Show me your pond!

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Hmm, yes not the best angle that. Maybe it just felt like 4m when I was digging it out! Heres a better angle….

Your garden is amazing.

My wild lawn patch is a no mow area, in the shape of a heart. Hubby is not amused, hahaha.

The no mow area is a great idea, just leave it and see what grows. We put ours under the bird feeder so all the seeds fall there and you can get loads of wild flowers. Great hiding place for frogs, newts and other pond beasties too.

I’ve found this stuff excellent…

CLEAR waters Nishikoi Blanketweed Treatment

Bit more info on this stuff. Works very well, but you do need to keep on top of removing/filtering the now-dead weed. Important if you have fish, as ammonia levels can spike which can burn them I think. Mine did this but has now settled back to normal.

Sleeping frog at 6am.

I poked him with a bit of pond grass (because I’m an arsehole) and he just half-arsedly kicked his leg as if to say “piss off I’m sleeping”. So I did.

I noticed that the RSPB are selling pond kits (available in August).
The kits contain: Durable liner, recycled fleece underlay, and an expert guide to creating the perfect wildlife pond.

2m x 2m liner and 5m x 2m fleece underlay £20
3m x 3m ” ” ” ” ” ” ” £30
4m x 3m ” ” 8m x 2m ” ” £45

From the RSBP web shop rspbshop.co.uk or call 0345 0347733

Good shout!

Because I’m an idiot, I’m redoing a large part of the garden and making a wildlife pond

Idiotic, agreed. Astroturf is the new. Wildlife can do one. Nature is overrated. A lawn OTOH can only ever be rated.

bear – I noticed you said there were no ponds around you, but there’s a big one sandwiched between West St and Station Rd, just on the other side of the moor from you 🙂

Good point..bloody intrepid little sods if they travel that far though!

How are everyone’s ponds? Dragonflies are out now. This one had been in a fight with something, had a damaged wing so moved him somewhere safe 🤞🏻 Sometimes happens I think when they emerge.

Wow!

A dragonfly in our garden last summer, was what prompted us to get rid of the small pond (which is now in a neighbours garden and bringing in lots of wildlife, which her children love), then replacing it with something a lot bigger.
So far its produced about 50 waterboatmen, frogs, spawn and a pond skater. With many tiny beasts that I can’t identify yet. One can but hope for a dragonfly as magnificent as your specimen.

Dug a hole at the weekend and just waiting for the liner to turn up. Think I’ve managed to scavenge some old carpet off freecycle to line it with. Had to bank the edges up a bit as the natural water table is stopping me digging it any deeper!

Yes, I know the fence is a state. I don’t care.

If i can make a suggestion, you might want to move it away from the fence. I do realise how much of a ball ache that will be.

I’ve just dug mine (out of clay soil 👌) and filled it and realised it’s next to impossible to get round the back to do maintenance. It looked like I had loads of space before I put the stones there, now there’s not quite enough to stand comfortably.

This is the only pic I have as it’s not done, but I think you can make out how close the fence is on the left. I wish i’d left a foot more space.

Slight hi jack but a question for any pond diggers present – is there an optimum shape that is easier to bed the liner into?
I marked out an elliptical shape because my liner is oblong and ponds are roundish.
Then thinking about it if the maximum pond size for my liner is 1.8 x 3 x .9 why not dig a rectangle with rounded corners? It wont look very natural to start with but by the time it is planted and landscaped the overall shape will be lost – hopefully.

Gentle slopes make it easier, you have to think a bit in 3D. One of mine is roughly triangular and deep with vertical sides in the right-angle corner which was a bit awkward. Though liners have a bit of give and folds aren’t really a problem, except for using up more material than you might expect. I actually had to invest in a bit of glue and stick a spare bit on to finish off the shallow side which was embarrassing but has held up. I didn’t dig it that shape (and wouldn’t recommend it) but was renovating an existing pond after moving in.

most of articles I have read recommend a kidney shaped pond as corners cause issues with flow of water e.g. https://anypond.com/pond-shapes/

retro83 – I’m afraid I couldn’t face moving it away from the fence. Hopefully won’t need to get down that side of it too often. Just waiting for the wildlife to arrive now!

Looks good!

