I finished my little wildlife pond at the weekend and I am so happy with it. It turned out a little larger then I originally planned but it fits in the flower patch perfectly and hopefully that means more frogs can come and live in it (fingers crossed!) It now measures roughly 60cm deep (recommended depth to protect frogs from harsh winter weather), 1 metre in width and 1.5 metres in length. It has a slope on one end where any animals that fall in the pond by accident can easily clamber out. I also created two shelved areas about 30cm deep where some plants can sit, this also creates a nice shallow area for tadpoles to gather.
It didn’t take long to create at all mainly due to its size, however it took me a while to decided on the shape and layout resulting in me having to swap a previously brought pond liner for a larger one! I could have easily made my little pond in a weekend if I had all the supplies before had, and if I didnt keep changing my mind! The plants were the easy part and it was made so much simpler by the helpful advice the shop assistants gave me at World of Water in Romsey. I instantly fell in love with the Myosotis Scorpioides which is a water forget-me-not, I just adore the little delicate blue flowers so I just had to have one and plus the leaves are perfect for egg laying too. Now I was told that this particular plant can spread so I will be keeping an eye on it so I can make sure it stays a perfect size for my pond. The other plants I have in the pond are oxygenating plants, these are there to help keep the water clean whilst giving the wildlife that much needed oxygen. I have two bunches of Elodea crispa which float around the ponds surface, and another oxygenating plant called Ranunculus Aquatilis, which has the added bonus of flowering from June until September.
I managed to find a pile of pebbles and large rocks in the back of my parents garden, they weren’t needed for anything so I gave them a new home and carefully arranged them around the edge of my pond. This was the perfect way to hide the awful pond liner border and I’m planning on planting a few alpine plants amongst the rocks, although you can easily hide the liner by covering with dirt if you don’t have any rocks laying around! I also placed some of the pebbles and two smaller rocks into the deepest area of the pond so that the frogs or tadpoles can hide from predators. To finish the area off I placed two paving slabs which look like logs to one side of the pond (they were a bargain at a closing down garden centre!) these will lead the way to my grapevine which I am still very adament on having.
My next jobs for that little area include building a small log pile for the frogs to call home and to sow some wildflower seeds around the pond. I managed to pick up a lovely wildflower ‘classic meadow’ seed packet by Thompson and morgan which has UK native flowers and includes perennials and grasses which appear at different stages of the year. I have already planted some verbena, dwarf cosmos, scabious and there are four giant sunflowers growing at the back, also not forgetting ‘Katie’s rose’ bush and the climbing rose at the side of my shed. I expect that in the summer when everything is in full bloom I’m going to have to make some cuts for the years ahead, it looks like it is going to be one jam packed area but I am hoping it won’t be too overwhelming!
I made a video about creating my pond too for those of you who are thinking of creating one in your garden or allotment. I fully recommend it, no matter how small or big the pond it will make a huge difference to the wildlife and it will bring the insects and frogs in which will hopefully eat the slugs. Its a win win situation really 🙂