Wildlife pond
Hello there!
Another silly question coming up . I bit the bullet and bought myself some pond liner and hopefully will start construction on my pond this weekend.
I don't have a water butt yet because there's nowhere to put one until I get my shed in a week or so, then I'm going to attach it to that.
In the meantime I was wondering, could I fill the pond with water from the tap so it looks nice for now and then let it over the year gradually get diluted with rain water, or will that not work? Or will I have to wait and let it fill up naturally?
Also the position is going to be in full(ish) sun. I've read on other threads that the water will turn green. Is this good for the wildlife and do people just not like it because of how it looks? I'm going to grow the grass long around it to give it some shade.
Cheers.
Posts
Hi Jack, a large proportion of ponds get filled from the tap.
I think your idea re green water is correct
In the sticks near Peterborough
We started our pond off with tap water two weeks ago - we left it a week for chlorine to evaporate then added some oxygenating plants - a few days ago we went pond dipping and brought back some containers of mini-beasts to 'start' the pond.
Our pond gets sunshine for a good part of the day at the moment, but it's not turned green yet, in fact the water is beautifully clear and I spend lots of time each day watching the diving beetle and pond skaters that have already made it their home.
If it's any use, I found this site really helpful when making our pond http://www.wildaboutgardens.org.uk/thingstodo/inaweekend/put-in-a-pond.aspx
and this site is a brilliant source of UK native pond plants http://www.puddleplants.co.uk/oxygenator-floating-plants/
Don't forget to take lots of pics to show us
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Thank you all! Now I'm excited!
Philippa, unfortunately I don't know any neighbours with ponds but thanks for the advice.
Dove, this is very encouraging thank you. Thanks for the links, I'll enjoy looking over them tomorrow night. It's quite daunting thinking of starting it and I've already read lots of websites but any new info I can get will be welcome, so I'll have a read through.
It will also be exciting choosing some plants, so that link is very appreciated too!
Cheers all!
If you have a freegle group in your area, it might be worth putting a wanted post for some pond plants. I often give away plants on our site and they go like hot cakes.
Thanks Daintiness, I will look into that, I didn't know you could put wanted posts up.
Dove I've just been looking at the links. Like the look of the 'fibre optic plant' and the 'frogbit'. Also that link you sent about the pond had stuff I haven't read about before. I like that idea of digging it at a right angle then using soil to make the slope on top of the liner, that's brilliant!
My frogbit never really thrived Jack where everthing else that I have put in there has been OK. Maybe it's too cold for frogbit up here in lancashire (I am fairly high up as well so it can be cold)!
I am a Wildlife Trust member and did a pond dipping course with them, they are very cool about visiting a nearby water source and getting a few bottles of water to start a pond off, and that is exactly what I ended up doing. It's impossible to fill up even a small pond like that of course, hence everyone finishes up using a mix of rain and tap water. It'll pretty quickly neutralize, especially with the help of pond plants, and you can then look forward to some wildlife!
I found a newt in my pond this Spring and have this week noticed some little tadpole shaped wiggly things in there, so i think I may have baby newts!!
Baby newts look like fish with external gills stuck out at the side of their heads. The first time I saw them I wondered where all the baby fish came from as we haven't got any adult fish.
In the sticks near Peterborough
Thanks for that Lancashire Lass, I suppose I'll have to do a bit of trying out and see what plants work here. I may have to nip up to the nearest pond and do that! I'm looking forward to see what arrives over the coming months.
I'm sat at my computer now with an aching back, quite a hard days work, making a pond is. Here's some pictures.
It's amazing how much earth comes out of such a small hole.
Smoothed out and sharp stones removed.
Underlay underlay arriba arriba!!!
The water goes in and some levelling up.
Need to work out what to do with the edging now, I just put the tufts of grass around it and some rocks for now. After tidying up and hiding all the soil around the bushes, I'm too tired to do anything else.
Impressed Jack. I envy you starting up, it's so exciting!