Making a wildlife pond
For any wildlife to thrive it needs food, shelter and water. To provide water in my garden, last year I turned an old metal bucket into a mini pond. I added some rocks to provide a shelf for plants and a way for animals and insects to get access. I was rewarded by the two resident blackbirds bathing in it most mornings, having a good old splash around.
I love my mini bucket pond but I want something bigger and more diverse. One of the best ways to encourage more wildlife into your garden is by creating a range of habitats and one of the best habitats to create is a wildlife pond. Ponds are spaces for frogs to breed, dragonflies to lay eggs and birds and mammals to drink. Along with habitats for many many invertebrates. Ponds bring life and all the joys of water to a garden. They capture carbon and purify pollution.
So on a rare Saturday when the rest of the family were away so I set to work. I dug a big hole with the deepest part being about 50cm, then some ledges to provide the right depth planting for a range of pond plants. It has a sloping edge at the back which I’ll turn into a small beach covered in stones. The sloping side will give easy access and exit to the water and bees can use the stones to perch on to drink.
The border slopes slightly towards the lawn and I didn’t want any overflow from the pond to end up draining onto the lawn so I had to build up the front edge and lower the back edge with the idea being to create a larger, shallow area suitable for bog plants. This lower end of the pond will eventually drain into the edible forest garden area and act as natural irrigation.
Step 2 is to line it. My step dad has just finished installing a second pond at their place and has left over pond liner which is heading my way. Win win on reducing waste and avoiding buying extra plastic.
The pond will be filled with rain water from my two water butts. Then comes the fun part and choosing plants! We have a pond at the allotment so to start with I will take some of the excess oxygenating plants from there.
Image 1: The small bucket pond and some rotting wood picked at by the blackbirds looking for grubs.
Image 2: Checking I’ve got the levels right
Image 3: The dug out pond waiting for the pond liner.