Dragging this up as we’ve had a pond put in over lock down 🙂

The sound of water in the garden is lovely (and a great distraction for a tinnitus sufferer!).  Few bits to finish off, but fish are in and seem happy.

Second wave? SECOND POND!

Started on the ‘BOTTOM POND’ (arf) on sat. Had to move the giant Hydrangea to the front, which has gone in the place of a massive cypress tree which we had to get taken out (too close to the house) so quite a chain of events to get here. Liner just ordered. Now having a right do over pumps and filters. The internet suggests I need a massive pump to make the waterfall work – 120cm wide waterfall x 1.5 x 60 gives 10800 litres per hour. Is that right do your reckon? Also under what circumstances would I need a filter?

The mk1 covid infinity pond has been a great hit over the summer. Lot’s of larvae initially and manky green water, added a cheap little solar fountain, lily and some pointy oxygenating stuff and it’s now crystal clear and we can finally see where our 4 year old hid all the clothes pegs… still no lily flowers (prob transplanted a bit late) and I’d also like a dragonfly.

Sudden thought while posting… might this be too noisy?!

And we’re working!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGsxigQA5zj/?igshid=1h6n08ggug12a

Bit of tidying to do, but have cut and fitted the top row of sleepers to the lower pond, sprayed the overflow black and begun tidying the piping/cabling. We’ve had a run of cold and very wet weather, so struggling to seal the rear of the bottom pond so no extended running until this is sorted. Thinking about fixing a thin copper strip across the spillway to smooth the flow. Pump is 12500 litres per hr, and just about up to the job. Would go for a narrower fall next time though. Also had an important reminder of physics. Turned the pump off with the hose in the upper pond, and it all siphoned back through the pump into the bottom pond, overflowing onto the garden and emptying the top pond. Good job no fish involved. Inflow pipe now terminates above the waterline, after passing through a 40mm hole in the top sleeper. Just some tinkering to do now, and hopefully the planting will all recover/grow up nicely to soften the lower one.

We have frogspawn!!!

Good thread resurrection. 👍🏻

Our new pond attracted loads of frogs and newts this spring.

sadly the local cats have killed all our frogs. Over 20 now gone, the cats chew their heads up and leave the bodies, often full of spawn. 😞

We try our best to encourage birds and frogs and selfish people’s cats just destroy the lot. I’d happily shoot them all.

F

Oh sad. I like cats but they do so much damage.

Our 3 large plops of spawn arrived Sunday morning. I was worried as the pond has been freezing over, even up to the few days before the spawning.

Our toad spawn arrived Sunday too. Pond had ice on it Saturday.

Ah nothing in mine we did have a wintering toad hiding in the rocks/water splash thing.
Oh well onto the bee hotel with grass/clover roof that I’m doing next.

My dissatisfied with the frogs/toads lazyness has been rewarded with lots of eggs this morning they must be late starters. ,👍👍👍

No frogspawn here 🙁 Trust me to build a pond that doesn’t attract a female.

No frogspawn here 🙁 Trust me to build a pond that doesn’t attract a female

Update!

Not a lot, but exciting nevertheless.

We have loads of frogspawn (as usual) but we also have newts and I think they love eating the tadpoles.

Looking for a lady (or boy) friend 🙂

Good thread this. Think I would like a pond – I have a blank canvas garden project on for the next few years… we were saying a nice water feature my be a good idea for draining surrounding areas and the trickle of a fountain will hide the distant hum of the motorway we get on some days…

One question tho for those of you with tons of frogs and newts – do you have dogs also? Just because my mrs does not respond too kindly when my dogs bring dead frogs in the house! I also don’t want my dogs to be froggy murderers either. In addition, I’m fairly sure my Airedale will jump in the pond at every opportunity!

No dogs here. The blackbirds and magpies had been snacking on our tadpoles though – I’ve installed some mesh protection for the little wrigglers.

Also have a fine selection of newts – I’m told the smaller ones are Palmate Newts and the big one is a Smooth Newt. No Great Crested yet.

That’s a brilliant photo!

A less brilliant one, of some bank holiday canoodling.

I’ve let nature take over mine for now lots of tadpole action although I did put a lot of water fleas in and horn snails in.
Lotus Lilly is going well it looks a little messy but they all seem to be enjoying it

Having a burst of various bits of weedy/algae stuff, but I don’t have the heart to remove it