fill a large pond at the bottom. Sadly we decided that with a toddler and a new born around that the chances of someone falling in were high so we filled it in. Woody jnr MK3 wants us to have a pond so we may reinstate it at some point
On the plus side it provides water for wildlife (make it hedgehog friendly with easy escape ramps etc).
On the downside, needs maintenance and a drowning risk for children / Hedgehogs etc.
Lake, shirley?
Unless you mean one of these ponds...
Love ours, very peaceful. Takes a bit of work to keep it healthy for plants and fish. Has shallow end with rocks to help anything that falls in clamber out, decent filtration with UV to keep algae and crap at bay. Attracts loads of wildlife, including predators so you need to think about how to deter them (or let nature take its course)
Attracts loads of wildlife, including predators so you need to think about how to deter them (or let nature take its course)
Wishing I had photoshop handy to put a shark fin into the middle of that pond of Jamzes’... 😱
Wishing I had photoshop handy to put a shark fin into the middle of that pond of Jamzes’… 😱
Now there's an idea for a heron-scarer 🙂
On the ponds, agree about kids. None at home for us now, but when young nieces and nephews are here, can't let them out of your sight. Parents have holiday lets and a decent sized pond, and one of the families kids fell in. Dad had to leap in fully clothed and pull him out, lucky he was out there.
I built a teeny tiny pond, probably a maximum of 2m sq in size. Best thing I ever did to the garden - has loads of frogs and other creatures in it. It needs to be deep enough to not freeze at the very bottom in winter. Make sure you shelve the edges, bigger shelves than you think to account for the liner taking up some space - so you can put plants in. Try and get a bucket full of sludge from the bottom of a well established pond.
Mine was dead cheap to do - I dug it all out myself, and lined it with an old curtain to stop spiky stones before putting in the thickest liner I could find. I’ve got a little solar powered fountain that just turns the water a little. It got green slimy algae in it after a week or two but all you do is add a barley straw bale and it will clear again. I built mine so the liner extended up and under a small paved area, so the kids can lie on the paving slabs and look straight down into the deeper water, rather than leaning over and looking in. Frogs love it in the cool void under the edge of the slabs. Make sure things can climb in and out in a few places, and decide between wildlife or fish - you can’t really have both in a small pond (and fish will make it a lot harder work to keep from going manky).
Sitting watching a dragonfly hatch out, or counting frogs on a hot day, or listening to frogs at night - or the vastly reduced number of slugs thanks to all those frogs - all make it worth it!
I think id be very wary if toddlers are about or visiting, twins drowned in Dalgety Bay 3 years ago although it was more a large fish tank for breeding fish at a rented house
We've got a teeny pond and it attracts lots of wildlife.
Atm we're considering taking it out and putting in a much larger one.
Things to consider are where to put the earth that you dig out.
Needing sand to put down and make smooth the base and sides before putting in a good quality liner.You don't want sharp edges or tiny stones ripping the lining.
Only use rain water if possible, as it's far better for the wildlife.
Dig some shelves at different levels.
Try and dig it away from large trees, getting the leaves out in autumn is a pain.
As mentioned above put paving or stones around the edge to allow wildlife to drink and clamber in and out.
Pop in some proper pond plants in to keep it oxygenated.
Now is a good time to dig a pond.
Pictures please when it's built.
We had quite a big pond when we moved in to our current house. We didnt really want it and while the previous owner had said he would get all the fish out before moving, he didn't.
It was over-stocked and had all sorts of fish in it, from ornamental goldfish to bog standard carp and a few really nice Koi. The largest fish in the pond was probably 35cm or so.
It was a pain in the arse in all honesty. The pump/filter would randomly clog (probably because there were too many fish in it), the top pond (it was on two levels) developed a leak where the waterfall fed into the bottom pond so i ended up having to empty it and get a stainless steel diverter fabricated to bypass the leaky waterfall feature.
And there would be a relatively frequent occurrence of an ill fish that I'd have to despatch.
It lasted a couple of yrs before i found new homes for the fish and filled it in.
The good point was all the wildlife it bought into the garden.
We’ve had a pond since we bought the house. I fenced it off when the kids were little and we’ve made it quite a bit bigger now.
Never had any problems with water clarity etc after the first few months from filling. We net it in the winter to stop leaves getting in. Wildlife ponds shouldn’t need things like pumps and filters.