| Product: |
Garden Ponds & Water Features in general |
| Date: |
23/06/02 (406 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: attracts wildlife, tranquil, educational
Disadvantages: can cause drowning, ,, '
Hello.
Let me ramble a little about the joy, fun of a pond, about how and why we built ours then I will give you some instructions to help you build yours.
Without water there would be no life on earth, all living things are made up of a high percentage of water.
All living things need to take in water to grow and to replace the water they excrete.
When we moved into this house about 10 years ago one of the first things we did was build a pond
After deciding where to site our pond we got a length of rope and lay it out in the shape we wanted the pond to be. Then we got our spades and dug and dug and dug after the first few cm?s we met chalk very hard to dig. Dearly beloved got his pickaxe out to loosen the rock then we shovelled it out
We dug one end of our pond deeper than the other with a slightly sloping edge so wild life could crawl in and out. Our pond is about 2foot ?2foot 6? Deep in the deepest area and 4-6 inches in the shallow end we dug it a little deeper than the finished depth of the pond, as the liner would take some of the depth up.
When we had dug it to the size and shape we wanted (about 9 ft by 4 foot) we removed the loose sharp edged stones. We fond a few roots we removed these as we did not want them growing through the liner, for this reason it is best not to place the pond under a tree with a big root system. This was so it did not pierce the liner.
The next thing to do was to put something in to line the pond so the stones would not pierce the butyl waterproof liner so we first got some fine sand and made a thin covering over the chalky soil. Next we covered the base and sides of the pond with newspapers two or three sheets thick. We also used cardboard boxes flattened. Then we lay an under liner we purchased. It was a soft fabric liner specially designed for the job
Then we were satisfied that the stones were unlikely to work their way through to pierce and leave us with an empty
pond and more hard work to replace it.
Yes it was hard work digging the pond chalk is very hard not a lot of topsoil in our garden. It took us days if not weeks.
Next we lay the butyl liner. We used a butyl liner so we could have softer edges and different depths of water to create different habitats for different water life.
We lay the liner over the liner over the hole with overlapped the edge as the water would pull the liner down to fit snugly the bottom of the pond. We weighed down the edges so it didn?t all slide into the pond.
We placed a few rocks in the centre of the pond and a little earth for some plants. A pond needs some oxygenating plants else the water goes all smelly green and not very nice.
Then we filled the pond with water
The weight of the water moulded the liner to the shape of the pond. We watched the pond filling with water and sometimes had to unfold the liner as the weight of the water folded it in a way we did not want
Then we sat back to enjoy our pond
We have not put fish in our pond it is a wildlife pond mainly for frogs
If you use tap water to fill a pond wait for a couple of weeks to put any tadpoles / fish in.
I love to sit by my pond after a busy day at school with difficult children it calms me down it?s a tranquil place to sit and unwind.
We have frogs in our pond watching them develop from spawn makes me feel good. The original spawn we got from a friend?s who lives near.
We have smooth newts they came and colonised our pond themselves.
I can sit for ages watching the different beetles that have made our pond their home .we have whirly gig beetles it is fun to watch them whirling round in a circle. Water boatmen skid across the pond damselflies zip about There are many other beetles and things too numerous to tell to be honest I only know the names of a few.
Our pond also is a watering place for birds we have a blackbird that regularly visits
has a drink and a bath.
Ponds are wonderful
A few suggestions
A pond can be made from a pre formed liner or a sheet of butyl or rubber these can be purchased from garden centres or mail order from internet sites internet sites or adverts in gardening papers. Or a tiny one can be made from an old sink, half a tub, a washing up bowl. Any of these can be made to look attractive
Measurements for butyl liners
Measure desired length, width and depth of pond.
Add twice depth of pond add to width of pond add 1 foot overlap.
Add twice depth of pond add to length of pond add 1 foot over lap.
Multiply these results
Dangers of a pond.
Yes children do drown in ponds
Precautions must be made
Build a fence around it to prevent your toddlers straying.
Watch them all the time
Put a strong metal grid over the pond
Have a tiny puddle and wait till they get bigger.
Well on that note I will leave you
A good web site is www.beautifulbritain.co.uk/
Happy restful times by your pond .I think that?s where I am going now writing that op was hard work , still a few more pennies to Sleepydormouses baby?s pram! thanks
Happy gardening
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