Making a new wildlife pond

[burnie]

I have just ordered the liner and underlay, tomorrow I intend to start work, first job is to remove two of the old apple tree stumps and start digging/levelling. The plan is to bury our previous bath tub in the centre, this is to be the deep bit and it will protect the liner from any wandering tree roots hopefully. There will then be a shallow edge round it for planting marginal plants in. Then hopefully the Toad which has been in the greenhouse all winter will have a new home.
Now looking at potential plants, aiming for native plants only, no fish are planned, so don't have to worry about them being eaten. The site will have half the pond in shade, so some plants for that area and some in full sun. I'll post an update.

[burnie]

Progress today, the liner and underlay have been delivered and they are in quarantine in the back of the greenhouse for a couple of days. One tree root has mostly been removed, the rest will come out when I start digging for real. The turf has been removed and turned over and stacked to make loam, though the last time I did this the wasps moved in and I had to level the lot. Too dark to take photos, will take some as the project gets more interesting.

[Gillykat]

I'm planning to get my wildlife pond dug this week too. I actually bought the liner two years ago and it's been in the shed, still in original cover, ever since as...well, silly me was just faffing about I've also got a couple of native water lilies I bought last year and had in a plastic stacker box and a couple of Marsh Marigold plants which I picked up for £1 each from Morrisons last summer! Both have been overwintering in washing up bowls in the greenhouse and I noticed some new leaves emerging on the marigolds this week

[mrbadexample]

Oh, come on, let's be having those pictures!

[burnie]

Your wish is my command, I had to stop as it started to rain, then SWMBO said it's" hail Burnie", I thanked her but said actually you only said that to Caesar...………..

[Mr Bones]

Looks good soil Burnie

[burnie]

Looks good soil Burnie

I've added a load of the top soil to my raised beds as a top dressing along with manure and compost in the roots bed.

[mrbadexample]

Looks good soil Burnie

You're not kidding! How come when I dig a pond I have to pickaxe my way through a box of rocks, but Burnie gets to use a fork and add topsoil to his raised beds?

Have a really good think about the marginal shelves Burnie, as you need to get them right. Consider the depth of the pond baskets you see (mine are 6" depth), but also the depth the water will be - have a look at my pond here. The edging isn't done yet so ignore that. The shelves at the back aren't deep enough so the pots stick up an inch or so above the water. I think I can correct this but I'm going to have to raise the front of the pond (you might see a piece of hose in the bottom of the picture which drains to a soakaway. If I can raise the overflow level then I can get a better overall depth but it'll be a big unpleasant job.

[burnie]

I have around 12 inches(30cm) for the outer level, dropping to almost 36 inches(roughly 1 metre) in the middle. So I hope the pots will fine, indeed some of the plants will have to stand on a brick as my water might be too deep. I have a sizeable chunk of the liner left over as I have reduced the length by a metre, so I might make a separate bog garden as well.

[burnie]

This is the final bit of digging prior to the underlay going in.




I then added the liner on top of the underlay



Finally it's nearly full

[burnie]

Still too cold for proper gardening so more work round the pond, I was pleasantly surprised to receive my order of pond plants, so they were placed in the water, they do look lonely, over £40's worth and you have to play hunt the plant, I hope they spread out a bit.
The edges of the pond are almost done, I have created a trench with the liner then placed in it and backfilled with soil to create a bog garden round the edge.

[Containergardener]

Be lovely when it all get going though .

[Scarlet]

Looks great- I wish I had a back for digging.

[veggiechicken]

Try a spade!!
If you can't dig down, you build up

[jackarmy]

Just about to do the same thing Burnie.
After about three years on my plot and finally cutting back the brambles, discovered two side by side baths.
so tomorrow my labourer ( much younger son ) will be digging the dirtout and making a plan.
their bottoms are at ground level so will be making a raised rockery type thingy to get the critters up there.