Something Seems a Bit Fishy…
As our lives turn more and more to our home, this may be the think about enhancing our garden. One of the ways of doing that is putting in a pond. The sound and sight of running water brings movement to your garden, literally bringing it to life! You can put a pond in any time of year but best in the Autumn and Spring.
Some people are wary of the demands in keeping a pond looking its best but in our experience, keeping a pond is no more difficult than looking after a traditional lawn or flower garden. For instance by using hard landscaping around your pond you can create a contemporary garden and that will require little input. The visual delight of a shallow sparkling pool or a spouting fountain creates a real focal point and brings a garden to life, while the creation of a new natural habitat helps attract new wildlife to the garden.
Even the smallest gardens can be home to a pond. Here is what you need to do to put in a pond:
- Choose your location. For a healthy pond, it is good for it to have a bit of sunshine. This allows algae to grow and will keep your pond plants happy.
- Think safety. If you have young children, or you have young visitors, the pond will need to be somewhere they can only get to if supervised.
- Design the shape of your pond. Ponds can come in a variety of shapes depending on the size of the area you would like to use. It might be good to take advice from your local pond supplier.
- Choose and buy your pond liner and use a plastic tub that will fit nicely in the place.
- Dig your hole. Make sure the area is dug in balance around the tub.
- Line your hole. Put the tub in place and then fill the area with liner that can be purchased at your local pond supplier.
- Protect the liner. To give your liner the longest life, we would recommend using a layer of protective underlay or matting to create a barrier between the soil and your liner.
- Fill with water. Allow a bit of algae to grow and make sure you use an array of plant life both flowering plants and stable green to create your oasis.
Ponds bring life and can create a good habitate for nature. Visitors can consist of:
Common frogs: typically found in eight out of 10 ponds.
Pond snails: in about two-thirds of ponds you should see pond snails.
Water beetles: there are 250 freshwater species in the UK.
Zooplankton: tiny crustacean ‘water fleas’ that filter algae from the water.
Damselflies: most likely to be seen is the large red.
Dragonflies: common dragonflies seen in approximately a quarter to a half of all garden ponds.
Mayflies: look out for the pond olive, the most widespread of our mayflies.
Greater water boatmen: these predators recorded in a third of ponds.
Caddis flies: A good sign of a high quality pond but are only found in about 10% of UK ponds.